NSW Government
Environment and Heritage

NPWS Conservation

Conservation strategies include protecting assets of intergenerational significance, tracking ecological health through performance scorecards, managing pest animals and weeds, returning threatened and declining species, and aiming for zero extinctions.

Small mouse-like mammal with roo-like tail and back legs
Brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata penicillata).
Credit: David Sickerdick/DCCEEW
Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) is an iconic threatened species in NSW
Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) adult trees.
Credit: J Plaza/DPE
Assets of Intergenerational Significance

The NSW Bushfire Inquiry recognised the need to identify the most important natural and cultural assets in the national park estate so that special provision can be made for their conservation.

Boulder fields, Kosciuszko National Park
Boulder fields, Kosciuszko National Park.
Credit: Mel Schroder/DPE
Ecological Health Performance Scorecards program

A program to track the ecological health of NSW national parks.

A white feral goat with long, curved horns and a prominent beard standing in a wooded area with trees and shrubs, looking directly at the camera
Feral goats destroy native vegetation.
Credit: Simone Cottrell/DPE
Feral animal and weed management strategies

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service takes a strategic, risk-based approach to invasive species management.

Brush-tailed bettong being released by a person kneeling on the ground. It is a night release onto a red dirt floor with trees visible in the background.
‘Ecosystem engineers’ such as brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata) are returned to the landscape at Mallee Cliffs National Park in 2021.
Credit: AWC
Turning back the tide of extinctions in NSW national parks

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is establishing a network of 10 feral predator-free areas in NSW national parks.

Golden bandicoot emerging from a wooden box at night, being returned to the arid desert landscape of Sturt National Park
Golden bandicoot (Isoodon auratus) being returned to the arid desert landscape of Sturt National Park after a long absence.
Credit: Tom Hunt/Wild Deserts
Zero extinctions – threatened species framework

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is the first national parks agency in Australia to adopt a zero-extinction target. We are committed to creating permanent strongholds for the conservation and recovery of threatened species.