Park will not save possum: forestry group

Creating a national park will do little to save the highly endangered Leadbeater's Possum and will cost thousands of jobs, a leading forestry group says.

The peak body for Australia's professional foresters, the Institute of Foresters of Australia, says a national park would largely close Victoria's timber industry.

"The social cost would be extreme with thousands of timber industry and forest management workers losing their jobs," the group says.

The group says the decline of the species is a consequence of bushfires causing trees to collapse, not of logging.

The Victorian government's possum advisory group has suggested buffer zones of 200 metres be created around any colonies that are discovered.