THE NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has undertaken a control program to remove hundreds of invasive animals threatening the globally significant ecosystems of Barrington Tops National Park.

The park reopened on Friday 27 September following the removal of invasive animals including pigs, rabbits, hares and horses from critical areas of the park through aerial and ground shooting operations.

Part of the park was closed for four weeks during the operation.

In a media statement on Tuesday, the Invasive Species Council (ISC) celebrated the control program.

“After years of inaction on a rapidly growing feral horse problem, this is great news for our native wildlife in the Barrington Tops and the surrounding Gondwana Rainforest World Heritage areas,” ISC Advocacy Director Jack Gough said.

“With the recent aerial cull, Barrington Tops is finally being freed from the relentless damage caused by a growing population of feral horses.

“No one likes to see animals killed, but the sad reality is that we have a choice to make between urgently reducing the numbers of feral horses or accepting the destruction of sensitive environments and extinction of native animals.”

ISC Senior Policy Analyst, Dr Carol Booth, who recently travelled to the area, said Barrington Tops is home to at least 50 rare and threatened species, but is “besieged” by invasive species including feral horses, pigs and English broom.

“On a recent trip to the park, it was devastating to see 86 piles of horse dung scattered along the three kilometre Polblue Swamp trail, an area with several threatened plants and animals,” Dr Booth said.

“Feral horses were grazing in the swamp, habitat for endangered mastacomys, while thick patches of English broom choked the higher ground.

“Sadly English broom has taken over at least 10,000 hectares of the park, providing cover for feral pigs.”

NPWS has indicated it will seek interest from individuals and organisations interested in rehoming horses from the park and, subject to interest, will undertake trapping for rehoming in 2025.

Whilst the park has reopened after a four-week closure for the operation, some 4WD trails will remain off limits following the annual seasonal closure due to trail conditions.

Tugalow trail, Thunderbolts trail between Barrington Tops Forest Road and Pheasants Creek Road and Barrington Trail south past the Junction Pools Trail are closed.

The closure does not affect access to the Barrington Tops plateau campgrounds, with walkers and mountain bikers still permitted to use the trails during the closure to public vehicles.