Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p36
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 98536–101760

for the translocation of lowland individuals, both within and outside the species' historic range. To date, no large, intact areas of suitable swamp forest have been identified, limiting translocation options. These habitat assessments have also included evaluation of potential habitat for highland Leadbeater's possums in north-east Victoria, and indicate suitable habitat may be limited in area and highly fragmented (Eyre et al. 2022). Further assessments are required for parts of Gippsland, with bushfire risk and climate change modelling integral components of assessing the suitability of potential translocation areas.

Implications for conservation management
    * Translocation may be an important component of an overall conservation management program into the future. Objectives include (1) bolstering the occupancy and persistence in habitat fragments for the lowland population, and establishment of new lowland populations beyond Yellingbo; (2) maintaining or enhancing genetic heterogeneity of isolated subpopulations; (3) assisting the recolonisation of suitable but unoccupied habitat within the Central Highlands (such as regenerated fire-affected areas), and (4) (subject to appropriate risk and cost-benefit assessment) extending the range to suitable habitat beyond the current distribution.
    * Given ongoing habitat decline at Yellingbo, translocating lowland individuals to new locations is a high priority. Given the high predation rates documented during translocation trials at Wallaby Creek and Toombullup State Forest, cat exclusion should be undertaken at one or more of these translocation sites.
    * The small size of the lowland population (fewer than 30 individuals) constrains translocation opportunities. Ranching subadults from Yellingbo in captivity to establish new pairs will provide a key method of increasing the availability of animals for translocation.

Priority research needs to enhance management
    * Further research is required to identify and overcome the barriers to captive breeding of lowland Leadbeater's possums.
    * Identify suitable translocation habitat for lowland and highland populations of Leadbeater's possum, including regions within and outside the species' historic range. These assessments should consider bushfire risk and climate change.

3.7.3             Causes of mortality
There is little available information on causes of mortality, but occurrence in sub-fossils deposited by sooty owls (Bilney et al. 2006; Bilney et al. 2010; Bilney 2014) demonstrates that owls prey on the species, and predation by cats has impacted several translocation attempts (Zoos Victoria, unpublished data).
No data are available on the frequency or extent of mortality due to predation by introduced predators (cats, foxes) in the montane ash forest. Leadbeater's possum remains were recorded in the stomachs of two feral cats (from seven sampled) in forests north of Powelltown (McComb et al. 2019). It is unclear whether habitat disturbance, fragmentation and road construction alter predation risk in the Central Highlands, however it is conceivable that they increase predation risk.
Disturbance events that dramatically alter the environment can result