Innovative 'poo driven' research into long-footed potoroo begins in South East Forest National Park

Minister for Environment James Griffin said the scientists' attempts at finding DNA samples of the critically endangered species involved searching through the poo of their predators, which included cats, foxes, dingoes and quolls.

"While it's a crap job, this new technique is also an innovative way to find out whether the long-footed potoroo is still present in the South East Forests," Mr Griffin said.

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Mr Griffin said the species was last known to have inhabited parts of the South East Forest National Park in the early 1990s.

Over the next year, scientists from the NSW Government's Saving our Species program will collect 1000 predator scat samples from across the South East Forest.

"Finding long-footed potoroo DNA in predator scats would confirm the species still exists in NSW and be a huge step forward for our conservation efforts," Mr Griffin said.

"With the species on the brink of extinction and traditional survey methods failing to find the animal, there has never been a better time to think outside the box and trial this detection method."

The scientists will be using an environmental DNA technology (eDNA) to analyse the scats and confirm if the long-footed potoroo still exists in their known habitat.

Department of Planning and Environment senior threatened species officer Joss Bentley has collected 100 scats from the South East Forest National Park so far.

"I can't say picking up poo is the most glamorous thing I have done in my career, but it's an important new technique that may help us find species that are difficult to survey," Dr Bentley said.

Dr Bentley said they hoped to eventually collect 1000 scat samples and partner up with EnviroDNA in Melbourne.

"We expect the results within 12 months with the best-case scenario identifying evidence of this elusive species," she said.

"Either way the results will still give us an excellent understanding of the animals currently living in these forests and complement our existing understanding of species distribution, which will help inform the south coast's first rewilding project."

With the long-footed species nearing extinction, Mr Griffin said it was likely the species would be one of several locally extinct species to be re-introduced in the NSW Government's Nungatta feral-free rewilding site.

This work is part of the NSW Government's Saving our Species program, which is backed by a $175million commitment over 10 years.

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