Conservationists have renewed calls for an end to native forest logging as Australia's largest gliding mammal, the greater glider, has been listed as endangered.
The species was moved from a vulnerable to endangered listing to a national level.
More than 30 per cent of the southern and central gliders' habitat was lost during the Black Summer bushfires and the species has remained vulnerable to logging and a warming climate.
ANU researcher David Lindenmayer, who has studied the greater glider, said stronger action was needed to ensure the survival of the animal.
Professor Lindenmayer said that we already lead the world in mammal extinctions and lost three species in the last decade.
The glider is a nocturnal marsupial with a body of 35 -- 46 centimetres long and a tail that can reach 60 cm long.
The listing change would help protect the species, according to the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek.
She said that they will have better protection and the opportunity to recover after the real blow to the number of gliders we saw after the Black Summer bushfires.
While conservationists like Professor Lindenmayer supported the new listing, he believed addressing the environmental impacts of native logging would be essential to protect the species.
He said that we have to make sure the regional forest agreements are reformed.
Last month, citizen scientists in Victoria saw 40 greater gliders in areas where they understood logging was planned.
It is not the first time that greater glider habitat has been scheduled for logging, with a similar situation on the NSW-Victoria border last year.
However, Ms Plibersek said decisions around native forest logging fell to state governments.
She said that the states will be responsible for evaluating the new conservation advice in the first instance.
In the first instance, they will be determining if they need to change their forest management systems. Other species are at risk too.
Deborah Stevenson, a Moruya-based biologist from the NSW far south coast, said logging and land clearing had an impact on other species too.
She said there are about 10 species that rely on similar habitats to the greater glider, which are old-growth tall forests with lots of hollows and feeding resources.
Among the species are the yellow-bellied glider, koalas and certain types of owls.
Ms Stevenson said that a portion of their local glider habitat was not burnt during the 2019 -- 2020 bushfires, making them even more important to protect.
She said that the population between the Moruya River and Tuross didn't burn.
We need to be more careful about further clearing and managing feral predators in our area. A timeline has not been announced, but the federal environment department is working on a national recovery plan to implement more specific protections for the species.
Ms Plibersek said the government was investing money to get ten projects off the ground, which are intended to protect the species.
We're looking at whether installing nest boxes in areas that have been affected by bushfires might provide homes and habitat for greater gliders.
We're looking at reforesting or replanting the kinds of plants that larger gliders rely on.