New program expands protection for Coongie Lakes

The new project will focus on the Coongie Ramsar triangle and has been broadened to monitor and manage threats on the surrounding landscapes.

While the project will focus on protecting the nationally endangered Kowari, native fish and water birds, the threat abatement work to be undertaken will also benefit species previously monitored including the Dusky Hopping-mouse and Crest-tailed Mulgara.

Monitoring work will be undertaken to determine the level of species diversity at the site and the number of waterbirds. This information is critical in maintaining its Ramsar listing.

Trapping programs will target Kowari, a small, carnivorous marsupial which burrows in sand mounds on the gibber plains, to gain a better understanding of population demography such as sex ratio and breeding success.

Additional fish trapping surveys will be undertaken and aerial and ground surveys will monitor waterbird numbers.

Cameras will also be used to monitor populations and distribution of Kowari, in addition to signs of activity of pigs and large feral herbivores such as camels, donkeys and horses.

Feral pigs and large feral herbivores will be monitored through signs of scats, tracks and diggings in addition to the camera data. Aerial programs will focus on feral pig control, with pigs destroying vegetation, eating native flora and fauna and fouling waterholes. Large feral herbivores such as camels, donkeys and horses, which destroy vegetation and flatten Kowari mounds will also be targeted

In addition, the area will be surveyed and mapped to identify infestations of buffel grass, with control efforts undertaken to protect ecological assets in strategic locations. A declared weed, buffel grass can completely change vegetation structure in important ecological communities, creating a monoculture and displacing native and endemic plants. A presence of buffel will also increase the risk of fire.

The Malkumba-Coongie Lakes are listed as a Ramsar site for its outstanding ecological processes, status as an unregulated natural water systems and the diversity of its migratory birds, waterfowl and fish. It also supports dryland dune fields and gibber plain habitat known to support threatened species under Federal and State environmental legislation.

Wetland Wonders is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by the SA Arid Lands Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.