mountain pygmy possums

The mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus) is an endangered species found in alpine areas. Thanks to a project involving Country Energy and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the population in the Snowy Mountains' Mt Blue Cow area has new tunnels to assure safe passage between areas of habitat isolated by cleared corridors.

The tunnels establish links between habitats that were dissected during the construction of an underground service corridor for electricity, telecommunication and sewer infrastructure in the 1980s. The tunnels also reduce predation by foxes and feral cats that take advantage of the corridors for travel and hunting, as small mammals like the possums are easier to catch in the open.

The project’s potential was realised during investigations into the re-construction of a powerline destroyed by bushfires around Christmas 2003. Country Energy welcomed the opportunity to play a part in re-establishing links between isolated habitats.

Dr Linda Broome (Senior Threatened Species Officer, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service) believes Country Energy has made an "important contribution to the NSW Possum Recovery Plan".

Dr Broome said the tunnels allow the possums to continue their wide-ranging movements between boulder field habitats dissected by roads, tracks and ski runs in resort areas. Without the tunnels, such fragmentation of habitat can cause social dysfunction by preventing males and offspring from moving around breeding areas.

Mountain pygmy possums don’t move across open ski runs, roads or areas of natural low vegetation cover where they are vulnerable. In Mt McKay, Victoria, evidence suggested that habitat fragmentation prevented at least one group of females from breeding, presumably due to the low numbers of males in the area.

At Mt Blue Cow, grooming of a ski run during summer prevented the movement of radio-tracked possums from one side to the other. After a tunnel was constructed - in the form of a rock-filled culvert - movements resumed.

The five-metre long tunnels are built using 600 millimetre culvert pipes sawn in half. The bottom half is laid in a trench and filled with suitable sized rocks (a possum can pass between or over the rocks, depending on how threatened it may feel). The top half is then installed and the trench backfilled. To allow a safe and inconspicuous entry, each end of the tunnel is camouflaged with natural rock. The tunnel entrances are also fitted with 40 to 80 millimetre steel mesh. This allows pygmy possums and the larger native broad-toothed rats (Mastacomys fuscus) to pass, while excluding foxes and cats.

some facts

• The mountain pygmy possum is the only marsupial that hibernates throughout the winter, and the only one that is confined to alpine areas.
• Radio-tracking and trapping studies have shown mountain pygmy-possums frequently move significant distances to find food.
• At Mt Blue Cow, males made nightly 3km round trips, from day time nest sites, to feed on seasonal concentrations of bogong moths on the mountain peak. Females didn’t travel as far.
• Males made similar treks to mate with females in the spring.
• In late summer and autumn, juveniles disperse and males migrate from breeding habitat to suitable hibernation areas.
• In winter, movements decline markedly, though hibernating possums may wake occasionally and need to seek new hibernation sites.
• The NSW Possum Recovery Plan identified the need to further assist the natural movements of mountain pygmy possums, and advocated construction of more tunnels as old roads and facilities are upgraded or new ones built.
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The bird diverter is a simple mechanical device made of plastic and wire. It clips onto an overhead power cable. The high visibility orange racquet section is hinged and can swing in windy conditions. The device makes it easier for birds to avoid power lines.