Habitat for phascogales

Contact

Bonnie
www.connectingcountry.org.au
info@connectingcountry.org.au

Organisations Involved

Connecting Country
Victorian State Government

Themes

If you live in or around Castlemaine, you may have been lucky enough to encounter the elusive Brush-tailed Phascogale, or Tuan. This medium-sized marsupial has a large, black, bottlebrush tail and is listed as ‘threatened’ in Victoria.

In 2010 Connecting Country began a nest box program across the Mount Alexander region, installing nest boxes designed specifically for use by Brush-tailed Phascogales. We now have over 450 nest boxes on private and public land, located systematically across the landscape and scientific analysis has allowed us to better understand their distribution and habitat preferences. The boxes are monitored every two years by trained volunteers.

The Habitat for Phascogales project aims to turn this research into on-ground action.  We will work with 20 landholders in target areas to fence off and protect large old trees and to undertake strategic revegetation and nest box installation to create stepping-stone habitats through degraded landscapes. 

Connecting Country also runs information sessions and workshops about the biology, ecology and the occurrence of this species in a modified environment, and how we can help this threatened species to persist.

This is a 3 year project from 2023-2025.

_{cover image: Frances Howe, image below: Jess Lawton}