Eight species of mammal killed off in NSW almost a century ago will all be given a second shot at life.
The re-introduced animals will be among those protected by thousands of hectares of fenced sanctuaries in NSW national parks to help threatened native fauna populations recover.
They include the bilby, numbat, brush-tailed bettong (woylie), bridled nail-tail wallaby, Mitchell's hopping mouse, greater stick-nest rat, burrowing bettong and golden bandicoot.
High fences will be built around three areas totalling about 4000 hectares within 250,000 hectares of national parks, the state government and Nature Conservation Council (NCC) said.
"Over the past two centuries, our native wildlife has suffered a death of a thousand cuts, with populations of many species in sustained decline due to loss of habitat and predation by feral predators," NCC chief Pepe Clarke said as he welcomed Sunday's announcement.
"Establishing highly protected wildlife sanctuaries is an important insurance policy for our most threatened native species.
The government plans to import the eight species of mammal killed off in NSW.
"The reintroduction of these species is important to our environmental future", environment minister Robyn Parker said.
"This program will be delivered through an innovative partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and non-government organisations."
There are about seven million hectares of national park in NSW.
Almost $5 million has been budgeted for the program, with additional funding expected to be made available.
