Stop the destruction of Leadbeater's Possum habitat trees - Victorian National Parks AssociationVictorian National Parks Association

709 emails of 250 Goal

SEND YOUR EMAIL

Dear Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and State Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos
 
Re: Urgent response to hollow-bearing tree and habitat destruction in the Yarra Ranges National Park
 
I am deeply concerned about the widespread removal of large and hollow-bearing trees by Forest Fire Management Victoria in the Yarra Ranges National Park.

I am furious that a dead Greater Glider was found by citizen scientists in trees which conservation groups had previously informed state and Commonwealth ministers contained gliders. The felled tree is just one of scores of ancient hollow-bearing trees that FFMV are destroying within the Yarra Ranges National Park.
 
The clearing of cool temperate mixed forest, a listed threatened community under Victoria’s nature laws, within the critical habitat of threatened wildlife like Leadbeater’s Possums, requires immediate assessment.
 
Leadbeater’s Possums are listed as Critically Endangered under national and state environmental laws. A national recovery plan for the possum was released by Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on 5 March 2024.
 
The recovery plan pledges a commitment from state and national governments to prevent the possum from going extinct. Both governments are responsible for its implementation under section 269(2) of the EPBC Act. The Yarra Ranges National Park consists of current and prospective suitable habitat, which under the Recovery Plan is identified as critical habitat to the survival of the species where no destruction or modification should take place.   
 
The Leadbeater’s Possums decline is largely due to the ongoing collapse of large hollow-bearing trees and the reduction in the extent of mature ash forest, or areas that will become mature in the future, through historical timber harvesting. Its range has considered to be reduced by 88% since European settlement, and is now largely restricted to the Mountain Ash forest of the Central Highlands and Yarra Ranges.

The Recovery Plan pledges to deliver, by the end of the first year, that: “A management regime is in place to ensure that all large, live and dead trees, and hollow-bearing trees, are progressively identified and effectively protected” (Action [Sic]2.7 Objective 2 deliverables. Page 55).
 
Under the Recovery Plan, this involves the urgent priority to: “Protect and buffer all large (over 150 cm DBH) and hollow-bearing trees (where over 80 cm DBH)”.
 
The Recovery Plan states that:
“Habitat critical to the survival of the species should not be destroyed or modified and be appropriately managed to support long-term recovery of the species. Actions that have indirect impacts on habitat critical to survival should be avoided, as should any actions that compromise the species' survival across all life stages.”
 
It also states that “Strategic fuel breaks have been constructed… To reduce the risk of these breaks fragmenting Leadbeater’s possum habitat, bands of wattle and ash forest are retained at 100 m intervals in some areas, and removal of hollow-bearing trees is restricted (Department of Sustainability and Environment 2008b)” page 43. This is far from the truth of what is occurring on the ground.
 
These breaks were originally cleared in 2007-2008, with much community debate, to the point where the federal department put conditions on the initial clearing to avoid significant impacts to threatened wildlife, including Leadbeater’s Possums. For Leadbeater’s Possums, this included a requirement that nest boxes must be installed where habitat trees for the possum are removed. These requirements lapsed in 2010 when the project life terminated.

The ongoing logging which is occurring now, over 15 years later, has not been referred to the federal government to assess for any potential significant impacts to threatened wildlife, like Leadbeater’s Possums. There are no restrictions placed on the removal of hollow-bearing habitat trees, nor are there requirements to artificially replace the hollows that are lost.

It’s not just Leadbeater’s Possums suffering, there are no adequate protections in place to avoid significant impacts to any threatened wildlife in the Yarra Ranges National Park. Other threatened wildlife like Greater Gliders, Yellow-bellied Gliders, Broad-toothed Rats and Gang Gang Cockatoos are not being protected throughout these logging operations.
 
It is my understanding that there are approximately 80km of strategic fuel breaks across the Yarra Ranges National Park where such logging operations are planned, or have already occurred this season alone.
 
Hundreds of trees are being logged, many which contain critical hollows for our threatened wildlife. Local group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) have identified and documented over 100 hollow bearing trees ear-marked for removal – including trees that meet Victoria’s threshold for big tree protection. WOTCH have also recorded many endangered Greater Gliders living inside the trees earmarked for removal.
 
The Victorian National Parks Association has documented areas where works have been completed and measured some trees removed at greater than 10 metres in circumference. There were also trees removed with distinctive key-hole entrance hollows indicative of Leadbeater’s Possum presence.
 
The scale of these logging operations are extremely significant because they are logging up to one tree length (~40m) either side of (including within) the existing fuel breaks, five times larger than the footprint covered by their initial clearing (20m). That’s 800 hectares of critical Leadbeater’s Possum habitat targeted for logging by Forest Fire Management Victoria this season alone!
 
I ask that you request a stop to the current works, while an assessment is undertaken, and that the commitments made in the Leadbeater’s Possum Recovery Plan be honoured.
 
I eagerly await your prompt and decisive action on this matter.
 
Sincerely,

At the moment Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) are felling old trees in the Yarra Ranges National Park.

Many of these grand old legacy trees have records and recent observations of Critically Endangered Leadbeater’s Possums nearby. Community groups have recorded Greater Gliders living in them.

They’ve even found a dead Greater Glider in a tree felled by FFMV.

In March, the Leadbeater’s Possums National Recovery Plan was released. It promised that within a year plans would be in place so “all large, live and dead trees, and hollow-bearing trees, are progressively identified and effectively protected”*.

But FFMV haven’t done that. They’ve fired up their chainsaws and started tearing these grandmother trees down. They’re tearing through over 100 habitat trees marked for the axe. Trees our endangered wildlife need to feed, nest and breed.

With your help we can stop FFMV in their tracks. It’s essential for the survival of our Leadies, Greater and Yellow-bellied Gliders, Tooarrana and Gang Gang Cockatoos.

Send your elected leaders a message today. You can include your own words for more impact.

FFMV cut down this critical Leadbeater’s Possum habitat tree in the Yarra Ranges National Park. The key-hole entrance hollow towards the bottom of the photo suggests it was being used by Leadbeater’s Possums before being destroyed.

* National Recovery Plan for Leadbeater’s Possum, Action 2.7 Objective 2 deliverables. Page 55.

Latest Activity

Len 15 days ago
Ruth 19 days ago
Neal 1 month ago