Conservationists have warned the endangered greater glider faces "death by a thousand cuts" and is the "flagship species for the failings of all levels of government", amid concerns over a major Gold Coast housing development.
About 30 per cent of greater glider habitat was burned in the 2019 Black Summer bushfires, with the federal government listing the species as endangered in June this year.
Now conservationists have raised concerns that the $1.5 billion SkyRidge housing development on the Gold Coast puts almost half of the region's greater glider population at risk of extinction.
"It's basically a death by a thousand cuts," Wildlife Queensland project officer Paul Revie said.
"It might not seem like much when you take it as a one-off, but when you look at the cumulative impact of all these developments removing little populations of greater gliders here and there, you're talking about really substantial decline."
But a Skyridge spokesperson said the project complied with "strict" state and federal approval conditions "based on nearly 10 years of ecological surveys and analysis" with efforts to mitigate habitat loss underway.
Developer surveys undertaken
Jessica Lovegrove-Walsh has been undertaking conservation efforts in Nerang National Park — one of two major population pockets for the greater glider on the Gold Coast, according to council mapping.
The second population falls within an almost 350-hectare area in Worongary being cleared for the SkyRidge housing estate.
"These greater gliders that exist in the western section of SkyRidge will be pushed, they will be displaced, into surrounding bushland that consists of some council reserves that are protected," Ms Lovegrove-Walsh said.
"But these reserves are not big enough to maintain a viable population of greater gliders and, because they're small, it means they have a lot of urban pressures around them as well."
However, a spokesperson for SkyRidge, which aims to build 3,500 dwellings in the area over 15 years, said surveys conducted by the developer "identified and help map the greater glider within the site".
"Ecologists on the project identified this species as a constraint long before the state or Commonwealth government listed the species as threatened in 2021," the spokesperson said.
"In fact, this survey data has fed into the government records and understanding of the species locally."
The spokesperson said land clearing occurred "under the strict management protocols and direction of Queensland government permitted fauna spotter catchers who undertake pre-clearance surveys, are in attendance during clearing works, and are involved in the post works outcomes for all native fauna".
More mitigation needed, say conservationists
To offset habitat loss, the SkyRidge spokesperson said a "26.6ha green spine conservation corridor with a minimum 100m width" would run through the estate.
"This conservation area is centrally located on a waterway where on-site mature trees retain the most intact characteristics and breeding hollows for the greater glider," they said.
But Paul Revie said while that corridor was "good for a lot of wildlife", it would not provide a large enough habitat for greater gliders even with nearby reserves.
"They need an area of around 160 hectares is what the research tells us at this stage," he said.
"Individual animals within a fairly small range of 2 or 3 hectares might use up to 18 or 20 hollows — they need different hollows for different temperatures at different times of the year.
"While that population might be able to persist for five, 10, maybe even 15 or 20 years, unfortunately they're doomed to die a slow extinction."
The SkyRidge spokesperson said 77 nesting boxes would also be installed to mitigate the loss of mature hollow-bearing trees, which form the bulk of the greater glider habitat.
But Ms Lovegrove-Walsh, who founded Friends of Nerang National Park, said she had been installing similar artificial hollows or nests in the park about 5km north of SkyRidge with mixed results.
"Greater gliders are notoriously fussy when it comes to artificial hollows. They need a more pristine environment," she said.
"Greater gliders need those large tree hollows, which take over 250 years to form."
Broader concerns for 'teddy bear'
The latest State of the Environment Report described the country's environment as being in a "poor and deteriorating state", with the federal government adopting a new target to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land by 2030.
Ms Lovegrove-Walsh said this should promote a rethink on land clearing.
"They're [greater gliders] becoming more of a flagship species for the failings of all levels of government to protect our threatened species habitat," she said.
"If an animal such as the greater glider is listed as vulnerable or endangered after the development application is approved, then there is no retrospective enforcement that has to happen."
While "they're like the teddy bears of the tree tops", Mr Revie said the greater glider played a more important conservation role.
"They're basically an indicator that the health of our ecosystems, those eucalypt ecosystems that make up a huge swath of eastern Australia, is slowly declining and slowly deteriorating," he said.
"That has impacts not just on greater gliders but on all of the animals that rely on those forests."
A spokesperson for the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning said it was "very likely" the existing environmental conditions on Skyridge would mitigate impacts on the greater glider.
The greater glider has been included in the City of Gold Coast's Priority Species Conservation Program, alongside 29 other animals including the koala.
A City of Gold Coast spokesperson said overarching state government environmental conditions applied to SkyRidge instead of the local City Plan.
