Byfield National Park – Sandy Point closure

The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) wishes to advise that the Sandy Point section of Byfield National Park will be closed from 26 May 2025 to 30 May 2025 to ensure public safety while feral animal control is conducted.

Feral animal control – including feral foxes, feral cats and feral pigs – upholds the key values of the park and protects nesting seabirds, turtles, and the ground-dwelling, black-breasted buttonquail.

We advise the public to continue to monitor Park Alerts and to follow the instructions of Rangers.  

Background:

The Sandy Point section of Byfield National Park forms part of the Shoalwater and Corio Bays Area Ramsar site and supports breeding populations of seabirds, including the vulnerable little tern, and is home to at least 21 other species of seabird and shorebirds.

Marine turtles nest along the Farnborough and Sandy Point foredunes, and turtle nests are directly impacted by feral animal predation.

The black-breasted button-quail is a ground-dwelling bird that inhabits the coastal semi-evergreen microphyll vine thicket to vine forest communities, and is vulnerable to predation from cats and foxes, as well as habitat degradation from pigs.

Under the National Recovery Plan for the Black-breasted buttonquail, implementing feral animal control programs is a management action to help the recovery of this important species.