Sitting by a winter campfire in the Great Sandy Desert, Ngururrpa ranger Clifford Sunfly could see something moving on the ground beside his four-wheel drive.

First he thought it was a hopping mouse, but in the glow of the still-switched-on headlights, he found himself looking straight at one of the rarest animals in Australia, a night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis).

"It hopped out from the shadow and stepped into a light," he said.

"I kept looking at it and saw that colour on his back and chest — greenish on his back and yellowish on his belly."

The parrot bounced around the red sand looking for seeds to eat before flying off into the darkness.

Mr Sunfly had seen night parrots before, but this instance, just a few weeks ago, was the best view he'd had of the cryptic species, which he and his fellow rangers are trying to save from extinction.

According to a new study led by the rangers and Parna Ngururrpa Aboriginal Corporation, published today in Wildlife Research, that night parrot was one of around 50 living in the 29,000-square-kilometre Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area in Western Australia.

It is the largest-known population of the rare bird in Australia, comprising about half of the nation's total known individuals.

The study, supported by the National Environmental Science Program, also suggests why this particular night parrot remnant population survived when others perished: the presence of cat-eating dingoes.

But maintaining an ecosystem that's allowed the parrots to survive is getting more complex with industrial development set to reach the desert.

Dingoes as deterrents

Night parrots were once found in every state and territory except Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

Now there are so few left — likely fewer than 250 all up — the bird is being considered for reclassification from endangered to critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Following European colonisation, night parrot numbers dwindled as their habitat degraded and foxes and feral cats spread.

How exactly isolated pockets of parrots have persisted is not known, but dingoes, which prey on cats, may play a role in this region of WA.

"We think the cats don't want to travel much through here because of all the dingoes," Mr Sunfly said, adding that dingoes aren't likely a night parrot predator.

Indigenous Desert Alliance ecologist and co-author Rachel Paltridge said cats were avoiding night parrot roosting habitat containing dingoes which ate the invasive pest.

"On average 15 per cent of dingo scats collected from the night parrot sites contained cat remains, and on some trips it was up to 25 per cent," she said.

The other thing In favour for the parrots and native species found in the desert, which is also one of the last strongholds of the bilby, is the lack of industrialised development or cattle grazing.

James Watson, University of Queensland biogeographer who was not part of the new study, said it was important from a biodiversity point of view to maintain as many ecologically intact places as possible.

"It's these large intact places that allow species to adapt to a changing climate, because they've got big, healthy populations that can move through the landscape and they can adapt to the changing climate," he said.

But change may be coming to the desert region, bringing with it community benefits alongside, perhaps, environmental challenges.

A fertile new project

Wilkinkarra, also known as Lake Mackay, is WA's second-largest lake and straddles the border of the state with the Northern Territory.

It's found between two remote Aboriginal communities, Balgo and Kiwirrkurra, at the end of hundreds of kilometres of unsealed tracks.

With a growing global demand for food, the salt lake has been staked as source of sulphate of potash, used as fertiliser, by ASX-listed company Agrimin.

There's a potential 123 million tonnes of sulphate of potash at the site that could be mined for an estimated 20 years.

The mining project is the closest to development in the region with several other companies also exploring the desert's mineral prospectivity.

To export the sulphate of potash, Agrimin is proposing to seal a 350km private road to connect the project to the Great Northern Highway and the Wyndham Port.

It will also connect Balgo with Kiwirrkurra, which share strong kinship ties, and give both communities better access to service towns such as Halls Creek where there is a hospital.

But it also means going through country containing the threatened night parrot, as well as the bilby and great desert skink.

Environmental surveys for the project helped identify night parrots in the region, and the birds have been found foraging 5 to 10km from the proposed road in some areas.

University of Queensland conservation scientist and study co-author Nick Leseberg said it wasn't certain whether the road would pose a problem for the parrots.

"There is the possibility that bringing in roads increases access for humans, and that could increase frequency of fire."

Fire is a major threat to night parrots. The birds need old-growth spinifex to create nesting tunnels.

A recent lightning-ignited wildfire in December reduced the spinifex extent in one of 51 old-growth patches in the Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area from 2,796 hectares to 660ha.

Strategic burning of fuel loads on the landscape near the roosting habitat is helping reduce the risk of the parrots being wiped out in a future fire.

Mr Sunfly said the rangers also wanted to put up signs in some areas warning people against lighting fires to protect night parrot spinifex.

Agrimin chief executive and managing director Debbie Morrow said research showed fire and feral predators were the two biggest risks to the night parrot.

"We're using this information and adapting our plans to minimise any impact on local flora and fauna from our development plans for the sulphate of potash project and transport corridor," she said.

Ms Morrow said Agrimin has planned measures such as fire management protocols, a fire response team with support from ranger groups, and a control program for cats and foxes.

Rangers do not want predator control methods in place that could harm the dingoes.

But perhaps the most significant operational condition proposed by Agrimin, as it seeks state and federal environmental approvals, is a curfew on haul road activity.

No mining vehicles will be allowed to drive on the road at night, outside of emergencies, which is when bilbies and night parrots are active.

The company will also emphasise to community members with access to the road the importance of limiting driving to daytime hours.

Tourists will not have access to the road. Traditional owners have been concerned there have been tourists in the region that don't get travel permits to be on their land and may be damaging species' habitat.

Aboriginal communities in favour

Both the Parna Ngururrpa Aboriginal Corporation from Balgo and the Tjamu Tjamu Aboriginal Corporation, from Kiwirrkurra, the leading organisations in the two communities, are in favour of the potash project and the new road.

Ranger groups are in also line for more project funding, with Agrimin proposing a $5.5 million environmental offset package for the mine.

Ms Morrow said the company had already spent $6 million on environmental surveys, studies and approvals for the project and would put a further $3 million towards operational environment monitoring and threat abatement.

In a statement, the Tjamu Tjamu Aboriginal Corporation said they wanted to see everyone benefit from the project, including the animals.

"We will work together with Agrimin to make sure ninu [bilby], tjalapa [great desert skink] and other animals stay around for our children and our children's children to look after," they said.

Mr Sunfly hopes the Ngururrpa Rangers and future generations will keep researching and conserving threatened animals such as the night parrot.

The rangers want to keep looking into just how helpful dingoes could be for night parrots, and how big an impact introduced species such as camels might be having on the ecosystem.