A proposed new highway from Canberra Airport to the city's north could jeopardise the survival of one of Australia's rarest creatures according to a senior ecologist.
The Majura Parkway, which would link the airport to the future suburb of Kowen, may cut through one of the two remaining homes of the grassland earless dragon.
Murray Evans, a fauna specialist with Parks, Conservation and Lands, said the road could damage the endangered grasslands that lie north of the airport runway.
''Given that the population has decreased during the drought, it has the potential to have a really significant impact and jeopardise the future long-term viability of that population,'' he said.
Today is National Threatened Species Day and the anniversary of the 1936 death of the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity. While the earless dragon is not in the same league as the tiger, Dr Evans said habitat fragmentation posed a serious threat to the scaly creatures.
''When populations are isolated, if one population declines and goes extinct, other populations can't naturally rescue them by moving across,'' he said.
''What that means is we have to invest in managing the remaining populations we have.''
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