Surveys for arboreal mammals, Long-Footed Potoroo and Spiny ...

Mountain Creek upstream and downstream of the point where the informal
walking track meets the stream.
The stream was found to be particularly shallow, and it was very difficult to locate
pools deep enough (ie greater than 15cm) in order to place the box traps.
Nonetheless, 10 traps were set and left in situ for approximately 3 hours.
Results
None of traps yielded any crayfish (neither Orbost Spiny Crayfish or Bidawal Spiny
Crayfish) or any species of fish. Surveys of this type also usually yield freshwater
amphipods or shrimp, but neither of these were detected.
Active hand searching also failed to detect any crayfish.
Brown Mountain Creek is a first-order creek that lacks a great deal of complexity in
terms of both instream structure and deep pools, both of which tend to be
important to freshwater crayfish in the genus Euastacus. The habitat present was
considered to be sub-optimal for Orbost Spiny Crayfish.
No Spiny Crayfish were detected at the site and the habitat at the site was
assessed as unlikely to provide the appropriate habitat. However, Spiny Crayfish
can also be hard to find, especially as steam levels had dropped through the
summer. Further survey work is recommended to clarify both the presence of
freshwater crayfish in the catchment and the identity of species present.
CONCLUSIONS
The survey program produced the following key results:
1. Sufficient Greater Gliders and Yellow-bellied Gliders were detected to achieve
the thresholds for a high density population of these species as stipulated in
the “Conservation Guideline – Arboreal Mammals” within the East Gippsland
Forest Area Management Plan.
2. No Long-footed Potoroos were detected.
3. No Orbost Spiny Crayfish were detected.
Spotlight surveys were conservative estimates of the numbers of animals actually
present. The consistent detection of high numbers of Greater Gliders and Yellowbellied
Gliders confirms that the site supports a high density population.
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