Why we manage the Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Managing lowland native grassy ecosystems
Native grasslands and woodlands in and around Canberra are impacted by various threats. These include:
- invasive plant and animal species
- urbanisation and fragmentation
- inappropriate grazing and fire management practices
- climate change.
We use wide ranging land management programs to protect these ecosystems. These include:
- restoration activities (e.g. planting and erosion control)
- weed control
- managing introduced and invasive animal species
- ecological burning
- strategic livestock grazing
- kangaroo management
- slashing.
Find out more about management of lowland grassy ecosystems in the Canberra Nature Park Reserve Management Plan.
Managing kangaroos and the environment
Lowland grassy ecosystems need appropriate grass height and structure so they can provide suitable habitat conditions for a wide variety of plant and animal species. Our land management programs, which include managing kangaroos, helps maintain grass heights at the optimum range for a diversity of species (5-12 cm).
Grazing by Eastern Grey Kangaroos is important for maintaining healthy, functioning lowland grassy ecosystems. However, too much, or too little kangaroo grazing can negatively impact these environments. Research shows kangaroos can reach unsustainable densities and eat down the ground layer vegetation particularly during years with dry weather conditions. This degrades the condition of endangered grassy ecosystems and removes important habitat for species, including threatened species, which rely on the intact grassy layer for survival. To avoid this, kangaroo populations are managed to sustainable levels using culling and fertility control. In wet years, or in areas of exotic grasses that are not favoured by kangaroos, grass height might exceed the desired level and other methods such as ecological burning, slashing or strategic livestock grazing may be required to improve the grassy layer habitat.
Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary fenced area showing the difference between heavily grazed and lightly grazed grass.