Namadgi National Park Feral Horse Management Plan 2020 (This Plan) Once Finalised
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NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK FERAL HORSE MANAGEMENT PLAN SEPTEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-1-921117-73-2 Cover image Feral horses and stream bank damage on Chance Creek, Kosciuszko NP in 2015 (NSW Government) Acknowledgement of Country The ACT Government acknowledges Ngunnawal people as the Traditional Custodians of the ACT, and honours the cultural legacy of their ancestors and the ongoing responsibility they still carry in managing Country today. The region was also a significant meeting place for neighbouring language and clan groups who came for ceremonies, trade, seasonal resources, exchange of knowledge and to maintain spiritual, social and environmental connectivity between traditional caretakers. For thousands of years the Ngunnawal people have maintained a tangible and intangible cultural, social, environmental, spiritual and economic connection to these lands and waters. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging, and their continued connection to Country. © Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2020. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from: Director-General, Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, ACT Government, GPO Box 158, Canberra ACT 2601. Telephone: 02 6207 1923 Website: environment.act.gov.au Produced by the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate Accessibility The ACT Government is committed to making its information, services, events and venues as accessible as possible. If you have difficulty reading a standard printed document and would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, such as large print, please phone Access Canberra on 13 22 81 or email the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate at [email protected] If English is not your first language and you require a translating and interpreting service, please phone 13 14 50. If you are deaf, or have a speech or hearing impairment, and need the teletypewriter service, please phone 13 36 77 and ask for Access Canberra on 13 22 81. For speak and listen users, please phone 1300 555 727 and ask for Canberra Connect on 13 22 81. For more information on these services visit relayservice.com.au PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1 5. MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT OF FERAL HORSE MANAGEMENT IN NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK ....................27 2. FERAL HORSES ............................................................. 3 REFERENCES ....................................................................29 2.1 Social organisation, biology and ecology ................. 3 2.2 Environmental impacts ................................................ 3 APPENDIX 1. ....................................................................35 3. FERAL HORSES IN NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK AND THE SURROUNDING REGION ............................. 5 Box 1. 3.1 Historical distribution and control Recovery following removal of feral horses in 1987 ..... 6 activities in Namadgi National Park ................................. 5 Box 2. 3.2 Feral horses in the region ............................................. 7 A visual comparison of an undisturbed bog and a bog subject to disturbance by feral horses ................ 13 3.3 The threat to Namadgi National Park ...................... 11 Figure 1: 3.4 Natural and cultural values of Distribution of feral horses in NSW (as of 2016) ............. 9 Namadgi National Park ..................................................... 14 Figure 2: 3.5 Methods for control of feral horses ........................... 19 Modelled feral horse distribution over a ten year period ................................................................................... 11 4. NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK HORSE Figure 3: MANAGEMENT STRATEGY .........................................23 Habitat potentially suitable for feral horses in 4.1 Management goal ........................................................ 23 Namadgi NP. ........................................................................ 12 4.2 Management objectives ............................................. 23 Table 1. Flora and fauna species threatened in the ACT and located in Namadgi.................................................... 17 4.3 Management Strategies ............................................. 23 4.4 Methods for control ..................................................... 24 4.5 Relevant policy and legislation ................................. 25 4.6 Community and stakeholder consultation ............ 25 NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK FERAL HORSE MANAGEMENT PLAN III Namadgi National Park (M Jekabsons) 1. INTRODUCTION Namadgi National Park (NP) covers 106,095 hectares, approximately 45% of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Park is located at the northern end of the Australian Alps network of national parks, which is recognised for its unique natural and cultural values and is included in Australia’s National Heritage list. The National Heritage list is Australia’s list of natural, historic and Indigenous places of outstanding heritage value to the nation. 1. INTRODUCTION Namadgi National Park (NP) covers 106,095 hectares, approximately 45% of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Park is located at the northern end of the Australian Alps network of national parks, which is recognised for its unique natural and cultural values and is included in Australia’s National Heritage list. The National Heritage list is Australia’s list of natural, historic and Indigenous places of outstanding heritage value to the nation. Namadgi NP contains habitat for several threatened Research across Australia (and abroad) demonstrates species and threatened ecological communities. that feral horses can have devastating impacts on It also includes the headwaters of the Cotter River, sensitive vegetation, native fauna species, and the which provides an important source of water for the hydrology of bogs and other water systems. To mitigate Canberra and Queanbeyan communities, and contains these risks, the ACT Government is committed to many subalpine wetlands that have regional, national maintaining a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on the presence and international significance. of feral horses in Namadgi NP. The ACT Government in partnership with the Horses inhabit a wide range of ecosystems across community is responsible for protecting the values Australia, including high and low altitude grasslands, of Namadgi NP. The Namadgi National Park Plan of forests, deserts and ocean shores. In the broader ACT Management (hereafter Namadgi PoM) outlines the region, most feral horses occur in subalpine national natural, cultural and social values of the Park, as well parks of the Australian Alps. Horses first established as threats to these values and associated management wild populations in the ACT in the 1800s and their objectives to maintain and enhance them. Importantly, numbers have fluctuated since. the Namadgi PoM includes the following objective to The first plan to manage feral horses in Namadgi NP protect water quality: was prepared in 2004. A combination of management → The ecological and hydrological condition of water techniques (including barrier fencing, trapping and catchments is maintained and, where desirable removal, and humane destruction, or ground-based and feasible, improved, to ensure a continuing high shooting) were trialled under this Plan. quality and cost-effective water supply for the ACT A revised version of this Plan was released in Managing pest animals, including mitigating the 2007, which, consistent with the 2004 Plan, aimed impacts of feral horses, is one essential way to achieve to ‘prevent the re-establishment of feral horse this. It is also central to achieving the Namadgi PoM’s populations within Namadgi NP, specifically objective to: relating to the potential for these animals to cause → Reduce and control pest animal numbers and, undesirable impacts to sub-alpine wetlands’ (ACT where feasible, eradicate pest animals from the park Government 2007). Since the release of the 2007 through the implementation of control programs plan, 24 horses have been trapped and humanely that are integrated with landscape and biodiversity destroyed in Namadgi NP. There are no resident conservation and ecological restoration objectives populations of feral horses in Namadgi NP today. (ACT Government 2010) NAMADGI NATIONAL PARK FERAL HORSE MANAGEMENT PLAN 1 Namadgi National Park This Plan is a revision and update of the 2007 2. FERAL HORSES Namadgi National Park Feral Horse Management Plan. It is informed by the successes of previous ACT horse management plans, feral horse management in the region, the ACT Vertebrate Pest Management 2.1 SOCIAL ORGANISATION, BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY Strategy (ACT Government 2012), and relevant national codes of practice (COP) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for managing pests. This Plan outlines: » feral horse biology and ecology » the history of horses in Namadgi NP and their current distribution and impacts in the region » the outcomes of feral horse management since the release of the 2007 Management Plan » the natural, cultural and water values of Namadgi NP at risk from feral horses » the future goals and objectives of managing feral horse impacts in Namadgi NP » legislation and policy relevant to managing feral horses in Namadgi NP. While a formal review of this Plan is not required under ACT legislation,