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

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Dear Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and State Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos

Re: Urgent response to hollow-bearing tree 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.

The clearing of cool temperate mixed rainforest, within the critical habitat of threatened wildlife like the Leadbeater’s Possum, 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 the Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on 5 March 2024.

The recovery plan pledges a commitment from the state and national governments to prevent the possum from going extinct. The Yarra Ranges National Park 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 2.7 Objective 2 deliverables. Page 55).

This is further enforced with Action 2.9 which lists the following action for recovery as an urgent priority: “Protect and buffer all large (over 150 cm DBH) and hollow-bearing trees (where over 80 cm DBH)”.

The recovery plan also states that:“all current and prospective suitable habitat is critical for its survival, and necessary for its recovery”.

“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.”

The recovery plan states that “Strategic fuel breaks have been constructed with the aim of protecting Melbourne’s water supply from fire. 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 constructed in 2008, with much community debate, to the point were the federal department put conditions on the construction and maintenance. The ongoing logging is supposedly still being governed by these same conditions 15 years later, despite the fact that these referral decisions are extremely dated and there has been further decline of at-risk wildlife and more species identified on the pathway towards extinction, including the Greater Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider, Broad-toothed Rat and Gang Gang Cockatoo. The conditions do not set out any mitigation measures for these species.

It is my understanding that 250km of strategic fuel breaks are planned across the Central Highlands, and 150km of these are subject to ‘maintenance’ and ‘rehabilitation’ operations approved by the federal government.

Hundreds of trees are being logged, many which are hollow-bearing. Local group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) have identified and documented at least 78 hollow bearing trees are ear marked for removal – including trees that meet Victoria’s threshold for big tree protection. WOTCH have also recorded endangered Greater Gliders living inside of these trees earmarked for removal.

The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) 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 hollows indicative of Leadbeater’s Possum presence.

It’s unclear if the conditions required for the construction of the fuel breaks are being applied for ‘maintenance’ or ‘rehabilitation’ of the breaks, despite both works involving similar impacts and scale of removal. It could be argued that the scale of impacts is even larger for these ‘maintenance’ works because they are logging up to one tree length either side of the existing fuel breaks, doubling the footprint covered by initial construction (20-40m).

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.

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’ve felled one, and 77 more are 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 and other hollow-dependent critters like 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.

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

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