Timber harvesting in the montane ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria: impacts at different spatial scales on arboreal marsupials and the implications for ecologically sustainable forest use

The present management regimes used in the Central Highlands, in which stands of montane ash forest are clearfelled on a 50-120 yr rotation, will have a highly detrimental impact on populations of arboreal marsupials. Such activities may threaten the long-term persistence of several species of arboreal marsupials within wood production ash forests. There may be conflicts between some of the overarching objectives of State and Federal initiatives that are designed to achieve ecologically sustainable resource use. A range of strategies will be required to overcome such potential problems, including: 1) application of revised silvicultural practices, 2) development of larger, better connected areas of retained habitat within wood production forests, and 3) an expanded National Park system to protect montane ash forests that are poorly represented in the present network of nature reserves. The implementation of these strategies will necessarily involve a reduction in timber yield and pulpwood production.