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Why it matters (purpose claims and the mechanics that deliver them)

• Purpose claim: to stop the decline of Leadbeater’s possum and improve long‑term survival odds by increasing extent, quality and connectivity of habitat and by active management where necessary (stated at sections 1.1 and 7.2). The plan pursues that by combining (a) landscape planning and reserve expansion, (b) fire risk reduction and post‑fire recovery, (c) habitat augmentation, (d) targeted research and monitoring, and (e) ex‑situ and translocation tools (sections 2, 7 and 8).

• How the plan would deliver those outcomes mechanically: produce refined models (occupancy, PVA, LiDAR mapping), use those models to prioritise land to add to the reserve system, adopt prescriptions to retain large/hollow trees in operational areas, design and fund prioritized post‑fire responses, and run monitored translocation and captive/gene‑mixing trials when modelling and risk assessments indicate net benefit (Actions 2.1–2.10, 3.1–3.4, 5.1–5.6; monitoring Actions 6.1–6.4).

Costs, who pays and how resourcing is framed

• The document includes an indicative five‑year costing schedule for many actions (Table 9 in Part 8). The first‑five‑year line total in the schedule is shown as about $27.5 million (indicative). Some high‑cost items (reserve expansion, extensive fire management) are listed as "TBD" because costs depend on later decisions. The plan states implementation will be delivered by a mix of Commonwealth and Victorian agencies, research bodies, Parks Victoria and NGOs; funding is explicitly subject to budgetary processes and constraints (see Section 8.1).

• In plain terms: governments (Commonwealth and Victorian) are expected to provide most funding; partner organisations (Zoos Victoria, universities, community groups) are expected to contribute staff, research and in‑kind effort. The plan does not create a guaranteed funding stream; it sets priorities and indicative budgets to be negotiated and resourced through ordinary budget and program choices (Section 8.1).

Who decides, and where discretion sits

• The Instrument itself was jointly made by Commonwealth and Victorian ministers (signatures at front pages). Operational decisions about which actions proceed, timing, and exact land management prescriptions are delegated to implementing agencies (DEECA, Parks Victoria, Zoos Victoria, universities and others) acting under existing legislation and administrative arrangements (see Parts 7–8).

• There is substantial delegated discretion: e.g., what areas become dedicated reserves or informal reserves; exact fire‑management prescriptions; when to do translocations or genetic interventions; where and how to remove hazardous trees after fire (Actions 1–4, 2.6–2.9). Those discretionary choices will be informed by modelling and by the recovery team, but are not exhaustively prescribed in the instrument.

Behavioral and market effects (what changes for private actors and public managers)

• Public‑land managers will be required to prioritise habitat protection in planning and operations (retain large trees/hollows; adjust fuel‑management work; expand reserves) which changes how state forest is managed and reduces the scope for timber harvesting or other disturbance on those parcels (Actions 2.4–2.9; linked to the Victorian Government’s earlier decision ending native forest harvesting).

• Forestry operations and any contractors working on public land will face tighter operational constraints where trees are to be retained or where prescriptions apply; managers must also finance and implement monitoring and augmentation programs. Local tourism, water and carbon‑service valuations may benefit if older forest is retained (Section 8.3 discusses ecosystem service co‑benefits).

Trade‑offs, incentives, and opportunity costs to watch

• The plan concentrates conservation benefits (to the species and biodiversity interests) while imposing costs on public land management budgets and operational choices; opportunity costs include foregone timber harvest value in areas added to the reserve estate or subject to stricter prescriptions (Section 8.3.2).

• There are potential negative interactions between objectives: for example, actions that increase dense midstorey (good for Leadbeater’s possum foraging and movement) may reduce habitat quality for greater glider (noted explicitly in Part 8.3.1). Fire‑management options also require balancing human safety and biodiversity outcomes (Actions 2.6, 2.7).

• Concentrated beneficiaries (conservation agencies, zoos, researchers, community groups) will gain most of the species‑specific value; costs are largely fiscal and managerial, but local industries and communities that previously depended on native timber supply may experience negative impacts unless alternative employment or economic adjustments are arranged (Part 8.3.2 outlines economic context).

Implementation risk, uncertainties and conditionality

• The plan repeatedly identifies high uncertainty and contingency: success of captive breeding, translocation, artificial hollow techniques, and the timing/intensity of future bushfires and climate change are all flagged as major unknowns that could derail outcomes (Sections 2.3, 3.4, 5, 7.1, 7.2.2).

• Several proposed actions are explicitly conditional: translocations are to proceed only after modelling and risk assessment (Actions 3.1–3.3 and 4.3–4.4); reserve expansion cost and extent are conditional on modelling and negotiation with the Victorian government and RFA processes (Action 2.5; Table 9 notes).

• Implementation depends on coordinated Commonwealth–State action across RFA and state planning processes; that coordination is a practical and legal constraint (see Part 5 on RFAs and 7.2 Objective 1).

Compliance burden and administrative effects

• Agencies must review and amend multiple planning documents, implement new mapping and monitoring systems, operate a recovery team, and run multi‑year programs (Actions 1.1–1.2, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1–8.4). This creates persistent administrative work: new monitoring protocols, modelling updates, public reporting, and periodic reviews.

• The plan also creates ongoing obligations for adaptive management and public reporting, including a formal five‑year review to be assessed by the Australian Minister (Section 8.2.1).

Net effect in practical terms

• The Instrument converts scientific evidence and policy intent into a concrete, time‑bounded recovery program with assigned priorities, lead agencies, monitoring expectations and indicative budgets. It shifts management emphasis toward protection, modelling‑led planning, and experimental ex‑situ/translocation measures and away from commercial native harvest in the Central Highlands context. The success of these measures depends on funding commitments, inter‑governmental coordination, the effectiveness of fire mitigation and post‑fire responses, and biological uncertainties (Sections 7–8).

Key places to look in the document

• Authority and commencement: sections 2.1B–2.1C.
• Long‑term objective and plan objectives: sections 1.1 and 1.2, and Part 7.2.
• Detailed actions, priorities and deliverables: Part 7.2.2.
• Indicative costs and implementation partners: Section 8.1 and Table 9.
• Monitoring, review and adaptation: Section 8.2.
• Definitions and terms that matter for operational application: Section 10.2.

(Descriptions above quote plan sections for readers who want to locate the specific provisions.)

Creative Commons licence

All material in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence except content supplied by third parties, logos and the Commonwealth Coat of Arms.

Inquiries about the licence and any use of this document should be emailed to copyright@dcceew.gov.au.

Cataloguing data

This publication (and any material sourced from it) should be attributed as: DCCEEW 2024, National Recovery Plan for Leadbeater’s Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri), Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. CC BY 4.0.

This publication is available at SPRAT EPBC Act Recovery Plans.

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

GPO Box 3090 Canberra ACT 2601

Telephone 1800 900 090

Web dcceew.gov.au

Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) pages for this species is available at Leadbeater’s Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri).

Disclaimer

The Australian Government acting through the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has exercised due care and skill in preparing and compiling the information and data in this publication. Notwithstanding, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, its employees and advisers disclaim all liability, including liability for negligence and for any loss, damage, injury, expense or cost incurred by any person as a result of accessing, using or relying on any of the information or data in this publication to the maximum extent permitted by law.

The Australian Government, in partnership with the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, facilitates the publication of recovery plans relevant to Victoria to detail the actions needed for the conservation of threatened native wildlife. This Recovery Plan has been developed with the involvement and cooperation of a range of stakeholders, but individual stakeholders have not necessarily committed to undertaking specific actions. The attainment of objectives and the provision of funds may be subject to budgetary and other constraints affecting the parties involved and may also be constrained by the need to address other conservation priorities. Approved recovery actions may be subject to modification due to changes in knowledge and changes in conservation status.

Acknowledgements

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water would like to acknowledge the Leadbeater’s Possum Drafting Group who contributed significantly to the development of this recovery plan. Maps were produced by the Arthur Rylah Institute and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Acknowledgement of Country

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water recognises the First Peoples of this nation and their ongoing connection to culture and Country. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the Traditional Owners, Custodians and Lore Keepers of the world’s oldest living culture and pay respects to their Elders past and present.

Image credits

Cover photo: © Tamara Leitch and Claire McCall 2019.

Contents

Contents...................................................................iii

1 Summary...............................................................1

1.1 Long-term recovery objective...........................................2

1.2 Recovery plan objectives..............................................2

2 Introduction.............................................................3

2.1 Conservation status of Leadbeater’s possum................................3

2.2 About this recovery plan..............................................3

2.3 Urgent need and emergency response....................................4

2.4 Significance of Leadbeater’s possum......................................5

3 Background information informing recovery action................................6

3.1 Description........................................................6

3.2 Distribution........................................................6

3.3 Population size....................................................13

3.4 Habitat..........................................................17

3.5 Diet.............................................................26

3.6 Social structure....................................................27

3.7 Demography and breeding biology......................................28

4 Threats................................................................32

4.1 Historical causes of decline............................................32

4.2 Current threatening processes.........................................32

5 Legislative, policy and planning context........................................39

5.1 International agreements and obligations.................................39

5.2 National threatened species policy......................................39

5.3 National forest policy................................................39

5.4 Victorian state policy and planning......................................40

6 Conservation and management history........................................42

7 Recovery objectives and actions.............................................46

7.1 Context..........................................................46

7.2 Recovery objectives, actions and performance measures......................47

8 Plan implementation.....................................................65

8.1 Implementation schedule and costs.....................................65

8.2 Monitoring, evaluation and adaptation of the recovery plan....................71

8.3 Potential benefits and impacts associated with implementation.................71

8.4 Affected interests..................................................77

9 Acknowledgements......................................................80

10 Acronyms and definitions..................................................80

10.1 Acronyms........................................................80

10.2 Definitions........................................................81

11 References.............................................................86

1 Summary

This plan was endorsed by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) in 2023, after the Victorian Government had announced that native timber harvesting would cease on public lands on 1 January 2024. Timber harvesting has been one of the major threats to Leadbeater’s possum and the plan was initially drafted with a number of key 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 over a 50–100 year timeframe.

1.1                 Long-term recovery objective

The extent, quality and connectivity of current and future suitable habitat, and its occupancy by Leadbeater’s possum, is increased, such that its probability of extinction over a 100-year period is less than 1%.

1.2                 Recovery plan objectives

To progress the long-term recovery objective, eight objectives are set for the 10-year life of this plan. To achieve these objectives, and consistent with the requirements of the EPBC Act, the recovery plan sets out those research and management actions necessary to stop the decline of, and support the recovery of, Leadbeater’s possum so that its chances of long-term survival in nature are maximised.

Objective 1: All relevant existing and future planning and policy settings are reviewed, and where required, refined and implemented in a manner that contributes appropriately to maximising the chances of long-term survival of Leadbeater’s possum in nature.

Objective 2: A whole of landscape management regime is in place ensuring that all current and future suitable habitat across the species’ known range is maintained, enhanced and effectively managed to maximise its suitability for Leadbeater’s possum.

Objective 3: A range of ex-situ conservation strategies to support within range recovery are assessed, and where deemed there is a net long-term benefit (such as, likelihood of increase in overall population viability), implemented and evaluated.

Objective 4: Additional populations outside the core range of the Central Highlands are located, established and protected.

Objective 5: Targeted research addresses key knowledge gaps such that management options are better informed and management actions more effective.

Objective 6: An integrated monitoring program is effectively implemented (and maintained) that publicly reports in a timely manner on possum status, existing and future habitat extent, quality and connectivity, and effectiveness of management and research activities.

Objective 7: Stakeholders support and where relevant are involved in the implementation of the Plan.

Objective 8: Effective and adaptive implementation and management oversight of the Plan, including adequate resourcing, is in place.

2               Introduction

2.1                 Conservation status of Leadbeater’s possum

Leadbeater’s possum is currently listed under the following legislation:

           Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth): Critically Endangered

          uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2015, previously listed as Endangered (since 2000); re-assessed in 2019 and maintained as Critically Endangered;

          eligibility listing criterion 1A4(b) – a very severe (greater than 80%) decline in population size over a combination of the recent past and near future (that is, over a total of three possum generations (18 years) from 2006 to 2024) based on an appropriate index of abundance (abundance of hollow-bearing trees).

           Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic): Critically Endangered.

           International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (2014): Critically Endangered.

2.2                 About this recovery plan

This document constitutes the National Recovery Plan for Leadbeater’s possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri). The plan considers the conservation requirements of the species across (and beyond) its range and identifies the actions to stop the decline, and support the recovery, of the species such that its chances of long-term survival in nature are maximised (EPBC Act s 270(1)).

This plan replaces the previous ‘Leadbeater’s possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) Recovery Plan’ (Macfarlane et al. 1997) in place since November 1997. A review of the previous Recovery Plan (available at Review of the 1997 Recovery Plan for Leadbeater's Possum) concluded that most recovery actions had been implemented to some extent over the life of the plan and a range of measures had been introduced to protect Leadbeater’s possum habitat. Additionally, all 13 recommendations from the Leadbeater's Possum Advisory Group (LPAG), established in 2013, were implemented. Nevertheless, the species

This is an opening excerpt, not the complete document.