Control and monitoring of kangaroo populations in the Mallee Parks of semi-arid Northwest Victoria - Version 2

This report is about the estimation, monitoring and control of kangaroo populations in the Mallee National Parks of Victoria. Kangaroo populations in the Parks are managed for two interdependent reasons: to prevent large die-offs of kangaroos during drought and because they are believed to impede the ecological restoration of degraded semi-arid woodland ecosystems, including the nationally Endangered Buloke Woodlands of the of the Murray Mallee and Riverina Depression Bioregions. The core of our work is a detailed, model-based examination of the kangaroo monitoring and control data from the parks up to and including 2017. We also review previous modelling on the optimisation of resources used by Parks Victoria for kangaroo monitoring and management. Monitoring kangaroo populations is undertaken to inform and guide kangaroo control activities. To be of value for gauging kangaroo impacts on woodland recovery, monitoring of seedling recruitment and woodland status is also required. But monitoring can be costly and must be performed as efficiently as possible so resources that could otherwise be used on direct management are not wasted.