Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p39
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 106956–109813

the areas burnt in 2009 have been recolonised, coinciding with development of a dense cover of wattle and other small trees. This re-establishment is likely to be contingent on some hollow-bearing trees remaining in the burnt landscape, or being in close proximity to burnt areas. The rate of habitat and population recovery following bushfire in sub-alpine woodland is far slower than in montane ash forest (Zoos Victoria, unpublished data).
Fire is the primary form of natural disturbance in montane ash forest, and the dynamics of post-fire vegetation succession critically influences habitat suitability for Leadbeater's possum. However, fire regimes have changed with bushfires now likely to be more frequent than prior to European settlement (Lindenmayer et al. 2013c). The current pattern of severity and frequency of bushfires is resulting in ongoing diminution in the extent and quality of habitat for Leadbeater's possum.
The impacts of changed fire regime are particularly evident in the reduced extent and increased fragmentation of old-growth forest (that is, where dominant trees are more than 120 years old). At around the onset of European settlement, old-growth forest comprised at least 30% and possibly up to 60–80% of the mountain ash forest in the Central Highlands (Lindenmayer 2009). Its proportional extent now has been estimated to be only about 1.1% (Lindenmayer et al. 2012; Lindenmayer et al. 2013a; Lindenmayer et al. 2015b).
The most extensive fire affecting Leadbeater's possum habitat in recorded history was in 1939, burning about 85% of mountain ash forests in the Central Highlands (Burns et al. 2015). In 1983, sections of forest within the southern part of the species' range were burnt in a severe bushfire. Regeneration from this fire now provides important habitat for the species, with the combination of large stags providing nest sites and the regeneration providing foraging habitat. The next extensive bushfire was in 2009, with this fire burning about 68,000 ha of montane ash forest and sub-alpine (snow gum) woodlands considered to be potential habitat of Leadbeater's possum, including 45% of the Leadbeater's possum reserve (LPAG 2014b).
The impacts of fire vary according to the age and structure of the forest at the time at which it is burnt, the severity of the fire, and the fire's landscape context (mainly the amount and connectivity of unburnt patches). In montane ash forests, a severe fire kills most midstorey vegetation and canopy trees (but releases their seed, allowing for a regeneration cohort), and consumes most previously dead trees, rendering the habitat unsuitable for Leadbeater's possum in the short term. However, fire may promote the capacity for older trees to form hollows from fire scarring. If large live trees were present prior to the fire, many of those killed will remain as