The Search for Gliders in Woomargama

NRM NEWS – FEBRUARY 2021 – SIGNIFICANT SPECIES

By Cameron Butcher        
Land Services Officer P: 02 6051 2233 | M: 0428 217 271 | E: cameron.butcher@lls.nsw.gov.au

Murray Local Land Services is undertaking several projects that will help recover threatened species and threaten ecological communities in areas impacted by the significant 2019/2020 bushfires. One of these projects aims to assess the population status of the Greater Glider in Woomargama National Park.

Woomargama National park was impacted by the 2019/2020 bushfires burning half of the park, east of the Tin Mines Campground. The fire burnt with varying intensities and severely affected much of the habitat that was vital to Greater Gliders. Greater Gliders were regularly sighted within the park until the 1990s, but sightings have since declined or have been unreported.

Greater Gliders are listed as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The species is strongly dependent on intact forests, requiring large old trees that contain suitable hollows for shelter and nesting. Given these dependencies, habitat loss and fragmentation through bushfires pose a threat to Greater Gliders.

This survey will help us determine if Greater Gliders remain in the Woomargama National Park and inform future management decisions for the recovery of the species.

Did you know that the number of species of Greater Glider has recently tripled? A recent genetic analysis of Greater Gliders has divided the species into three genetically distinct species. What future implications this will have on the protection of Greater Gliders is not yet known.

This project is supported by Murray Local Land Services, through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.