The combination of 40-year-old regrowth ( for food ) and large dead trees left still standing after the fires ( for shelter and nesting ) allowed the Leadbeater 's possum population to expand to an estimated peak of about 7500 in the early 1980s . From its peak in the 1980s , the Leadbeater 's possum population was expected to further decline rapidly , by as much as 90 % , due to a habitat bottleneck . The population has dropped sharply since 1996 . Particularly , the February 2009 Black Saturday bushfires destroyed 43 % of Leadbeater 's possums ' habitat in the Central Highlands , halving the wild population to 1,500 . A study in 2014 concluded there is a 92 % chance the Leadbeater 's ecosystem in the Victoria central highlands will collapse within 50 years
Black Saturday bushfires
Black Saturday bushfires
Leadbeater's possum