Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p50
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 137204–140177

artificial connectivity or translocation – is warranted. Following the severe impacts of the 2009 bushfires at Lake Mountain, additional den sites (nesting boxes) were provided and a supplementary feeding program was undertaken over winter for three years following the fire. This was coordinated by Parks Victoria, with extensive volunteer participation from the Friends of Leadbeater's Possum group. The few remaining animals made extensive use of the supplementary food provided (J. Antrobus and D. Harley, pers. comm.).
The establishment and regular checking of nest boxes as a survey, research and monitoring tool has been maintained, with particular applicability in sub-alpine woodland and lowland swamp forest habitat and with varying success in montane forests (Harley 2016). Project Possum is a collaborative project between Zoos Victoria, Parks Victoria and the Friends of Leadbeater's Possum that aims to provide long-lasting nest boxes at strategic locations within Leadbeater's possum's range in the Central Highlands. As at May 2023, 823 nest boxes have been installed (347 in sub-alpine woodland, 396 in montane ash forest and 80 in lowland forest; 511 in parks and reserves, 312 in State Forest) (D. Harley, pers. comm.). A further 100 nest boxes are maintained by Zoos Victoria in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area.
The Arthur Rylah Institute is conducting complementary work on artificial hollows cut with chainsaws. Of the 132 established to date Leadbeater's possum currently occupy 43%, with 62% having been used at some time since they were installed in 2015 and 2017. Although some hollows were occupied very soon after construction, others that had not previously been used by Leadbeater's possums in 6 years were occupied this year. This highlights the benefit of long-term monitoring of the hollows as patterns change over time.
Since 2012, two different conservation strategies have been applied to the lowland population at Yellingbo. The first, applied from 2012 to 2017, focused on captive-breeding and habitat restoration. Unfortunately, no lowland young have yet been produced by captive breeding. The captive-breeding program is linked with a major habitat protection and restoration program underway for both Leadbeater's possum and the helmeted honeyeater. This has included targeted revegetation to compensate for loss of vegetation structure and lack of natural regeneration. DEECA and Parks Victoria is working with adjacent landowners to fence off stream frontages and phase out grazing over a significant area in the Yarra Valley to improve water quality and protect riparian habitats (DELWP 2015a). A 5 km habitat protection fence, encompassing 44 ha of the most critical remaining habitat for the lowland Leadbeater's possum has been built at Yellingbo to reduce browsing impacts of deer and wallabies on vegetation and seedling recruitment. It is likely that restored habitat will be dispersed across a collection of sites 30–80