Status: Completed

Start date: 1 April 2018

Completion date: 30 June 2022

Project code: P01-L-005

Species/Threats: Feral goats, Feral pigs, Wild dogs

Summary

Substantial investments have been made in pest-proof netting fences (‘cluster fences’) around grazing properties in western Queensland.

To inform future cluster-fencing activities, the project team assessed whether exclusion fencing is effective in Queensland – specifically, the reduction in wild dog predation and reduction in competition from kangaroos.

There was little evidence of improvement in ground cover since cluster fences were set up in 2015, and it even declined in some areas. Wild dog activity inside cluster fences was much less than in traditionally fenced properties, but variations in climate, land-type productivity and reproductive diseases made it difficult to tease out the differences caused by cluster fences.

Key achievements

Outputs

  • Several rigorous and detailed assessments of the biodiversity impact and, economic and productivity gains from exclusion fencing.

Outcomes

  • Greater understanding of the effects of cluster fencing on vegetation, fauna and the environment.
  • Quantified productivity gains from pasture and livestock from inside cluster fencing and greater understanding of the impact of pest species on agriculture.
  • Enable financially sound investment decisions for landholders, NRM groups and governments on cluster fencing.

Impact

  • Increased effectiveness of resource allocation for design and implementation of cluster fencing in Queensland.
  • Contribution to reduced invasive species impacts on agricultural production by improving design and implementation of cluster fencing.
  • Contribution to potentially reducing negative impacts of cluster fencing on environmental factors such as ground cover and macropod activity in Queensland.

Project team

Dr Malcolm Kennedy

Project Lead | WA DPIRD

Dr Peter Fleming

NSW DPI

Dr Peter Elsworth

Bob Karfs

QDAF

John Carter

QDES

Megan Star

Central Queensland University

Project partners

The project received funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Project updates

February 2021

Modelling procedures have been established to run sensitivity analysis for multiple clusters for multiple years with the option of changing domestic livestock and macropod density independently. Interim simulation modelling suggests that the sensitivity of cover to changes in total grazing pressure is low (less than 10% for a 40% change in total grazing pressure in the Morven cluster).
Wild dog activity inside the Morven cluster continues to be significantly lower than the activity detected outside the cluster. There is no evidence of an increase in other predator activity inside the cluster in response to lower wild dog activity.

August 2020

February 2020

August 2019

February 2019

Scientific publications & reports

Castle G, Smith D, Allen LR, and Allen BL (2021) Terrestrial mesopredators did not increase after top-predator removal in a large-scale experimental test of mesopredator release theory Scientific Reports 11(18205). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97634-4.

Castle G, Smith D, Allen LR, Carter J, Elsworth P and Allen BL (2022) Top-predator removal does not cause trophic cascades in Australian rangeland ecosystems Food Webs 31(00229). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2022.e00229

Pahl L (2022). Assessment of the Biodiversity, Economic and Productivity Gains from Exclusion Fencing: Implications of exclusion fencing for livestock production. Technical Report – P01-L-005. Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Canberra.