PARK WATCH Article June 2026 |

Nick Clemann, Senior Biologist, Herpetology at Zoos Victoria, says threatened plants and animals are being pushed to the brink by preventable habitat destruction in the Victorian Alps

Humans depend on other living beings. And those beings essential to our existence in turn rely on other beings. We’re all interconnected strands in the web of life.

But biodiversity is eroding at a rate unmatched since the event that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years ago. In any rational evolutionary timeframe, this catastrophe’s pace is frightening. Although there have been five mass extinctions in the history of life, this is the first time a single species has caused such an event. And that’s us.

Twenty years of research

My research on Mount Hotham provides an example of preventable destruction of nature. Late last century I began surveying reptiles and frogs in the Victorian Alps. In 2005, I established monitoring sites across this region.

Colleagues and I monitor threatened reptiles and frogs. One way we do this is studying the genetic ‘health’ of populations. An emerging conservation paradigm, ‘genetic rescue’, involves us giving isolated populations a ‘shot in the arm’ by introducing genetic diversity from other populations.

This approach requires looking after genetic diversity in all populations. We can’t genetically augment a population if diversity in other populations is lost before we start. In other words, the health of wildlife in one area is dependent on the health of wildlife in other areas.

Bulldozers in the bush

Several times we have arrived at our sites on Mount Hotham to witness machines destroying habitats of Critically Endangered wildlife like Alpine She-oak Skinks (Cyclodomorphus praealtus) and Alpine Tree Frogs (Litoria verreauxii alpina). Some sites have been damaged; others sit less than 40 metres from destroyed habitat.

One might presume that, to destroy habitats of threatened wildlife, the highest standards of evidence and expertise would be mandatory.

But many assessments of this destruction are conducted by ecological consultants paid by development interests. To assess properly, consultants need to seek the best information from those running monitoring programs. And – if operating competently and ethically – faithfully report and act upon that important information.

Failing to be directed by these experts means that assessments often do not truly reflect the consequences of the destruction.

Destruction facilitated by such assessments comes at an enormous cost to already threatened wildlife. The latest destruction (still underway early this year) in Mount Hotham Alpine Resort destroyed habitat not only for two Critically Endangered animals (Alpine She-oak Skinks and Alpine Tree Frogs), but also for other threatened reptiles. This included an area of syntopy (two or more species living in the same microhabitat) between three Pseudemoia skinks, two of which are threatened. Such areas are critical to evolutionary relationships. The area destroyed is the only location where this relationship was known. This is a tragic loss.

The client is pleased, nature is not

These losses are preventable. In a biodiversity crisis, it’s not only essential that the best expertise and information is sought about consequences of habitat destruction – it’s mandated by law. State nature laws specify ‘the best practicably available information relevant to biodiversity’ is given ‘proper consideration’ for any decision or process involving threatened wildlife. That includes wildlife on or near Mount Hotham.

So why are experts and publications excluded from pre-destruction assessments? During our over 20 years in the Alps, the number of eco-consultants has increased exponentially. Consulting companies are the largest employer in the biodiversity sector. Consulting is often the first job university graduates get. Competition is fierce. Consultants know if a client isn’t happy with their advice, they can switch to various competitors.

Pleasing clients is not only the way to make money, but also how consultants make sure they keep making money. Some of the most knowledgeable ecologists in Victoria are self-employed consultants. But they represent a tiny proportion of the sector. Exceedingly few commercial consultants have spent significant time studying and monitoring reptiles and frogs so most are not authoritative experts.

There are powerful motivations to keep clients happy, which necessitates destroying habitats where developments are planned. Minor concessions might be made. Initial plans slightly altered to make it seem like threatened wildlife are being considered. Dubious ‘mitigations’, such as relocating some animals may be recommended. The all-but universally condemned biodiversity ‘offsetting’ might be applied…

But these token concessions do little to mitigate the destruction. Some, such as relocating animals, can spread pathogens, trigger aggressive and territorial behaviours, and cause a lack of essential resources at release sites.

Although profits of developments go to individuals and companies, the eventual cost of trying to recover threatened wildlife is borne by the taxpayer. Not only does this destruction affect our own existence, we’ll also feel these losses in our hip pocket. Effective recovery is undermined by genetic loss. Recovery is increasingly not only expensive, it’s fast becoming improbable.

Signs of hope and an urgent reminder

The federal environment department is increasingly aware of assessments that bypass the best evidence and expertise. They’re concerned threatened wildlife habitat continues to be destroyed, despite the protections intended in federal nature laws.

They continue to hold consultants to account for claims they make, and ask them to justify conclusions and recommendations. They can require literature reviews of proposed ‘mitigations’ and biodiversity offsetting that are hastening destruction of wildlife and habitats. And they are asking consultants to make sure they engage with, and follow, the advice of experts.

Sadly, further destruction of threatened wildlife habitat is all-but inevitable due to insatiable development. It’s never been more important that decision-makers truly understand the consequences of the decisions they make.

This article adapted from the author’s paper ‘They paved paradise, put up a parking lot: the unfolding herpetofauna tragedy at Mount Hotham, Australia’. Australian Zoologist 45