Fauna Spotters logo

Long-footed Potoroo (Potorous longipes)

The long-footed potoroo is a rare, mostly nocturnal rat-kangaroo of moist forests in eastern Victoria and far south-eastern New South Wales. It depends on dense ground cover and underground fruiting fungi, so clearing, road construction, fire and changes to soil moisture can remove both shelter and food on development sites.

Conservation status

Commonwealth, EPBC Act 1999: Endangered.

New South Wales, Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016: Critically endangered.

Victoria, Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988: Endangered.

Breeding season

The species can breed in every month, and dependent young may be present at any time. The July to September birth peak recorded at Bellbird is not consistent across all sites, so clearing risk remains year-round.

Month values are ordered January to December: 0 means not typical, 1 means occurs, and 2 means peak or highest risk.

  • Breeding and births: Births occur throughout the year. A July to September peak was recorded at Bellbird in East Gippsland, while births were more evenly spread at Riley Creek.
  • Young dependent: Pouch life lasts about 140 to 150 days, and young remain at heel until independent at about 20 weeks. Because births occur year-round, dependent young may be present in every month.
  • Postnatal residence and dispersal: Young may remain within their natal territory for at least 12 months before dispersing. The timing of individual dispersal is not defined.
  • Fungal foraging: Foraging occurs mainly at night throughout the year. Fungal availability varies with climate, soil and litter condition, locality, logging and fire.
  • Highest clearing risk: Risk is year-round because breeding and dependent young occur year-round. July to September may carry higher breeding risk at some East Gippsland sites, but this pattern is not consistent across the range.

Identification

The long-footed potoroo is a rabbit-sized, ground-dwelling marsupial with grey-brown upperparts and greyer underparts. It moves by hopping, but can also use its forepaws in a slower gait.

Adults have a head and body length of up to 400 mm, a tail up to 320 mm and a weight of up to 2.3 kg in males and 1.7 kg in females.

The hind foot is unusually long in relation to the head. The species also has a leathery posthallucal pad on the sole, behind the inner toe. These features are useful when examining a captured animal under an approved handling procedure.

Upperparts: Grey-brown.

Underparts: Grey or paler grey.

Sex difference: Males are larger, up to 2.3 kg, while females reach up to 1.7 kg.

Identification: Distinguishing it from the long-nosed potoroo

The long-footed potoroo is larger than the long-nosed potoroo and has a longer hind foot in relation to head length. Its tail is more than 300 mm long, and it has a leathery pad on the sole behind the inner toe.

The two species can be difficult to separate in field conditions. Do not rely on a brief view, tracks or diggings alone where both species may occur. Use an experienced fauna ecologist and approved trapping, hair analysis or other diagnostic methods where confirmation is needed.

Diagnostic foot feature: Raised or leathery posthallucal pad between the heel and the base of the joined second and third toes.

Chromosome number: 24 chromosomes, compared with 12 in female and 13 in male long-nosed potoroos.

Identification: Field signs

Look for conical foraging pits made while the animal searches for underground fungal fruiting bodies. Potoroo diggings are generally larger and have a flatter base than bandicoot diggings, but diggings cannot reliably separate long-footed from long-nosed potoroos.

During daylight, the species shelters in a crude nest beneath dense understorey vegetation. Nests, diggings and tracks are indirect evidence only and should trigger targeted survey using hair tubes, camera traps, trapping or other methods suited to the site.

No species-specific call or eyeshine feature is established in the supplied sources. Hair samples can be identified to long-footed potoroo using suitable laboratory methods, and hair tubes have been used because direct trapping can be difficult.

Recommended hair sampling effort: At least three sampling sites, with 20 hair sampling devices per site, set 20 m apart in two parallel lines 25 m apart, for 14 consecutive nights.

Historical detection result: In one guideline comparison, four of 201 hair tubes detected long-footed potoroos, while cage traps detected 0.1 per cent per 100 traps.

  • Record the location, dimensions and photographs of every suspected foraging pit or nest.
  • Treat suspected diggings as a survey trigger rather than proof of species presence.
  • Use a qualified specialist to identify hair samples and confirm records where the species affects clearing or construction decisions.

Distribution: State and bioregional range

The species is restricted to three disjunct populations in south-eastern mainland Australia. Two are in Victoria and one is in south-eastern New South Wales.

In Victoria, records are concentrated in East Gippsland, north-east of Orbost, and in the Barry Mountains around the West Buffalo, East Riley and Tea Tree Range areas. In NSW, the species occurs in the South East Corner IBRA bioregion, including the South East Coastal Ranges south of Bombala and the East Gippsland Lowlands subregion.

The species is also listed among threatened mammals of the Australian Alps Montane Grasslands and Heathlands Conservation Management Zone. This does not mean it occurs throughout that zone. Records are restricted to suitable moist forest and dense understorey sites.

Victoria: East Gippsland and north-eastern Victoria, including the Barry Mountains.

New South Wales: South East Forests National Park and possibly adjoining private or State Forest land.

Known populations: Three disjunct populations, two in Victoria and one in NSW.

Distribution: Strongholds and records

The East Gippsland population is the most extensive known population, with records across the Brodribb, Bemm, Rodger and Yalmy River catchments. The north-eastern Victorian population is centred on the Barry Mountains. The NSW population is small, difficult to detect and concentrated in the South East Forests National Park.

Older records, a fossil skull near Yarrangobilly Caves and an unconfirmed skull fragment near Mount Drummer indicate that the former range may have been wider. A camera image from Mount Buffalo in May 2022 led to further monitoring in an area where the species had not previously been searched systematically.

East Gippsland known area: About 1,600 km² in the 2016 advice, with more than 60 record sites.

North-eastern Victoria known area: About 3,000 km² in the 2016 advice, with more than 60 record sites.

NSW verified records: Only 17 definite records were obtained during intensive survey, mainly from predator scats and hair samples.

  • Treat suitable moist forest outside mapped records as potential habitat, especially where dense understorey and fungal food resources are present.
  • Check current state databases and project-specific records before works because mapped subregions are indicative and may contain errors or omissions.

Distribution: Population size and trend

There is no reliable current national population estimate. The species occurs at low density, is difficult to detect and is divided into small, isolated colonies. Some previously occupied sites have not been relocated, although improved survey has also expanded the known distribution.

The older recovery plan estimated that the total population was unlikely to exceed a few thousand animals and might have been no more than a few hundred. This estimate should not be treated as a current census.

Population structure: Three widely separated subpopulations, with small and fragmented colonies.

NSW population: Likely fewer than a few hundred individuals according to the NSW recovery material.

Trend: Uncertain, with inferred decline or loss at some sites and continuing exposure to predators, fire and habitat disturbance.

Habitat: Forest types and structure

Long-footed potoroos use moist forest with dense ground cover and a reliable supply of underground fruiting fungi. They occupy a range of forest types, but sheltered sites with moist soils and structurally complex understorey are the best-supported habitat features.

Recorded vegetation includes shrubby dry forest, wet forest, warm temperate rainforest and montane wet sclerophyll forest. Sites generally have a mixed-species overstorey, moist soils, deep or persistent litter and dense understorey vegetation.

Dense ground cover provides shelter from foxes, wild dogs and dingoes. Retain connected patches of understorey, fallen timber, litter and soil where works occur near suitable forest.

Elevation: Confirmed records range from less than 100 m above sea level to more than 1,000 m in north-eastern Victoria; NSW records and habitat assessments extend to about 1,370 m.

Moisture: High soil moisture through the year supports the underground fungal food supply.

  • Prioritise avoidance of moist forest patches with dense understorey, particularly on sheltered aspects and near creeks or other damp areas.
  • Map the full habitat patch, not only the point where an animal, hair sample or digging was detected.

Habitat: Habitat continuity

The three populations are disjunct, and suitable habitat linkages between them are not established. Within a population, roads, cleared strips and fire scars may reduce movement between colonies.

The species can use a range of topographic positions, from creek lines to ridge tops, so restricting assessment to gullies may miss occupied habitat.

  • Assess adjacent forest and possible movement routes before clearing, road widening or utility installation.
  • Avoid creating new isolated clearings through dense understorey where practicable.

Foraging habitat: Diet

Foraging is mainly nocturnal and occurs on the forest floor. The species depends heavily on underground, or hypogeous, fungal fruiting bodies and searches for them by making small pits in the soil.

A three-year East Gippsland study found that fungi made up an average of 91 percent of the diet. Invertebrates and plant material made up the remainder, with invertebrates forming a larger proportion where fungal food was less available.

The species may disperse viable fungal spores in its faeces. These fungi can form ectomycorrhizal associations with eucalypt roots, linking potoroo foraging to forest soil and root processes.

Fungal component: Average 91 percent of diet in the East Gippsland study.

Other foods: Invertebrates and plant material.

Food availability: Fungal abundance and species composition vary with climate, locality, logging and fire.

  • Protect soil, litter and live vegetation that support underground fungal fruiting bodies.
  • Avoid unnecessary soil compaction, stripping, stockpiling, burning or drying of the litter layer in potential habitat.

Foraging habitat: Foraging area

Adults forage within large home ranges compared with many small ground mammals. Home ranges are larger in less productive habitat, and male ranges are generally larger than female ranges.

Foraging pits can help identify use of a site, but similar pits may be made by other potoroos, bettongs and bandicoots. Look for the combination of pit size, flatter base, fungal remains, tracks, habitat and other survey evidence.

East Gippsland home range: 22 to 60 ha.

North-eastern Victoria home range: 14 to 23 ha.

  • Search moist litter and soil across the proposed work area and its retained edges for conical pits and fungal remains.
  • Include adjoining habitat in survey design because a clearing footprint may intersect only part of an individual's foraging range.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

Breeding can occur throughout the year, with timing varying between sites. Breeding habitat is forest that provides food, dense cover and enough connected space for the young to remain near the parental territory before dispersal.

Females produce a single young. Births may occur in every month, although a July to September peak has been recorded at Bellbird in East Gippsland. Births were more evenly distributed across seasons at Riley Creek in north-eastern Victoria.

Young remain at heel after leaving the pouch and become independent at about 20 weeks. They may remain within their natal territory for at least 12 months before dispersing.

Breeding season: Year-round, with some seasonal peaks.

Litter size: One young.

Pouch life: About 140 to 150 days; the earliest recorded pouch emergence was about 113 days.

Age at independence: About 20 weeks after leaving the pouch.

Age at sexual maturity: About two years.

Lifespan: Wild lifespan is not known; captive animals have lived at least 14 to 16 years.

Breeding habitat: Breeding habitat features

Breeding pairs are thought to be territorial and generally monogamous. Females usually have home ranges within the male's range, and juvenile ranges are within the parental range.

Retain dense understorey, moist soil, fungal food resources and movement links around occupied or suspected sites. Clearing can remove shelter and food while also separating young from suitable parental and dispersal habitat.

  • Schedule vegetation removal outside the period of known occupation only where a qualified ecologist has assessed the risk, because births and dependent young can occur throughout the year.
  • Where clearing cannot be avoided, survey the footprint and connected habitat before works and maintain dense retained cover around confirmed or suspected use areas.

Sheltering habitat: Day shelter

The species shelters on the ground during daylight rather than in tree hollows or burrows described in the supplied sources. Dense understorey, litter and low vegetation are the main recorded refuge features.

Long-footed potoroos make crude nests beneath dense understorey vegetation. This cover also reduces exposure to foxes, wild dogs and dingoes.

Retain low shrubs, ferns, grasses, fallen branches, logs and an intact litter layer where they occur in moist forest. Do not assume a cleared area is unused simply because no nest is visible.

Shelter type: Crude ground nest under dense understorey.

Known shelter dimensions: No nest dimensions are provided in the supplied sources.

  • Inspect dense ground cover and likely nest sites before machinery enters the work area.
  • Use hand searching and fauna spotter procedures where dense cover must be removed, with work staged so animals can move into retained habitat.

Sheltering habitat: Ground features to retain

Moist litter and soil are shelter-associated features as well as the substrate supporting fungal food. Fire, grading, soil removal, compaction and drainage changes can remove or dry these resources even where some vegetation remains.

No tree hollow, den, burrow or roost requirement is identified for this species in the supplied documents.

  • Keep retained habitat connected to moist forest and avoid creating exposed edges through the centre of a habitat patch.
  • Prevent sediment, spoil, fuel and construction traffic from entering retained understorey and damp forest floor.
  • Recheck retained cover after clearing and construction because new edges, fire and predator access may reduce its shelter value.

Threats: Clearing, fragmentation and roads

The main risks are introduced predators, loss of dense understorey, wildfire or inappropriate burning, timber harvesting, fragmentation and loss of fungal food resources. The small, isolated populations mean that a local impact can affect a substantial part of a colony.

Clearing removes shelter, foraging soil, litter and fungal habitat. New roads and access tracks can divide habitat, increase edge exposure and interfere with movement between colonies.

The species has large home ranges and low population density. A narrow construction corridor may therefore affect more habitat than the cleared footprint suggests.

Known home range scale: About 14 to 60 ha, depending on site and habitat quality.

Fragmentation concern: The NSW population may depend on connectivity with Victorian populations, but sufficient habitat links have not been demonstrated.

  • Avoid clearing moist forest with dense understorey where records, diggings or other evidence occur.
  • Map the proposed footprint against known records, potential habitat, home range scale and possible movement links.
  • Keep new roads, laydown areas and easements out of retained understorey where practicable, and control vehicle access across damp forest floor.

Threats: Fire and vegetation disturbance

Large intense wildfires and fuel reduction burns can remove dense understorey and reduce fungal food resources. Fire can also isolate colonies and increase predator exposure.

Logging, slash burning and altered soil or litter conditions may change fungal diversity and favour species that tolerate drying or disturbance. The response of the potoroo to different fire regimes remains incompletely known.

  • Provide the location of known and suspected habitat to fire planning and incident response teams.
  • Maintain dense understorey and moist litter in retained habitat when planning hazard reduction or construction activities.
  • Inspect recently burnt areas for loss of cover, fungal habitat and predator access before approving further disturbance.

Threats: Predators and competitors

Foxes, wild dogs and dingoes are known predators. Feral cats are considered a predator, and the threat may be underestimated. Feral pigs compete for underground fungi and disturb the soil and litter layer.

In NSW, feral deer may browse, graze and trample habitat. Construction access, food waste and newly opened edges may increase opportunities for predator activity around a work site.

Predator response evidence: A Bellbird control program using 1080 was followed by an approximate doubling of known potoroos on the trapping grid over the study period.

Feral pig impact: Pigs consume underground fruiting fungi and damage ground cover, leaf litter and soil while foraging.

  • Use approved predator control and monitoring programs around occupied habitat where authorised.
  • Secure construction waste, food and carcasses so they do not attract foxes, dogs or cats.
  • Control feral pigs and deer where they are identified as affecting fungal food resources or ground cover.

Threats: Disease and hydrology

Disease has affected captive potoroos, and diseases including cryptococcosis and balanoposthitis are identified in the NSW material. The supplied documents do not establish the frequency or importance of these diseases in wild long-footed potoroos.

Changes to drainage, groundwater, runoff or soil moisture can reduce the underground fungal food supply. This is a key project risk because high soil moisture through the year supports the species' primary food.

  • Keep clean water flowing through retained damp forest and prevent sediment, contaminants and altered drainage from entering habitat.
  • Do not move soil, vegetation or equipment between sites without applying the project's hygiene controls, particularly where disease or soil pathogens are known concerns.
  • Escalate sick, injured or dead animals to the relevant wildlife authority and qualified wildlife veterinarian.

Survey methodology: 1. Hair sampling

Survey for long-footed potoroos before works because they are rare, difficult to detect and restricted to three disjunct populations. Focus effort on moist forest with dense understorey, suitable fungal food resources and sheltered aspects.

Use hair tubes or hair funnels as the primary non-invasive detection method where the species may occur.

Long-footed potoroos can be identified from suitable hair samples, including samples collected in NSW where direct trapping has been unsuccessful.

The species has a low detection rate. In the survey guideline study, four of 201 hair tubes detected long-footed potoroos, compared with 0.1 per cent success for cage traps.

Sampling period: 14 consecutive nights

Devices: 20 hair sampling devices per sampling site

Device spacing: 20 metres apart

Transect separation: 25 metres

Identification from hair: Possible for Potorous longipes

  • Stratify the subject area into representative habitat types and include moist forest, wet forest, dense understorey and areas with signs of fungal foraging.
  • For a subject site up to 5 hectares, use at least three sampling sites where practicable.
  • Place 20 hair sampling devices at each sampling site.
  • Place devices 20 metres apart in two parallel transects separated by 25 metres, adjusting the layout where required for the species' large home range and site conditions.
  • Use at least two sampling sites per 5 hectares when the area is larger than 5 hectares, with replication across habitat types.
  • Set devices for 14 consecutive nights and rebait them where practicable.
  • Use the recommended lure of rolled oats, peanut butter and pistachio nut oil, and record the bait used at every device.
  • Label and preserve every sample with the date, location, habitat description and device identifier, then send samples to an appropriately qualified analyst.

Survey methodology: 2. Cage trapping and spotlighting

Use cage trapping or spotlighting only under an approved fauna survey and animal welfare procedure, with appropriately experienced personnel.

Cage trapping has been used for population studies and radio tracking, but it has a lower documented detection rate than hair sampling for this species.

The documents do not specify a standard number of spotlighting hours or cage trap nights for long-footed potoroos. Set effort from the habitat area, likely detection probability, access and approval conditions, and state survey requirements.

Documented cage trap bait: Peanut butter, honey, rolled oats and pistachio essence

Known activity period: Mostly nocturnal

Standard spotlighting effort: Not specified in the supplied documents

  • Place large cage traps along animal runs, beside logs and on other natural features used by ground-dwelling mammals.
  • Use the documented bait mixture of peanut butter, honey, rolled oats and pistachio essence if cage trapping is approved for the project.
  • Check traps at the frequency required by the animal welfare approval and state requirements, and provide shelter and protection from weather and predators.
  • Record trap effort, trap locations, weather, captures, non-target species, body condition, sex, age class and any signs of injury.
  • Conduct spotlighting at night in suitable moist forest and dense understorey, and record the start and finish time, observers, route, weather and detection conditions.
  • Do not treat a failed trap or spotlighting session as evidence that the species is absent.

Survey methodology: 3. Foraging signs and camera traps

Search for conical foraging pits, particularly in moist soil and leaf litter where underground fungal fruiting bodies may occur.

Potoroo diggings are generally larger and have a flatter base than bandicoot diggings, but diggings cannot reliably distinguish long-footed potoroos from other potoroo species.

Use remote cameras as a supplementary method where access is difficult or where a broader activity and predator survey is needed.

Foraging sign: Conical pits made while searching for underground fungal fruiting bodies

Diet: About 91 per cent fungi in the East Gippsland study

Camera example: A Mount Buffalo project deployed 85 cameras initially, followed by 12 more, for about 90 days

  • Map every group of diggings and photograph representative examples with a scale, nearby habitat and any visible fungal remains.
  • Follow up diggings with direct detection methods, such as hair sampling, spotlighting or trapping, to confirm species presence.
  • Deploy cameras on animal runs, near dense cover and at suitable lures, while ensuring that lure placement does not attract predators into retained habitat.
  • Use consistent camera settings and record the camera location, deployment period, lure, maintenance visits and target species.
  • Treat fox, dog, cat and feral pig detections as relevant project records because these animals threaten long-footed potoroos or their food resources.

Survey methodology: Minimum effort and reporting

  • Use the hair sampling design as the minimum species-targeted method where long-footed potoroo habitat is present, unless a regulator approves an alternative design.
  • Survey all suitable habitat within the disturbance footprint and assess connected retained habitat because the species occurs in small, fragmented populations and may be missed by low-effort surveys.
  • Schedule surveys when access and detection conditions are suitable, and repeat sampling when habitat has recently been burnt, logged, flooded or otherwise disturbed.
  • Have a suitably qualified ecologist review all suspected hair, camera images, diggings and photographs before concluding that the species is absent.
  • Record survey dates, effort, coordinates, habitat, weather, fire history, fungal signs, predator activity, records of other ground-dwelling mammals and all detection or non-detection results.
  • Submit confirmed records and relevant survey data to the relevant state wildlife database, including the NSW BioNet Atlas or the applicable Victorian biodiversity database.
  • Report any confirmed EPBC Act species record, proposed disturbance and mitigation measures through the project approval and referral process where required.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise

Treat any suitable moist forest with dense understorey as potential long-footed potoroo habitat until targeted survey and assessment show otherwise. The species depends on dense cover and a year-round supply of underground fruiting fungi.

Preferred habitat: Moist forest with sheltered aspects, moist soils, mixed overstorey and dense understorey

Known range: East Gippsland, north-eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW

Home range: About 14 to 60 hectares in published Victorian studies

  • Avoid clearing known colonies, foraging areas, dense understorey, moist soils and areas with repeated potoroo records.
  • Retain continuous forest cover between known or potential colonies, including riparian and sheltered forest that may provide movement routes.
  • Retain leaf litter, soil structure, logs and fungal habitat, and avoid unnecessary grading, soil compaction, drainage changes and removal of understorey.
  • Avoid placing new roads, construction compounds, spoil, drainage outlets or temporary storage areas through known sites or likely movement routes.
  • Design buffers around confirmed records and habitat features in consultation with the relevant regulator, land manager and species ecologist because the supplied documents do not prescribe one universal buffer distance.

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and work planning

  • Check whether the action may significantly impact an EPBC Act listed Endangered species and refer the action under the EPBC Act where required.
  • Obtain all applicable state wildlife, threatened species, land clearing, animal ethics and fauna handling approvals before survey, trapping, clearing or relocation.
  • Confirm the current state listing and agency requirements, noting that the species is Critically Endangered in NSW and Endangered in Victoria.
  • Prepare a fauna management plan that identifies habitat, survey results, exclusion areas, clearing limits, fauna handling authority, stop-work triggers, reporting and post-work monitoring.
  • Stage works so that only the approved area is disturbed at each stage, allowing retained habitat and movement routes to remain available.
  • Plan works to avoid periods when fire, drought or other conditions have removed dense cover or reduced fungal food resources, unless the regulator approves otherwise.

Before habitat disturbance: Site preparation

  • Complete the approved pre-clearance survey within the period specified by the fauna management plan and repeat it if clearing is delayed or habitat conditions change.
  • Mark exclusion areas, retained understorey, moist forest, known records, foraging pits, logs and movement routes before machinery enters the site.
  • Install fauna exclusion fencing only where it will direct animals towards retained habitat and will not trap animals inside the work area or block required movement routes.
  • Keep exclusion fencing low risk to ground-dwelling mammals, inspect it daily and remove it when it is no longer needed.
  • Brief all machinery operators, supervisors and fauna spotter catchers on the species' appearance, nocturnal activity, habitat, diggings, stop-work triggers and reporting requirements.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls and supervision

Clear slowly and under direct fauna spotter catcher supervision. Long-footed potoroos are ground-dwelling, mostly nocturnal animals that shelter in dense understorey and may be difficult to detect before machinery starts.

  • Inspect the work area and exclusion fencing at the start of every shift for animals, fresh diggings, damaged barriers and changed habitat conditions.
  • Keep the fauna spotter catcher within effective viewing distance of the active clearing front and stop machinery when visibility is blocked by dust, smoke, dense vegetation or poor light.
  • Use a staged, directional clearing approach that moves animals towards retained habitat and away from roads, pits, machinery and isolated cleared ground.
  • Avoid night clearing unless it is specifically approved and supported by a species-appropriate fauna management procedure, because the species is mostly nocturnal.
  • Maintain dense understorey and ground cover in retained areas, and prevent machinery from entering marked habitat or compacting moist soils.
  • Control exposed food waste and other attractants that may draw foxes, dogs, cats or feral pigs into retained habitat.
  • Record daily weather, clearing area, machinery used, fauna observations, incidents, control failures and corrective actions.

During habitat disturbance: Fauna handling and habitat features

  • Stop machinery immediately if a long-footed potoroo is seen, trapped, injured or suspected to be within the clearing zone.
  • Allow the animal to leave by itself where a safe route to nearby retained habitat is available, and keep people and machinery back from that route.
  • Only a person authorised under the project approval and relevant state requirements may capture, handle, examine or relocate the animal.
  • Do not chase, corner, feed or hold the animal longer than required for an authorised health check or safe release.
  • Use a secure, ventilated container with suitable soft bedding if capture is authorised, keep the container shaded and quiet, and minimise handling time.
  • Release a healthy animal into nearby retained habitat only where the approved fauna management plan and regulator allow relocation, and record the release location and time.
  • Transfer an injured or unwell animal to an appropriately qualified wildlife carer or veterinarian as soon as practicable, following the approved wildlife welfare procedure.
  • Handle logs, dense understorey and leaf litter as potential shelter and foraging habitat, and relocate them only under the fauna management plan.
  • Do not remove or bury fungal-rich soil, foraging pits or other ground features unless they are within the approved disturbance area and the action is authorised.
  • Treat any suspected hair, scat, camera image or digging record as a potential species record until checked by a qualified ecologist.

During habitat disturbance: Stop work and incident records

  • Stop work across the affected area for a confirmed or suspected long-footed potoroo record until the fauna spotter catcher has secured the animal or confirmed that it has moved to safe retained habitat.
  • Stop work if clearing extends beyond the approved footprint, exclusion fencing fails, a movement route is blocked or a marked habitat area is damaged.
  • Stop work if a fire, flood, machinery incident or other event removes dense cover or substantially changes moist soil and fungal habitat within the retained area.
  • Notify the site environmental officer, project ecologist and approval holder immediately after a species detection, injury, mortality, unauthorised clearing event or stop-work trigger.
  • Record the date, time, coordinates, photograph, observer, activity, animal condition, handling details, release or treatment details and agencies notified.
  • Submit reportable records, incidents and mortality records to the relevant state authority and wildlife database in accordance with the approval conditions.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance checks

Leave retained habitat functional after clearing and check that controls have worked. Post-work monitoring should focus on the animal, its fungal food supply, dense cover, connectivity and predator activity.

  • Complete a fauna spotter catcher inspection of the cleared footprint, retained edges, exclusion fencing and access tracks before demobilising the clearing crew.
  • Search for injured or trapped animals, fresh diggings, nests, disturbed logs, exposed moist soil and damage to retained understorey.
  • Remove temporary fencing, waste, lure materials and equipment when no longer required, unless the approved plan requires continued exclusion or monitoring.
  • Repair damaged retained habitat, fencing, drainage controls and movement routes before the next construction stage.
  • Confirm that no spoil, sediment, lighting, drainage or traffic controls are directing animals into unsafe areas.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

  • Repeat hair sampling, camera monitoring or other approved detection work in retained habitat where the project may have reduced cover, food resources or connectivity.
  • Use the same device locations, effort and recording method where possible so that results can be compared with pre-clearance data.
  • Monitor for potoroo detections, changes in diggings, fungal food resources, understorey recovery and fox, dog, cat and feral pig activity.
  • Continue monitoring for the period required by the approval, fauna management plan or offset condition, and extend monitoring if results show ongoing decline or new impacts.
  • Provide a completion report that maps the final disturbance footprint, retained habitat, records, incidents, mitigation actions, monitoring results and any outstanding corrective actions.
  • Update the relevant state wildlife database and notify the approval authority of confirmed records, mortality, habitat loss or failure to meet approval conditions.

After habitat disturbance: Ongoing controls and offsets

  • Maintain predator control, fire controls, access restrictions and understorey protection where these are approval or management requirements.
  • Keep retained habitat connected to other suitable forest and prevent later widening of tracks, informal access or storage outside the approved footprint.
  • Apply an approved offset or conservation action where residual impacts remain after avoidance and mitigation, with the action directed towards protection and management of long-footed potoroo habitat.
  • Use offset or conservation monitoring to measure persistence of colonies, detection rates, habitat condition and predator pressure rather than relying only on planted area.

Rehabilitation actions: Restore habitat structure and food resources

Rehabilitation should recreate moist, sheltered forest conditions and restore the soil, litter, understorey and fungal resources used by long-footed potoroos. Recovery will take time because the species has large home ranges, low densities and a specialised diet.

Primary food: Underground fruiting fungi, about 91 per cent of the diet in a three-year East Gippsland study

Shelter: Crude nests under dense understorey vegetation

Habitat elevation in confirmed records: Less than 100 metres above sea level to more than 1000 metres, with NSW records reported to about 1370 metres

  • Reinstate locally appropriate native overstorey, midstorey and dense understorey species suited to the site's wet forest, warm temperate rainforest or shrubby dry forest community.
  • Use local provenance seed or tubestock where required by the rehabilitation plan, and select species that maintain year-round shade, soil moisture and litter cover.
  • Restore natural drainage and avoid drying, waterlogging or erosion of soils that support underground fruiting fungi.
  • Replace or retain coarse woody debris, logs and deep leaf litter in safe positions that provide shelter and foraging structure.
  • Do not spread soil, mulch or plant material that may introduce weeds, pathogens or unsuitable fungal species into retained habitat.
  • Control weeds so that dense native understorey can develop without forming a simplified or highly flammable ground layer.

Rehabilitation actions: Reconnect and protect restored areas

  • Link restored patches to retained moist forest and dense understorey rather than creating isolated planting blocks.
  • Protect restored areas from vehicle access, stock, grazing, feral deer, feral pigs and other activities that disturb soil and leaf litter.
  • Do not install nest boxes as a substitute for the dense ground cover and fungal food resources required by this species, unless a species ecologist identifies a specific approved use.
  • Manage foxes, wild dogs, dingos and feral cats in accordance with state requirements and the approved predator control plan.
  • Control feral pigs where they compete for underground fungi or disturb ground cover, leaf litter and soil.
  • Use fire regimes that maintain dense understorey and protect moist fungal habitat, with buffers and post-fire predator control where required.

Rehabilitation actions: Monitor success

  • Inspect rehabilitation after establishment and after major fire, flood, drought or pest events for survival, weed cover, soil moisture, understorey density, litter depth and log retention.
  • Monitor underground fungal fruiting resources where practicable, because the species depends on a diverse and abundant supply throughout the year.
  • Use hair tubes, camera traps, targeted searches for foraging pits and other approved methods to assess recolonisation or continued use.
  • Set success measures that include persistent dense native understorey, stable moist soils, retained connectivity, reduced predator activity and confirmed or increasing potoroo detections where the species is present.
  • Continue monitoring until the approval holder, land manager and ecologist agree that habitat structure and management outcomes are stable.
  • Report monitoring results to the relevant authority and state wildlife database, including failed plantings, weed or pest outbreaks, fire impacts and any long-footed potoroo records.

Sources