Marna Banggara: Breaking new ground in rewilding

Darren Grover, Head of Healthy Land and Seascapes with WWF-Australia, explains why WWF-Australia is a major supporter of the Marna Banggara project.

"For 40 years WWF-Australia has been grappling with our continent's extinction crisis, working hard to rescue individual species within their distinct environments. But the rate of change and biodiversity loss has been staggering.

Sometimes the task can seem overwhelming, even to a positive conservation scientist like me. But the Marna Banggara project offers fresh hope.

This project is radical and breaks new ground - a rewilding project like no other. It’s practical, scientifically robust and informed by the diverse needs of the Yorke Peninsula community, including its Traditional Custodians. I believe it could be a real conservation game-changer.

That's because Marna Banggara tackles several of our nation's most vexing ecological problems at once. It considers the entire peninsula landscape and all the plants, animals and people that call it home, and seeks to achieve WWF's overriding mission - to find a way that we can live in harmony with nature.

The traditional lands of the Narungga people are spectacular. But in the past 100-150 years almost 30 of its mammal species, including the brush-tailed bettong (or woylie), southern brown bandicoot, red-tailed phascogale and western quoll have become extinct. In complex, interconnected ecosystems such as this, each animal plays an important role, whether it's to disperse seeds, pollinate plants or even prey upon other animals and keep their populations under control. The disappearance of just one species can have a profound impact.

It's a sadly familiar story across our continent.

Take the brush-tailed bettong. This critically endangered marsupial was once found across 60% of the Australian mainland. An industrious gardener, it snuffles among tree roots and leaf litter in search of underground fungi. In doing so, the bettong turns over truck-loads of nutrient-poor soil (as much as two-six tonnes per animal each year), which improves water infiltration, nutrient cycling and native plant growth. As it does so, the bettong also spreads seeds and fungal spores, laying the groundwork for future plant communities.

But bettongs have faced a barrage of threats. First, agricultural development deprived them of habitat. Then rabbits arrived and caused even more damage, followed by predatory foxes and feral cats. Bettong populations have been decimated across the country and this vital ecosystem engineer is now found only in small pockets of Western Australia, offshore islands in South Australia and a handful of fenced sanctuaries.

Without the brush-tailed bettong on the Yorke Peninsula, some plants have disappeared to be replaced by others. Slowly but surely this has changed the whole character and dynamics of the landscape. The ecosystem has become more simplified and no longer supports the rich diversity it once did.

Today, Yorke Peninsula is part Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, part farmland, part native vegetation and part small townships - but vital pieces to this rich mosaic are missing. Starting with the brush-tailed bettong, Marna Banggara is an effort to reimagine and restore a healthy landscape.

We can’t wind back the clock, but we can partner with communities and their stakeholders to create a safe haven for some of Australia's most threatened native species. In restoring the ecological balance, we can also ensure prosperous agriculture and tourism, and realise community ambitions.

Marna Banggara represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to correct the balance. To eradicate feral predators and create sufficient security for a suite of endangered species to be reintroduced, some of which haven't lived here for more than a century.

This strategy, known as rewilding, aims to restore ecological processes by bringing back the animals responsible for them - the diggers and seed dispersers and even natural predators - and supporting them so they have the very best chance of not only surviving but thriving. For a conservation scientist like me, it doesn't get any better than that.

Constructing a 25-kilometre fence across the foot of the Yorke Peninsula, coupled with fox and cat controls, was the first step in the detailed Marna Banggara plan. Next was selecting the first species to be reintroduced - and being such an important ecosystem engineer, the brush-tailed bettong was the natural choice.

A source population of bettongs from an abundant population on Wedge Island were the first new residents introduced back onto Yorke Peninsula in August. These pioneering bettongs have a big role to play in restoring the landscape and have already been ‘digging’ being back on Yorke Peninsula.

Marna Banggara honours the district's Traditional Custodians. In the Narungga dialect, Marna Banggara means healthy or prosperous country, and that's just what we are all dedicated to creating.

The brush-tailed bettong was the first of hopefully five endangered species reintroduced to Yorke Peninsula over coming decades. If all goes to plan, then animals like the southern brown bandicoot, red-tailed phascogale and western quoll could be next.

During my career in conservation, I've seen that nature can be incredibly resilient and responsive. Given the right conditions, populations of endangered animals can rebound when their major threats are addressed. In this way, I can see the potential for Marna Banggara to become a model for transforming altered landscapes across Australia.

This unique collaborative project represents an extraordinary opportunity and WWF is proud to be lending a helping hand. I can't wait to see more species returned, joining the brush-tailed bettongs hopping around Yorke Peninsula as one of the most promising conservation projects in Australian history unfolds."

This project is jointly funded through the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program, the South Australian Department for Environment and Water, WWF-Australia and Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

Other partners actively involved in developing and delivering the project include Regional Development Australia, South Australian Tourism Commission, Zoos SA, FAUNA Research Alliance, BirdLife Australia, Nature Conservation Society of SA, Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Primary Producers SA, Primary Industries and Regions SA, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Legatus Group, Yorke Peninsula Council, Yorke Peninsula Tourism and Scientific Expedition Group.