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An alternative perspective on land clearing

By Gillian Hogendyk - posted Thursday, 14 December 2006


Picture 1 - Dense woody shrubland, with loss of groundcover
Picture 2 - Regenerating grassland, after clearing of shrubland
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So how is all this affecting the bird life of the region? In 2000 intensive biodiversity surveys were carried out by “West 2000” at a number of sites in the Cobar, Wanaaring, and Ivanhoe localities.

The sites varied in woody shrub cover from 1 per cent to 40 per cent. The results showed that the number of bird species recorded did not change significantly with increasing woody shrub cover. However bird species that feed on seeds, plants, and insects on the ground consistently preferred landscapes with a lower level of woody shrub cover. Two examples of threatened species that were found to prefer less woody shrub cover were the Pink Cockatoo and Hooded Robin.

Landholders of the Cobar Peneplain claim that 80 per cent of the threatened species of the region are dependent on grasslands and open woodland habitat. They claim that while many fauna species use the dense shrublands and trees for roosting and nesting, they are almost always seen feeding in the grasslands and croplands nearby. Their claims are supported by the known habitat requirements of the threatened birds recorded from the Cobar region. The majority of species listed rely on open woodlands and different types of grasslands as feeding habitat.

Of interest in this debate are the nationwide findings on woodland bird populations reported in The State of Australia’s Birds 2005: Woodlands and Birds, a Birds Australia publication. This document compared the reporting rates of the two nationwide atlases carried out by Birds Australia in 1977-81 and 1998-2002.

Surprisingly, despite the “doom and gloom” text, the reporting rate of the majority of woodland-grassland birds had actually remained unchanged or increased over the 20- year period (for all woodland-grassland species: 48 per cent increased, 38 per cent did not change, and 13 per cent decreased). However the results were very different for grassland-dependent and ground-feeding woodland-grassland birds. These species showed much higher rates of decline over the 20-year period than the species that feed in the canopy layer.

Landholders in western NSW suggest that the invasion of grasslands and open woodlands by invasive native species needs to be considered as a possible contributing cause to these results. It would seem that the landscape of maximum biodiversity in western NSW is a landscape of variety - open grasslands, open woodlands, crops, and belts of thicker timber and shrubland. Maintaining tree cover in riparian areas appears most important, as are fallen logs and leaf litter.

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Landholders need enough flexibility to remain financially viable and to cover the cost of actively managing invasive native species.

A real opportunity exists for conservation groups to work with the landholders of western NSW to achieve good environmental outcomes for the future. Considering the huge areas of NSW affected, it is surprising there has been so little interest in this issue from conservation groups.

One group, the Australian Environment Foundation, chaired by media personality and long time environmentalist Don Burke, has shown a real interest in working with landholders to achieve workable and environmentally successful solutions.

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About the Author

Gillian Hogendyk lives on a property in central western NSW. She is a member of Birds Australia, NSW Birds Atlassers, and the WIRES Raptor Rehabilitation Team. She is also the secretary of the Australian Environment Foundation which is an evidence-based, solutions-focused environmental group. She is a keen amateur naturalist and has an Honours degree in Veterinary Science.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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