Developing A Management Plan for The Thredbo River Platypuses.

Abstract

A management strategy to conserve platypuses in the Thredbo River has been developed for the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Thredbo River flows through a multi-use land system with headwaters in the wilderness area of the Kosciusko National Park. A range of recreational activities dominated by skiing interests centre around Thredbo Village and the Ski-Tube link and their associated infrastructure. Further down the valley the predominant land use on the southern side of the river is grazing on private land. The river's historic confluence with the Snowy River is now the site of Lake Jindabyne, part of the Snowy River Hydro-electric Scheme. The dam wall is assumed to be an impenetrable barrier to platypus movement. The plan was developed on the basis of: *Characterising some aspects of platypus population biology in a 2-year study; * comparing these data with limited baseline data; *Observing and interpreting the impacts of a major flood event on population dynamics coinciding with the ' melt' phenomenon; *Identifying likely impacts on the platypus population particularly in relation to water quality and siltation-sanding and determining the probable trends of these impacts. It was then possible to suggest actions to ameliorate impacts on the platypus.