Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

2. Enhance the riparian habitat corridor links by strategically removing invasive
environmental weeds to encourage natural bush regeneration.
3. Develop and implement cooperative community feral animal management programs
to reduce the potential impacts on biodiversity & water quality.
4. Manage public access to protect the water supply catchment lands.
5. Develop & support community environmental awareness & education projects.
6. Strategic land purchases to preserve the riparian corridors.
Wild Dog and Fox Control Program in Mangrove Creek Catchment
A wild dog and fox control program was developed for the Mangrove Creek catchment area in
2001 from a series of meetings involving Council, NSW Government land managers, and
private landholders. This cooperative catchment wide program combines the skills, efforts and
knowledge of the local community, Department of Environment and Conservation (NPWS),
Forests NSW, Maitland Rural Lands Protection Board, and Gosford City Council’s Water and
Sewerage Directorate. The aim of the program is to reduce the environmental and economic
impacts of foxes and wild dogs on native animals in the local catchment area efficiently, utilising
the available resources.
This feral animal control program covers an extensive area of approximately 25,000 hectares of
Mangrove Creek catchment, parts of Yengo, Dharug and Popran National Parks, McPherson
State Forest, and includes the communities of Bucketty, Kulnura, Mangrove Mountain and
Peats Ridge. The program targets strategic areas for wild dog and fox control utilising best
practical methods including baiting, resource management and habitat manipulation. Mound
baiting technique has proven to be the most effective control option for wild dogs and foxes
currently available based on scientific research, as it has a negligible impact on non-target
native fauna species.
There is anecdotal evidence from the community that native animal populations are increasing
within the catchment area. Similarly, local veterinarian reports of livestock attacks from foxes
and wild dogs reduce after the winter baiting period. The decline in livestock attacks may also
be related to domestic dogs being the restrained by their owners during baiting period. Local
community support for this cooperative control program has continued and is growing over the
last four years. Accurate information relating to ecological cause and effect relationships are not
readily available. Long-term fauna monitoring will provide scientific evidence to highlight the
benefits of the cooperative program to threatened species such as the Parma wallaby, koala
and smaller mammals targeted by foxes and wild dogs.
Reducing available food resources can potentially reduce the population and health of wild dog
and foxes and their litters. A working party has been formed with relevant State Government
departments, local poultry growers and local government representatives to establish guidelines
for poultry disposal in the area.
Blackberry and lantana are known habitat and day resting places for foxes. Blackberry
infestations in the catchment have been mapped by Gosford City Council’s Water and
Sewerage Directorate and these fox habitats systematically reduced. Councils'weed control
team have controlled 3.3 hectares of blackberry (pers. comm. E Lanting) and Councils'bush
regeneration contractors have manually removed 405m2 of blackberry within the Mangrove
Creek Council Water Supply Lands area over the last three years.
Cattle Management Program in Mangrove Creek Catchment
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 71