SSAA NSW

4 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. Supplementary Pest Control (SPC Program) A Continuing Success It's amazing that we're almost two thirds of the way through the three year trial of the SPC Program, which is due to conclude at the end of 2016. The Program is proving itself a successful component of NPWS' integrated pest management approach and as being the type of model accepted within the wider community for removing pest animals from National Parks. Ground shooting is one of a number of integrated approaches that NPWS takes in the management of pest animals. The role of SSAA NSW, in our partnership with NPWS, is to provide qualifi ed volunteer hunters to participate in ground shooting operations by: • training and accrediting members so that they meet the requirements to participate in SPC operations, and • providing those qualifi ed volunteers as requested by NPWS for specifi c operations. Across the (almost) two years of the trial, we've seen 26 successful operations remove over 3940 feral animals from the 12 trial parks and reserves. We currently have a total of 94 Qualifi ed SPC Volunteers (QSPCVs) with a total of 734 members who have registered an interest and who are at various stages through the accreditation process. Over the two years more than 300 members have attended one of the 25 Information Sessions. In 2015 we made a concerted effort to increase our regional exposure with 8 out of our 10 Information Sessions held in regional locations which included Tenterfi eld, Lismore, Hay, Cobar, Batemans Bay, Coffs Harbour, Gunnedah and Leeton. In line with this, we held 4 of our 8 Induction Days in Griffi th, Casino, Batemans Bay and Coffs Harbour. The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) is undertaking the evaluation of the trial and will examine the ecological, operational, social and economic aspects of the SPC Program. As part of the evaluation, NRC will be releasing three reports; the fi rst of these assessed the establishment and framework of the SPC Program and was released earlier in the year. It was a very positive report – anyone who is interested in reading the report is encouraged to download it from the NRC website. The second is a mid-trial report which assesses the effi ciency and functionality of the trial; this will be provided to the Minister at the end of the year and hopefully available publically in early 2016. The fi nal report will provide a recommendation to the Government on the future of the SPC Program following the trial; this will be submitted to the Minister sometime in the fi rst half of 2017. An integral part of the evaluation is the provision of information, statistics and feedback from all parties involved. It is pleasing to note that NRC and NPWS are taking great steps to ensure that this occurs. Following each operation QSPCVs complete a survey which covers areas specifi c to the operation and the SPC Program generally. As part of this, they are asked two open ended questions where they are able to freely answer rather than select from a list of pre-determined responses. These responses are all shared with NRC and SSAA NSW. The top 5 responses to the question 'What do you think worked well?' were: • planning and execution of the operations • team work between NPWS staff and SSAA NSW volunteers • safety • knowledge and experience of NPWS staff, and • communications prior to and within operations.

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