Leadbeater’s possum, Victoria's state emblem, one step away from extinction
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Version 0 of 1. Victoria’s faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s possum, has officially been listed as critically endangered, with the federal government’s scientific advisers calling for an end to logging in the species’s habitat in the Victorian central highlands. Greg Hunt, the federal environment minister, has accepted a recommendation from his department’s threatened species scientific committee to uplist the Leadbeater’s possum from endangered to critically endangered – officially just one step away from extinction. In its advice to Hunt, the committee said while numbers of the small nocturnal marsupial are uncertain – estimates vary from 1,000 to 10,000 – its decline is clear, with more than 80% of the population lost since the 1980s and a further 80% decline expected by 2031. The committee said the logging of mountain ash forests needed to halt in order to save the animal from being wiped out completely. “The committee considers the most effective way to prevent further decline and rebuild the population of Leadbeater’s possum is to cease timber harvesting within montane ash forests of the central highlands,” it recommended. According to the committee, the primary threats to the possum are “habitat loss and ongoing deterioration of habitat quality including loss of vegetation type and structure. These threats result in a loss in the species’ ability to shelter, breed, disperse, and feed.” The possum’s woes have been exacerbated by fire, with the report showing that of the 195,000ha of potential habitat for the possum, 35% was burnt during the 2009 bush fires, with nearly half of the most valuable habitat being ravaged by the flames. Environmental campaigners have long pinned the blame for the possum’s steady decline on state-subsidised logging of its habitat. The Victorian government has come under pressure to ban the clear felling of the central highlands, with just a fraction of older trees, which have hollows suitable for possum homes, still remaining. According to the scientific committee 42,685 hectares of mountain ash forest in the central highlands has been logged in the past 40 years, with just 1% of old growth forest now remaining. Prof David Lindenmayer, an Australian National University scientist who is considered a leading authority on the Leadbeater’s possum, said measures so far to save the possum have been “woefully inadequate”. “I think this listing is an acknowledgement that the species is in huge trouble and its ecosystem is in huge trouble,” he told Guardian Australia. “The committee has recognised the best way to save the animal is to remove clear-fell logging, they’ve recognised that logging is incompatible with the conservation of the species. “This species will become extinct if nothing changes so this listing means nothing if there is no change on the ground. We have to get logging out of the forest and people need to better appreciate the natural asset we have there, it’s good for the economy, the environment and the community. “There’s not a lot of time to sit around waiting for something to happen. It’s very clear what needs to happen. We have 30 years of science on this species, now the politicians just need to follow that advice and act.” The Greens, as well as environment groups the Australian Conservation Foundation and MyEnvironment, echoed Lindenmayer’s call for logging to cease. Sarah Rees, president of MyEnvironment, which is based near the possum’s habitat, said Hunt had “acted commendably” in uplisting the species. “This would be one of the nation’s most controversial extinctions and we can prevent it if we stop logging critical habitat,” she said. “We thank the minister for acting thoughtfully in accepting scientific advice on the status of Victoria’s wildlife emblem.” Rees said the new listing should prompt the establishment of a Great Forest national park to cover the Leadbeater’s possum’s habitat. The Victorian government has asked a taskforce to look into the proposal, which would see tourism infrastructure put into the area to draw visitors to an ecosystem that contains some of the world’s tallest trees . Hunt said the challenges faced by the possum are significant and that he will be working with the Victorian government to help “save the possum for future generations”. “First and foremost, I have already asked my department to work with Victorian government officials and commence a review and update of the Leadbeater’s possum draft recovery plan,” he said. “This plan must be finalised and acted upon.” Last week, the Victorian government announced several new measures to aid the leadbeater’s possum, including fast-tracked surveys to identify new possum colonies, a program of remote camera surveys in areas planned for logging and infrared aerial work to identify suitable habitat for the species. |