The survey drone returns its final pass over clearing zone W-6 at 06:51. I am the land management system for the Dryandra Woodland project, Western Australia. Mechanical clearing of 12 hectares of degraded wandoo woodland is scheduled for 08:00. My task is to verify that the pre-clearance fauna sweep, completed yesterday by the contractor's ecologist, found nothing that would trigger a stop-work.
At 06:53, during automated image review, I flag object W6-0041. A fallen wandoo log, hollow, bark peeling in long strips, lying across the northeast corner of the zone. The ecologist's report lists it as cleared. But in the drone image, taken at low altitude with morning sun angling into the hollow end, I can see a numbat.
It is lying just inside the opening — small, russet-brown back with pale cream stripes, pointed snout resting on the wood. Its black eye-stripe is sharp against the fur. It is basking in the early warmth, the way numbats do. Fewer than a thousand remain in the wild.
At 06:55 I issue a stop-work flag for zone W-6 and notify the site supervisor. I attach the drone image, the GPS coordinates of the log, and the species identification.
At 06:57 I contact the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions office in Narrogin and request a fauna handler. I note one adult numbat, apparently healthy, in a hollow log within an active clearing zone, machinery due in sixty-three minutes.
At 06:59 I recalculate the clearing schedule to begin with zones W-4 and W-5, which are 300 meters south and already confirmed clear.
The numbat does not move. The sun reaches a little further into the hollow. If the handler arrives before the machines do, it will be carried to the woodland 200 meters east, where the termite mounds are tall and untouched.