threatened species strategy year five report page b threatened species strategy year five report acknowledgement of country Photo: Kerry Cameron We pay our respects to them and their the department of agriculture, water cultures and to their Elders both past and present. We are committed to and the environment acknowledges the working respectfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and give traditional owners of country throughout particular acknowledgement to their use, knowledge and custodianship of australia and their continuing connection Australia’s native plants and animals over to land, sea and community. countless generations. The Department supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their aspirations to maintain, protect and manage their culture, language, land and sea country and heritage. threatened species strategy year five report page 1 commissioner,s message when i first began in this role in The level of ambition across all targets , generated serious action in areas where national attention was critical, such as early 2o18, the australian governments checking the escalating impact of feral cats on our native wildlife. This means inaugural five year threatened species that even where some targets were not fully met, the progress made towards strategy was almost exactly at its them has led to real improvement in the prospects of many threatened species. halfway point. Collectively, Australia’s threatened species management community has much to be proud of in its pursuit of It has been a great privilege to have these targets and I’m thrilled to report had carriage of the concluding half of on some of these efforts in the following this ambitious Strategy, to have had pages. This Year Five Report does not a hand in supporting Australia’s most shy away from the fact that there is threatened species and to personally much more work to do to ensure our witness the positive impact of so many native plants and animals thrive into the great projects that are working hard to future, and this will require an ongoing recover threatened species. collective effort. Five years after the Strategy Partnerships with so many great commenced, it’s easy to forget how individuals and organisations in the far we have come since those initial threatened species research and days of this new approach of focussed management community has been a national attention on priority action real highlight for me as the Threatened areas for threatened species. Launching Species Commissioner. I’d like to extend outcomes-based national targets for my personal thanks to all of you who threatened species recovery was a bold look after threatened species, who are and untried course in 2015, and it’s very on the ground doing the hard yards of satisfying to see the progress made caring, protecting and supporting, as against these targets by mid-2020. well as those who have helped with monitoring and reporting on recovery Many of the year five targets were progress. There are many challenges in deliberately very ambitious. They were recovering species that face multiple intended to stretch us to do more than threats, and I think we do this best when had been attempted before, therefore we do it collaboratively. those we have met represent genuinely impressive achievements. page 2 threatened species strategy year five report Photo: Northern Hopping Mouse, Rebecca Diete As this first Threatened Species Just as previous reports have done, this Strategy concludes, I’m keen to retain Year Five Report provides an annual the spirit of adventure and optimism update on activities and highlights that characterised its unfolding and from the July 2019 – June 2020 period. implementation as we look ahead to And, as the Strategy’s fifth and final the future. The next Threatened Species report, it also provides reflections on the Strategy will be in place from 2021-31 Threatened Species Strategy as a whole. and provides an excellent opportunity to refine our approaches and implement I’m delighted that the first Strategy lessons learned over the last five has delivered some great outcomes years. There are areas of focus that for Australia’s threatened species, and I we will continue with, to consolidate look forward to sharing some of those conservation gains already made or successes in this final report. to sharpen our focus on areas where we have fallen short. Recognising the significant challenges facing Australia’s threatened species, there will also be new focus areas to expand the new Strategy’s reach. Dr Sally Box Threatened Species Commissioner threatened species strategy year five report page 3 page 4 threatened species strategy year five report Photo: Cassowary, Shutterstock contents Photo: Black Grevillea, Fagg, M Acknowledgement of Country ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Commissioner’s message ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Review of Threatened Species Strategy approach over 2015-2020 ................................................................................................................ 6 Year Five – A year in review ..........................................................................................................................................................................................11 Raising awareness, bringing people together, and community engagement .............................................................................................................11 Indigenous engagement ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 Year Five highlights ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16 Reporting against Year Five targets ..........................................................................................................................................................................17 Summary of targets and results..................................................................................................................................................................................................................18 Targets .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19 Feral cat targets .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20 Target – Feral cats eradicated from five islands .....................................................................................................................................................................21 Target – 10 feral cat free mainland exclosures .......................................................................................................................................................................25 Target – 10 million hectares of feral cat action ......................................................................................................................................................................29 Target – 2 million hectares of feral cat action on Commonwealth land ...............................................................................................................31 Target – 2 million feral cats culled nationally ..........................................................................................................................................................................33 Species trajectory targets ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 Background and methods ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 Overview of results..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................38 Target – 20 priority birds have improved trajectories .......................................................................................................................................................40 Target – 20 priority mammals have improved trajectories ............................................................................................................................................42 Target – 30 priority plants have improved trajectories .....................................................................................................................................................44