Invitation to comment on EPBC Act nomination to list as critically endangered:
Gymnobelideus leadbeateri (Leadbeater’s possum)
You are invited to provide your views and to supply supporting information about:
1) the eligibility of Gymnobelideus leadbeateri (Leadbeater’s possum) for inclusion on the EPBC
Act threatened species list as critically endangered, and
2) the necessary conservation actions for the species.
Responses can be provided by any interested person.
Anyone may nominate a native species, ecological community or threatening process for listing
under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) or for a
transfer of an item already on the list to a new listing category. The Threatened Species Scientific
Committee (the Committee) undertakes the assessment of the nomination to determine eligibility
for inclusion in the list of threatened species and provides its recommendation to the Australian
Government Minister for the Environment.
The nomination to list Leadbeater’s possum as critically endangered under the EPBC Act is
provided at http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/threatened-species-ecologicalcommunities/nominations/comment-nominations. (This nomination was made in late 2012 and
therefore does not include information that has become available since this time.)
To assist with the Committee’s assessment, the Committee has identified a series of questions on
which it seeks your guidance at page 3 and tables for your contribution of data on habitat, at
Tables 1–2 on pages 6–7. You may wish to respond to all or any of these questions.
Responses are to be provided in writing either by email to:
species.consultation@environment.gov.au
or by mail to:
The Director
Terrestrial Species Conservation Section
Wildlife, Heritage and Marine Division
Department of the Environment
PO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601
Timeframe for providing your response: by 24 January 2014.
Contents of this information package
General background information about listing threatened species
Information about this consultation process
Collective list of questions – your views
Tables for contribution of data on habitat
Nomination of Leadbeater’s possum as critically endangered is available at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/threatened-species-ecologicalcommunities/nominations/comment-nominations.
Page
2
2
3
6-7
1
General background information about listing threatened species under the EPBC Act
The Australian Government helps protect species at risk of extinction by listing them as threatened
under Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Once listed under the EPBC Act, the species becomes a Matter of
National Environmental Significance (MNES) and must be protected from significant impacts
through the assessment and approval provisions of the EPBC Act. More information about
threatened species is available on the department’s website at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/index.html.
The listing of species is driven by a public nomination process. Public nominations to list
threatened species under the EPBC Act are received annually by the department. In order to
determine if a species is eligible for listing as threatened under the EPBC Act, the Threatened
Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes a rigorous scientific assessment of its
status to determine if the species is eligible for listing against a set of criteria. These criteria are
available on the Department’s website at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/pubs/guidelines-species.pdf.
As part of the assessment process, the Committee consults with the public and stakeholders to
obtain specific details about the species, as well as advice on what conservation actions might be
appropriate. Information provided through the consultation process is considered by the Committee
in its assessment. The Committee provides its advice on the assessment, together with comments
received, to the Minister regarding the eligibility of the species for listing under a particular category
and what conservation actions might be appropriate. The Minister decides to add, or not to add,
the species to the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act. More detailed information about
the listing process is at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations.html.
To promote the recovery of listed threatened species, conservation advices and where required,
recovery plans are made or adopted in accordance with Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Conservation
advices provide guidance at the time of listing on known threats and priority recovery actions that
can be undertaken at a local and regional level. Recovery plans describe key threats and identify
specific recovery actions that can be undertaken to enable recovery activities to occur within a
planned and logical national framework. Information about recovery plans is available on the
department’s website at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/recovery.html.
Information about this consultation process and your comments
Responses to this consultation can be provided electronically or in hard copy to the contact
addresses provided on Page 1. All responses received will be provided in full to the Committee and
then to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.
In providing comments, please provide references to published data where possible. Should the
Committee use the information you provide in formulating its advice, the information will be
attributed to you and referenced as a ‘personal communication’ unless you provide references or
otherwise attribute this information. The final advice by the Committee will be published on the
department’s website following the listing decision by the Minister.
Information provided through consultation may be subject to freedom of information legislation and
court processes. It is also important to note that under the EPBC Act, the deliberations and
recommendations of the Committee are confidential until the Minister has made a final decision on
the nomination, unless otherwise determined by the Minister.
2
Species for this assessment: Gymnobelideus leadbeateri (Leadbeater’s possum)
Current listing status under the EPBC Act: Endangered
Nominated (in 2012) as: Critically Endangered
Nomination of Leadbeater’s possum as critically endangered is available at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/threatened-species-ecologicalcommunities/nominations/comment-nominations.
The listing criteria for listing a species as threatened under the EPBC Act, and thresholds indicting
the listing category, are available on the Department’s website at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/pubs/guidelines-species.pdf.
You may wish to consider these in providing comments on the eligibility of this species as critically
endangered.
Questions
Note: for the purpose of this assessment, generation length for Leadbeater’s possum has
been estimated at 4.5 years. The listing guidelines for criterion 1 consider decline over a
period of three generation lengths, which in this case is 14 years.
Population numbers
1.
Can you provide an estimate of the current population size of mature adults of this species
(for its entire national extent)? Can you provide supporting data/justification or other
information?
If, because of uncertainty, you are unable to provide a single number, you may wish to
provide an estimated range. If so, please provide your estimated minimum, estimated
maximum, your best estimate, and then provide your overall level of confidence in these
estimates (e.g., range 50–100%):
Lower bound (estimated minimum):
Upper bound (estimated maximum):
Best estimate:
Confidence : %
2.
Are you able to provide an estimate of the population size prior to 1999? (start of three
generation period to 2013 – as a baseline). Can you provide supporting data/justification or
other information?
If, because of uncertainty, you are unable to provide a single number, you may wish to
provide an estimated range. If so, please provide your estimated minimum, estimated
maximum, your best estimate, and then provide your overall level of confidence in these
estimates (e.g., range 50–100%):
Lower bound (estimated minimum):
Upper bound (estimated maximum):
Best estimate:
Confidence : %
3
3.
Are you able to provide an estimate of the current number of breeding individuals of this
species? Can you please provide justification if your estimate differs from that of total
population size (for instance, are you able to comment on average den size).
If, because of uncertainty, you are unable to provide a single number, you may wish to
provide an estimated range. If so, please provide your estimated minimum, estimated
maximum, your best estimate, and then provide your overall level of confidence in these
estimates (e.g., range 50–100%):
Lower bound (estimated minimum):
Upper bound (estimated maximum):
Best estimate:
Confidence : %
Extent of occurrence and area of occupancy
Please see part C of http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/aed42802-8618-43bb8ba2-64ad515d93a9/files/guidelines-species.pdf for information about these measures.
4.
Can you provide information on the current extent of occurrence and/or area of occupancy?
Can you provide estimates (or if you disagree with the estimates provided, alternative
estimates) of the a) extent of occurrence and/or b) area of occupancy. Can you provide
supporting data/justification or other information?
If, because of uncertainty, you are unable to provide a single number, you may wish to
provide an estimated range. If so, please provide your estimated minimum, estimated
maximum, your best estimate, and then estimate your overall level of confidence in these
estimates (e.g., range 50–100%):
a) Extent of occurrence
Lower bound (estimated minimum):
Upper bound (estimated maximum):
Best Estimate:
Confidence : %
and /or
b) Area of occupancy:
Lower bound (estimated minimum):
Upper bound (estimated maximum):
Best Estimate
Confidence : %
5.
Are you able to comment on the extent of decline in the species’ area of occupancy or extent
of occurrence over a 14 year period? Can you provide supporting data/justification or other
information?
6.
Are you able to provide data about available habitat area and declines in Tables 1 and 2 at
pages 6–7 below? Can you provide supporting data/justification or other information?
General
7.
Do you agree that species is eligible for inclusion in the critically endangered category of the
threatened species list?
8.
Is the information used to identify the nationally threatened status of the species accurate?
9.
Can you provide additional data or information relevant to an assessment against the listing
criteria?
4
10.
Have you been involved in developing this nomination?
Questions about threats
11.
Do you agree that the threats identified in the nomination are correct and that their impact on
the species is as described?
12.
To what degree are the identified threats likely to impact on the species in the future?
13.
What threats are impacting on different populations, how variable are the threats and what is
the relative importance of the different populations?
14.
Can you identify other threats, past, current or potential that may adversely affect this
species at any stage of its life cycle?
15.
Can you provide supporting data/justification or other information for your responses to these
questions about threats?
Questions about management
16.
What planning, management and recovery actions are currently in place supporting
protection and recovery of the species? To what extent have they been affective?
17.
Can you recommend other actions that would aid the protection and recovery of the species?
Please provide supporting information.
18.
What organisations and individuals are currently, or potentially could be, involved in
management and recovery of the species?
5
Table 1. Leadbeater’s possum (LBP) habitat information (within 1999–2013)
Approx 1999
Suitable
Habitat by
Forest Type
Area (Ha)
of suitable
habitat for
LBP
Relative
contribution to area
of total suitable
habitat for LBP
At 2013
(i- area lost by 2013
through fire)
Area (Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
through 2009
fire
Relative
contribution
to area of
total suitable
habitat for
LBP
At 2013
(ii- additional area lost
2013 through harvesting)
Area (Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
through
timber
harvesting
(i.e. area clear
felled or
otherwise)
and not
already
included at (i)
Relative
contribution to
area of total
suitable habitat
for LBP
At 2013
Total habitat loss since
1999
Total area
(Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
from
harvesting
and fire
%
Decline
from
19992013
Relative
contribution
to area of
total suitable
habitat for
LBP
Montane
Ash Forest
%
%
%
%
%
Sub-alpine
Woodland
%
%
%
%
%
Lowland
Swamp
Forest
%
%
%
%
%
Total
+ (iii) any loss due to decline in habitat quality in remaining habitat from 1999 to 2013 if quantifiable (loss of hollow-bearing trees approx% +
loss of quality at Yellingbo) = %
6
Table 2. Leadbeater’s possum (LBP) habitat information (within 2008–2022)
Approx 2008
Suitable
Habitat by
Forest Type
Area (Ha)
of suitable
habitat for
LBP
Relative
contribution to area
of total suitable
habitat for LBP
At 2022
(i-area lost by 2022
through fire)
Area (Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
through 2009
fire
Relative
contribution
to area of
total suitable
habitat for
LBP
At 2022
(ii-additional area lost
2022 through harvesting)
Area (Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
through
timber
harvesting
(i.e. area clear
felled or
otherwise)
and not
already
included at (i)
Relative
contribution to
area of total
suitable habitat
for LBP
At 2022
Total habitat loss since
2008
Total area
(Ha) of
suitable
habitat lost
from
harvesting
and fire
%
Decline
from
20082022
Relative
contribution
to area of
total suitable
habitat for
LBP
Montane
Ash Forest
%
%
%
%
Sub-alpine
Woodland
%
%
%
%
Lowland
Swamp
Forest
%
%
%
%
Total
+ (iii) any loss due to decline in habitat quality in remaining habitat from 2008 to 2022 if quantifiable (loss of hollow-bearing trees approx% +
loss of quality at Yellingbo) = %
7