Hon Tjorn Sibma questions the Minister for Environment regarding the impact of a prescribed burn on numbat habitats, specifically concerning the number of dens and numbats observed before, during, and after the burn. The Minister provides data on den counts and numbat sightings.

AnsweredQoN 78Legislative Council
Asked
11 May 2021
Portfolio
Environment

QuestionView source ↗

NUMBAT HABITATS — PRESCRIBED BURNING
PROGRAM
78. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the minister representing the
Minister for Environment:
I refer to the minister's
answer of 4 May 2021 concerning the DON l00 Weinup prescribed burn, conducted
by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and the burn's
impact on one of two endangered numbat habitats.
(1) How many numbat dens were identified by the DBCA
and adjacent property owners prior to the prescribed burn, and how many
dens remain?
(2) How many
numbats were observed before, during and after the prescribed burn, and in what
condition were these animals at each of the three occasions that observation
took place?
(3) When were the
above observations undertaken and how were these observations recorded?

AnswerView source ↗

(1) Seven marked
numbat dens were identified prior to the burn and five of these have been
observed since the burn.
(2)–(3) The
following numbers of numbats were observed incidentally in the DON 100 Weinup
prescribed burn area: 15 numbats between 3 September 2019 and when the final
cell burn commenced on 25 March 2021; three
numbats during the burn on 25 March 2021; two numbats after the burn on 26
March and 1 May 2021 . All numbats were reported as active.
The observations were made in the
field by both staff of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and
Attractions and members of the public, and were recorded on a report form and
transferred into the department's fauna file reporting system.

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