Victoria’s faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum, is an internationally endangered species. Once thought extinct after the 1939 bushfires, it was rediscovered near Marysville. However, concern for Leadbeater's Possum increased significantly after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which burnt nearly half its habitat. Consequently, Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has a legislative responsibility to respond to the Leadbeater’s Possum Recovery Group recommendations. This requires DELWP to investigate and implement fire management activities to protect identified colonies and high-quality habitat from bushfire, taking into consideration other threatened species requirements.

To achieve this, DELWP uses the latest fire behaviour technology to model bushfire risk. These tools can be used to model the risk to values such as the Leadbeater's Possum through a strategic bushfire management planning process.

DELWP’s process for Leadbeater's Possum combines habitat occupancy modelling with outputs from Phoenix Rapidfire to strategically plan fuel reduction burns which benefit Leadbeater's Possum. Initially, habitat area was identified and modelled geographically and its fire impact threshold was determined. Following this, Phoenix Rapidfire modelling was used to determine where fires will start that will have the largest impact per-metapopulation.

Based on the modelling, DELWP’s next step is to introduce planned burning units to reduce fuel loads in strategic areas, thereby reducing risk of bushfire to Leadbeater's Possum. These units will be tested using Phoenix Rapidfire to determine the degree to which risk is reduced.

Outcomes from this project will contribute to decisions about how often, when and where to conduct planned burning to protect Leadbeater's Possum habitat. These decisions will inform our future planned burning locations and translate into on-ground actions. This method can effectively lend itself to other high value assets in the future.