Rapid response to Mt Manypeaks Nature Reserve bushfire saves critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo sanctuary

A rapid response from Great Southern fireys quickly contained an out-of-control bushfire, which threatened numerous native animals, including the critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo, on Tuesday. A bushfire advice was issued at 1.07pm on Tuesday for the Mt Manypeaks Nature Reserve, which covers an area of around 2500 hectares, houses a wildlife sanctuary and has popular beaches for holiday-goers, about 40km east Albany. The fire, caused by a lightning strike, had the potential to wipe out a potoroo sanctuary, before friendly winds, 30 firefighters and a water bomber quickly extinguished the blaze. Barely 100 of the native marsupial are left in the wild, with 30 being kept in a wildlife sanctuary within the national park. Among the the critically endangered species are a wealth of native flora and fauna, which were also in danger as the fire broke out. Regional ecologist for Parks and Wildlife for the south coast region Dr Sarah Comer said containing the fire was crucial to limiting the damage to the park’s wildlife. “The potoroo enclosure that we’ve got here is one of four populations that we’re currently managing,” she said. “At the moment, our estimate is we’ve got about 30 animals within the enclosure so when you think there’s only 100 to 120 left in the wild, it’s a fairly significant proportion of the population. “There’s actually no wild Gilbert’s potoroos in Mt Manypeaks, they’re all within the fenced enclosure. “Part of the strategies for this fire, if it had escalated, would have been to look at protecting that area. “I think one of the big concerns that we had yesterday was for the other threatened species in Mt Manypeaks. “There’s significant population of noisy scrub birds, western ringtail possums, quokkas and western bristle birds, and the critically endangered Daviesia Ovata (broad-leaf daviesia).” Since the enclosure was built in 2010, there have been no major bushfires threaten the habitat, reaffirming that their processes are effective. “We’ve actually done some proactive prescribed burning to try and give us options in the event of bushfires like this before it does impact the fence,” Dr Comer said. “Having good fire management and a really the rapid response was a huge win in terms of conservation values in this part of the world. “It gives us confidence that that area of suppression can be invaluable, and having a team on the ground that can support those actions is reassuring.” The fire burned just two hectares, but had enormous risk of burning significantly more due to the dense vegetation. A water bomber carrying 15,000L of the 45,000L of fire retardant needed to extinguish the blaze made life easier for the firefighters on the ground. “It had a significant risk of being quite larger because it’s in an area of continuous vegetation that’s probably four and a half to 5000 hectares,” Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions incident controller Deon Utber said. “The fact that we contained it down to two hectares was a very good outcome. “In a nature reserve where we’ve got conservation values, we need to factor those into our planning, and they become a part of our decision making and how we avoid the impacts to those areas.”