Feds ignored ACT's request to meet on feral horses

Federal environment minister Melissa Price ignored the letter written to her in November in which Mr Gentleman asked "if there are any actions that [she] could take under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act".

Mr Gentleman told Ms Price saying the horses would have a significant negative impact on the ACT.

"The ACT government is extremely concerned that the legislation passed in New South Wales will not just lead to significant negative impacts on the ACT's ... ecosystems but will also result in significant additional costs to management," Mr Gentleman said.

He requested a meeting with Ms Price in November but a spokesman for Mr Gentleman they never received a response.

When contacted by The Canberra Times in January, a spokesman for Ms Price said the minister had received the letter, was in the process of responding and was quite happy to meet with him.

Ms Price said she was waiting for NSW to complete its draft brumbies management plan but said NSW had provided assurances it would engage with Victoria and ACT to manage the impact of feral horses.

"I welcome the ACT government's approach to managing feral horses and protecting the listed values of the Australian Alps National Parks ... including Namadgi National Park, " Ms Price said.

Mr Gentleman also wrote to his NSW counterpart, NSW environment minister Gabrielle Upton, saying "the scientific evidence is clear, and cannot be contested, the feral horses are having a detrimental impact on the environment".

The 6000-strong population of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park were given protection by the NSW parliament last year, a decision contradicting its own scientific advise.

Just recently, the Australian Academy of Science called on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to visit the park.

The academy said the impacts of brumbies in the park were mounting and the protections granted them contradicting the whole reason for Kosciuszko State Park in 1944.

Canberra's park rangers are wary of the 1000-strong feral population established in Tantangera, NSW, just across the ACT border.

They fear the brumbies will eventually move into the Namadgi National Park as early as 2025, destroying the delicate water catchment areas which provide the capital with 80 per cent of its drinking water.

Since writing the letters, Mr Gentleman declared the wetlands endangered due to concerns over the feral horses.

The wetlands are internationally recognised and protected, housing the critically endangered native corroboree frog while serving as a habitat for the migratory Latham's Snipe.

"The current large feral horse population in New South Wales adjacent to Namadgi National Park in the ACT poses a significant threat," Mr Gentleman said.

According to Mr Gentleman, 24 feral horses were removed from the park between 2007 and 2011, with the odd transient brumby wandering through since.

The NSW government now sees feral horses as heritage animals and allows only non-lethal methods to control their numbers, including rehoming.

Before the laws protecting brumbies were passed in NSW last year, a draft control plan for the NSW government suggested reducing Kosciuszko's 6000 feral horses down to only 600 using methods including aerial and ground shooting.

The two other states overseeing the Australia mainland's only alpine environments, Victoria and the ACT, both recognise brumbies as pests and have strict control measures in place.

Mr Gentleman also wrote to NSW deputy premier John Barilaro, who holds the Monaro state electorate across the border in Queanbeyan and spearheaded the controversial new laws.

Mr Gentleman asked how the new non-lethal control measures in place would work in Kosciuszko's northern end, as well as the Bimberi Nature Reserve, which straddles the ACT's western border.

Mr Barilaro said he would establish a community advisory panel and a marketing blitz to promote rehoming brumbies out of the park.