Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p10
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 27183–30106

data). Although these new records are outside the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) area, for simplicity in this Plan we continue to refer to the current distribution as occurring within the 'Central Highlands'. The exception to this core range is the isolated remnant subpopulation in lowland swamp forest at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area, where the species occurs in an occupied area of less than 20 ha, along a 6 km riparian strip, approximately 16 km distant from the nearest montane ash forest population (Smales 1994; Harley 2002; Harley 2004c; Harley et al. 2005). Targeted camera trapping has recently detected additional lowland occurrences in small patches of swamp forest at Murrindindi, Marysville and Buxton within the highland range (presumably these individuals represent the highland genetics).
Figure 2: The distribution of Leadbeater's possum since its rediscovery in the Central Highlands in 1961
Note: The increase in number of records since 2011 largely reflects a marked increase in survey effort since this time.
Within its main range in the Central Highlands, it is patchily distributed, with distributional gaps due to areas of unsuitable vegetation types (typically those not dominated by montane ash forests or sub-alpine (snow gum) woodlands), or due to temporary or permanent loss of habitat critical because of loss of hollows due to fires or timber harvesting. Its actual current distribution is imprecisely known because not all habitat can be (or has been) surveyed, and because its persistence varies temporally due to hollow abundance, fire, timber harvesting, spatial context and other factors.
Recent extensive surveys are helping to increase knowledge of the distribution throughout the Central Highlands and have substantially expanded the number of records of the species within its central range (Lumsden et al. 2013; Nelson et al. 2015; Harley 2016; Nelson et al. 2017; McBride et al. 2019; Eyre et al. 2020, 2022; DEECA unpublished data; Zoos Victoria unpublished data). Despite this, in 2017 it was estimated that only approximately 6% of the montane ash forest within the range of the species in State forests had been surveyed (DELWP 2017).
A number of studies have used modern survey techniques in attempts to determine the full extent of the possum's range (i.e., identifying new locations beyond the previously known range), sampling widely across Victoria (McBride et al. 2019; Eyre et al. 2020, 2022; Zoos Victoria unpublished). The only detections have been 15 km east of the currently known range. Other studies using older techniques outside the Central Highlands, including north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales have not located any Leadbeater's possums (Lindenmayer et al. 1991d). Despite the lack of Leadbeater's possums recorded, further surveys are warranted given the large area over which the historic and subfossil records are