Good news story – threatened species ‘ I confess it took all my self control not to squeal with delight when I felt the warm wiggling bodies moving in one of the surviving boxes’ Joanne Antrobus, Parks Victoria, Yarra Ranges National Park Joanne’s role as a ranger for Parks Victoria has brought her very close to ‘her’ endangered species, the Leadbeater’s Possum, Victoria’s state faunal emblem. She considers this furry critter as almost an extension of herself and so was desperate to get out into to the forest after the bushfires to see how the animals had fared. Unfortunately, the home range of the Leadbeater’s Possum was severely impacted by the Black Saturday fires. Just under half their known habitat was burnt through including the population at Lake Mountain which had previously been estimated at between 100 – 300 animals. After driving through the town of Marysville seeing the devastation, Joanne felt like all hope was lost for her furry friends in the forest. Parks Victoria had 30 nest boxes at Lake Mountain and 28 of these boxes had shown regular use by Leadbeater’s. Sadly 22 of these boxes were totally destroyed and a further 6 badly damaged. Miraculously, the team was able to confirm that at least 6 individual possum’s survived sheltering in the nest boxes, although Joanne cannot yet estimate how big the remaining population is. She was delighted to find that a handful of animals had survived the fires, but the fight is not over. The lack of food and shelter as well as lack of connections between animals and their basic needs is going to be a huge challenge for the remaining animals. Members of Friends of Leadbeater's Possum who volunteered at Lake Mountain in November
Joanne and her colleagues on the National Recovery 09. Further information on the Friends of Team have resisted taking the animals into captivity community group at http://leadbeaters.org.au/. and instead Joanne has implemented a plan to maximise their chance of surviving in the wild. A supplementary feeding program is providing the animals with a carefully rationed food supply over the winter months while the forest recovers. Animals were regularly observed using the feeding stations (with stations visited up to 14 times per night). A number of nest boxes installed post fire have already been occupied by Leadbeater’s and nest boxes are continuing to be carefully placed across the animal’s home range to enhance the habitat for the species in the coming months with funding from Caring for our Country. Joanne has worked closely with a number of organisations in undertaking this project and many of these people who have given their time were also fire affected. Volunteers such as the Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum have lent a hand and are actively supporting the recovery program They promote their community group on their website and are greatly valued by all the staff involved. Caring for our Country funding from the PPWCMA and GBCMA regions has assisted Joanne and her colleagues to implement the recovery plan for the Leadbeater’s Possum and it will make a difference.
