Principles and practices for biodiversity conservation and restoration forestry: a 30 year case study on the Victorian montane ash forests and the critically endangered Leadbeater's Possum

Abstract

We present a detailed case study of conservation and restoration of the Australian arboreal marsupial Leadbeater's Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) and its Mountain Ash forest habitat to illustrate the important intersection between forest restoration principles and the general principles for forest biodiversity conservation. Mountain Ash forests have been extensively modified through a century of intensive logging, recurrent wildfires and post-fire salvage logging. These disturbances have led to a reduction in old growth forest to 1/30th-1/60th of the extent of historical levels, a rapid collapse followed by a prolonged (≯30-year) shortage of populations of hollow-bearing trees throughout the Mountain Ash forests (which are critical habitat elements for many species of cavity-dependent vertebrates), and an increased risk of re-burning of landscapes dominated by young, regrowth forest. The consequences of the severe decline and consequent ‘temporary extinction’ of large old trees will be the potential g...