Burrowing bettongs are on the move at Arid Recovery. After growing populations inside the predator-free Main Exclosure, our team has relocated 141 bettongs to other parts of the Reserve where quolls now help keep numbers in check. The move is part of a long-term experiment exploring how native predators restore balance to arid ecosystems.

At Arid Recovery, the fight to protect endangered wildlife relies on a 1.8-m tall floppy top fence -  our home-grown innovation that keeps predators out and science moving forward. Invented at Arid Recovery and now used across Australia, the fence is constantly tested by rust, wind, and time. Maintaining it is tough and costly, but vital: without it, there would be no safe haven for wildlife and no long-term research to guide conservation efforts.

What do 50 cameras in the desert reveal? In the vast Jackboot Paddock between Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre North and South, Arabana Rangers, BHP and Arid Recovery are working together to track feral animals and protect native wildlife. This powerful collaboration is already turning up exciting results and combining Indigenous knowledge with science to care for Country.

What happens to small mammals when you take cats and foxes out of the desert? We monitored small mammals inside and outside the fence for over 26 years. The result was a surprising story of succession, driven by rainfall-fueled booms, colonisation, and the shifting balance of competition in a feral-predator-free landscape.

For environmental science student Rose, joining Arid Recovery’s annual cage and kowari trapping surveys was a chance to turn theory into practice. Over two weeks, she experienced early morning starts, hands-on wildlife monitoring, and the challenge of working in a remote arid landscape. From the wide red dunes to the frantic scurry of a kowari, Rose shares how her two-week placement deepened her understanding of ecology, fieldwork, and the species she’d only read about in textbooks.