For decades, wildlife biologist Dean Heinze has travelled to Victoria's High Country and had a front-row seat in the critically endangered mountain pygmy possums' fight for survival.
He's struggled over the past four years to watch their populations plummet in conjunction with the sudden decline of Bogong moths, which form a staple part of their diet.
The Bogong moth was declared endangered in December 2021.
Now, conservationists are ramping up alternative ways for the mountain pygmy possums to survive as uncertainty flutters around Bogong moth recovery.
"Our strategy with the conservation of this species is to be looking at long-term solutions and trying to build up the resilience of populations," Mr Heinze said.
Teams are working on the ground to increase berry-producing vegetation to give the mountain pygmy possums alternative food sources as the moth numbers decrease.
"We are not getting the Bogong moth numbers that we used to get 20 to 30 years ago," Mr Heinze said.
"A part of our strategy with the conservation [of the possums] is about looking more broadly to think how can we make these habitats for possums and sustain possums, which is why things like planting seed-producing plants like plum pines and pimeleas is really important."
Glimmers of hope
As conservationists continue their work to help sustain the possums into the future, they have been cheered to see small but optimistic signs for the marsupials.
"It was terrible a few years ago looking at the widespread litter loss," Mr Heinze said.
New infrastructure is also showing signs of helping the possums' survival.
The first underground tunnel to help the mountain pygmy possums safely cross the Great Alpine Road was built in the 1980s.
In 2018, a new tunnel was opened at Mount Little Higginbotham, which allows crew at Mount Hotham Alpine Resort to monitor use through microchips.
So far, 31 individuals have used the tunnel.
"That means those possums are travelling from above the road to below the road … and so it's really linking that habitat that's on either side of that Great Alpine Road that was previously found to be causing a barrier to the movement of the possums," Mount Hotham environment officer Aviya Naccarella said.
Revegetation rewards
Beverley Lawrence has been working at Mount Hotham for more than 44 years and has watched the sudden change in the local ecosystem.
"When I first came here there were clouds of moths and over the past 10 or so years, there's been a significant decline," she said.
Ms Lawrence is thrilled in her role as a Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board environment officer to be helping revegetate parts to the area to help the possums.
"It's an honour to be part of it, we are very lucky to have people like Dean Heinze to come and work here," she said.
Dangerous times ahead
Works are continuing to strengthen the marsupials' chances of survival.
A former quarry at Mount Hotham will be used as a possum corridor and revegetated, and sealing and drainage works are set to reduce sediment in the possums' habitat.
But the possum populations are now about to face their biggest annual threat, as males and juveniles start to move out of the main habitat areas, making them vulnerable to feral cats and foxes.
"The sorts of things we need to do to really help this species is to try and improve the tools we have got to control those introduced predators, so that's really the challenges for us going forward," Mr Heinze said.
