Have Your Say – Kosciuszko horse management plan

Submission Guide prepared by Reclaim Kosci. Submissions close 2 November 2021

Why make a submission?

There’s no place like Kosciuszko National Park, the largest national park in NSW. This incredible landscape is renowned as the home of Australia’s highest peaks, mesmerising mountain vistas, blue alpine lakes and the secretive corroboree frog. Kosciuszko’s springs feed into Australia’s most important river system and its mountains are a sanctuary for more than 50 threatened native plants and animals, many found nowhere else on Earth. 

But Kosciuszko needs our help. 

The feral horse population in Kosciuszko has swelled to over 10,000 animals. Every day these heavy, introduced animals trample fragile wetlands, muddy freshwater streams and eat out native habitat, exposing threatened native species like the broad-toothed mouse to predators. 

The NSW Government has drafted a plan to significantly reduce destructive feral horse numbers, but the plan has some fundamental flaws. 

Luckily, the public is being asked to have a say on the plan, and that’s where you come in. Can you spare 10 minutes to help save Kosciuszko? By making a submission you can help shape the future of feral horse management in Kosciuszko National Park and help protect this incredible place from ongoing feral horse damage.     

How to make a submission

Anyone can write a submission – whether you’re an individual, an organisation, NSW resident or live interstate – your voice matters. Your submission doesn’t need to be complex or overly formal. Simply introduce yourself, outline why the issue matters to you and emphasise the key points (below) in your own words. If you can, try to outline how the problems in the plan can be addressed – the people reviewing submissions will be looking for ideas to improve the plan. Don’t forget to include your name and contact details.

Have a read of the draft plan and the useful summary sheet on the NSW Government’s website. Also available are the community advisory report, scientific advisory report and Indigenous values report (but don’t worry, you don’t have to read them all).

You can then:

• Email your submission to npws.wildhorses@environment.nsw.gov.au
• Or mail your submission to:
  The Project Team
  Kosciuszko National Park Wild  Horse Heritage Management Plan
  National Parks and Wildlife Service
  PO Box 472
  Tumut NSW 2720
• Alternatively, you can take the NSW Government’s online survey (but if you can, please prioritise making a unique written submission with the key points below as the government gives written submimssions greater consideration). A guide to survey answers is also below.

Make sure you get your submission or survey in by midnight Tuesday 2 November to make it count (tip: make you submission early on in case there are technical issues in the last hours.)

And remember: keep your submission polite and respectful. The government will exclude from consideration any submissions that are rude or target individual public servants or members of parliament.

Six key points to raise

To make your submission as effective as possible, please raise the following issues:

1. To protect Kosciuszko’s natural and Indigenous heritage, I strongly support the rapid reduction of the feral horse population from the current high numbers using a range of control methods, including lethal methods.
2. The proposed target population of 3000 horses is an improvement on the current situation, but has no scientific foundation and is still too high. 3000 horses will likely continue to degrade the park and its catchments; reducing feral horse impacts should be the focus of the plan.
3. Horses need to be removed from more areas. The park should be majority horse-free and horse retention zones should not overlap with important environmental assets, like sensitive wetlands and critical habitat for threatened species such as stocky galaxias and corroboree frogs.
4. The proposed use of ground shooting as one control method is an important breakthrough for the plan as it is one of the most humane and effective control options for horse control. Professional aerial shooting should also be included where remoteness and accessibility limits the application of other control methods.
5. Biodiversity and conservation planning and laws should prevail above the protection of an introduced feral herbivore. The NSW Government should repeal the 2018 Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act.
6. The plan should be implemented immediately with significant additional funding allocated to the control program to ensure the horse population is rapidly reduced. 

Your full guide to making a written submission

• You can download a pdf copy of the full submission writing guide with further technical points here. Keep it handy as you prepare your submission, or download it to share it with a friend. The downloadable guide provides you with all the background and steps you need to make a submission – including a quick reference list.

Download submission guide