Aim: Use established LiDAR techniques to determine where malleefowl mounds occur, particularly in the Murchison and Coolgardie Bioregions (between Norseman and Wiluna), where malleefowl occur at low density over vast areas. The LiDAR data will be ground-truthed and used to refine population estimates. Vegetation structural data from LiDAR will be used to describe the species’ habitat requirements to enable conservation planning. The results will also be used as a basis for monitoring sites.

Background: Malleefowl have declined enormously over the past century due to clearing for agriculture, especially cereal production, and it has been estimated that only 25,000 breeding malleefowl may survive. Moreover, a national monitoring program has shown that breeding numbers have declined over the last 30 years within their remaining habitat in WA. There is an urgent need to assess the size and distribution of remaining malleefowl populations to better understand where and how to recover the species, especially considering the changing climate which will impose further pressure on the species.

How the project will benefit Malleefowl and the recovery group: Developing a better understanding of the distribution, size, and trends in malleefowl populations is essential information for the conservation of the species, as per the National Recovery Plan for Malleefowl (Recovery Plan Objectives 8, 9, 10). This project will provide information that will be used to describe the species’ habitat requirements (Recovery Plan Objective 12) and facilitate conservation planning. The results will also be used as a basis for developing new monitoring sites to track the trends in populations. The information obtained will be used to advise offset considerations and management of malleefowl throughout Australia.