Greater Bilbies (Macrotis lagotis) once occupied 70% of Australia but are now a Vulnerable Species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (C’wlth) 1999. A dedicated 29 sq. km. enclosure to protect reintroduced bilbies from predators was built in Currawinya National Park in south-west Queensland in 2003. Ten bilbies (3 male and 7 female) were released in the enclosure during the period from December 2005 to September 2006.

The objective of this research was to develop a method to identify suitable Greater Bilby habitat from remote sensing imagery. A related objective was to spatially characterize how bilbies used their environment for feeding and resting.

Aerial photographs (1:40,000) were used to classify the vegetation and land cover. Soil samples were used to construct a detailed soils map of the enclosed area. Radio tracking (2005-06) and field tracking data (2008) were used to identify spatial associations between bilby activities and land cover features in order to spatially characterize bilby micro-habitats. These results formed the basis of a model to identify further potential bilby micro-habitats within the enclosure.

The results show that (i) bilbies are active in only a small part of the larger area available to them (ii) micro-habitats suitable for bilbies represent only a small fraction of the enclosed area at Currawinya, and (iii) ten introduced bilbies produced sufficient progeny within 2 ½ years to occupy micro-habitats in all parts of the enclosed area.

Keywords: Greater Bilby, macropod habitat, spatial analysis, remote sensing.