Dozens of plants and animals at risk of extinction are doing better with their numbers stable or growing, according to an Australian-first study of threatened species in NSW national parks.
More than a third of the 101 threatened species studied for the first NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Threatened Species Status Report were heading in the right direction as of 2022/23.
The population of 23 species had improved, 13 had stabilised, six plant populations had declined and the remaining 59 were undetermined, according to the report released on Saturday to coincide with National Threatened Species Day.
The number of endangered yellow-footed rock wallabies doubled to 144 in the two years to 2022, which the report suggested may be linked to higher rainfall over that time.
Several extinct species reintroduced into parks also increased including three types of bilby, two types of bettong, bandicoots and a numbat.
Authorities used camera traps, acoustic monitors and vegetation surveys to come up with the findings, intended to be the first instance of regular reporting on the issue.
Nationally, there are more than 2100 plants and animals listed as in danger under federal laws.
Some 928 are in NSW, with 84 per cent of them in national parks.
The report was designed to help monitor the authority's goal of zero extinctions in their parks, while improving or stabilising the population of all threatened species by 2030.
The authority's Deputy Secretary Atticus Fleming said it was critical to consistently monitor populations going forward and they were doing everything possible to keep parks as safe havens, through feral animal and weed control and targeted fire management.
"It is a big challenge to get the right monitoring in place – some species are very difficult to detect, let alone count," Mr Fleming said.
Efforts are also underway in Queensland to boost the population of critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombats, with the department of environment, science and innovation aiming to create a new self-sustaining population in the state's south.
They aim to trap and relocate about 10 females from Epping Forest National Park to Powrunna State Forest, with hopes to increase that number to 60 over three years.
Principal Conservation Officer Dave Harper said it was a significant step in safeguarding the rare species.
“It is wonderful to see them released at Powrunna and it does feel like a success story, but the real cause of elation will be to see the current joeys breed, which will prove the new site is fully functional," he said.
Meanwhile, a litter of endangered Tasmanian devil joeys born at Adelaide's Monarto Safari Park as part of the national breeding program have started to emerge from their mother's pouch.
One has started riding on its mothers back and keepers have so far counted three tails in her pouch, but believe a fourth could be tucked away.
