Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 7734–10744

objectives to ameliorate this threat, consistent with the 2019 Leadbeater's possum listing assessment and conservation advice. Although the direct threat from forestry will be largely removed, there are ongoing legacy impacts and future (interrelated) threats from fire, climate change as well as other challenges which will occur for many decades to come. This plan has been revised with the aim of meeting these priority challenges. Furthermore, management of forests in Victoria beyond 2023 is not yet finalised. This plan has therefore been developed in the context of the current circumstances and recognises that further revision may be required if circumstances change.
This Recovery Plan replaces the first (1997) Recovery Plan for Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri). Leadbeater's possum is the only species in the genus Gymnobelideus, the only mammal endemic to Victoria and one of Victoria's two state terrestrial faunal emblems.
This Plan recognises that although substantial research and conservation achievements have been made associated with the previous Recovery Plan and other initiatives, the status of Leadbeater's possum has declined, such that it was up-listed to Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) in 2015, with this status re-confirmed in 2019.
The main threat to this species has been decline in the extent, quality and connectivity of suitable habitat, particularly the loss of hollow-bearing trees, due mostly to timber harvesting, which has occurred over many decades. Although timber harvesting will cease from 1 January 2024, the species will be subject to its impacts for many decades to come. This Plan therefore focuses on both the impacts of historical timber harvesting and the main current and ongoing threats, especially further decline in the extent, quality and connectivity of suitable habitat (and further loss of hollow-bearing trees) due to current and projected severe bushfire and changed fire regimes, all of which are and will be increasingly exacerbated by climate change. Leadbeater's possum occurs in a cool-climate region and may be susceptible to increasing temperatures and extreme heat events. Additional threats and actions to mitigate the known threats are described throughout this Plan.
Conservation planning for Leadbeater's possum is therefore a long-term proposition and commitment. Because of the legacy of historic fire and timber harvesting, the availability of suitable habitat is predicted to decline until at least 2065, such that it will be extremely challenging to achieve recovery of this species in the short term. Actions taken now to enhance its conservation status are unlikely to reverse the current decline over the 10-year period of this plan, but they will help to slow decline and are essential for future population recovery. Importantly, actions taken or not taken now will affect the likelihood of extinction of Leadbeater's possum