GREATER GLIDERS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION

 Greater Gliders, a nocturnal species and the world’s largest gliding marsupial, weigh up to 1.3 kg and are capable of gliding up to 100m through a forest. Once abundant in eucalypt forests throughout Queensland, NSW and Victoria, the species was federally listed as endangered in July 2022.  

Professor David Lindenmayer, a world-leading expert in forest ecology and biodiversity conservation, said recently, “Forty years ago when my colleagues and I did spotlighting surveys, the southern greater glider was the most common animal we’d see. Now, this amazing species is endangered. In many areas it is hard to find; in others it has been lost altogether.”

Glider populations declined by 80% in the last twenty years as a result of habitat destruction – including forest destruction, bushfires and climate change.  Gliders are amongst the range of species relying on tree hollows which can take over 100 years to develop.  So old growth forest provides the required habitat of large tree hollows where they shelter and breed.

Recently the role of NSW Forest Corporation (Forest Corp) logging in destroying endangered species habitat for Greater Gliders and Koalas has been highlighted with community members reporting numerous breaches of regulations which are supposed to offer some protection for these species.   Breaches in Styx River SF and Sheas Nob SF are amongst the latest reported.

Although the NSW Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has imposed fines on Forest Corp for breaches, environmentalists are concerned that the prosecutions and fines are not enough to bring Forest Corp into line and that effective action is needed from the Environment Minister and Premier to stop the habitat destruction.

One of the community groups campaigning to stop forest destruction is the Blicks River Guardians which last Friday at Billys Creek celebrated 150 days of saving the Greater Gliders in Clouds Creek SF.  The Guardians have identified over 40 gliders to date in bushfire impacted older forests along Billys Creek and the Blicks River in areas scheduled for industrial logging by Forest Corp.

Campaigners like the Guardians are urging people to call for effective Government action to stop the destruction.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , August 7, 2024.

 

SAVING THE GREATER GLIDER, KOALA AND YELLOW-BELLIED GLIDER FROM EXTINCTION

 The North East Forest Alliance calls on the Federal Government 

to save Koalas and Gliders from extinction

In a media release on July 5 the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) demanded the Commonwealth urgently remove its approval for the NSW Government to clear and log the homes of Koalas and Greater Gliders now that they have both been listed as nationally Endangered.

The Greater Glider has now been listed by the Federal Government as Endangered because of “an overall rate of population decline exceeding 50 percent over a 21-year (three generation) period, including population reduction and habitat destruction following the 2019–20 bushfires”, the Scientific Committee further noting “cumulative impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires, ongoing prescribed burning, timber harvesting and climate change will continue to put pressure on remaining greater glider habitat. Fire-logging interactions likely increase risks to greater glider populations”.

“The Federal Government cannot continue to turn a blind-eye to plight of nationally listed threatened species as NSW drives them to extinction, it is equally culpable as co-signatory to the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement which gives blanket approval for clearing and logging of threatened species habitat across public and private lands in north-east NSW.

“Populations of many of our forest species have been decimated by clearing and logging, and now their depleted populations are being pushed to extinction by the increasing severity of droughts, heatwaves and bushfires.

“The 2019/20 fires took a huge toll on our forest wildlife, causing massive losses in the heavily burnt forests, leading the Federal Government to list the Yellow-bellied Glider as Vulnerable in March, the Koala as Endangered in May, and now the Greater Glider as Endangered.

“The Commonwealth should no longer allow the NSW Government to clear and log the remaining refuges for Koalas, Greater Gliders, and Yellow-bellied Gliders if it wants to avoid their extinction.

“The new federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, needs to intervene by changing the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement to restore the requirement for pre-logging surveys to identify where nationally listed threatened species survive, and ensure that clearing and logging is prohibited in their homes.

“To save our species, we first need to identify where they live, protect their homes and then start restoring their habitat” Mr. Pugh said.

Conservation Advice for Petauroides volans (greater glider (southern and central))

https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/254-conservation-advice-05072022.pdf

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