PARROT HOMES LOST
Researcher ‘heartbroken’ by Sustainable Timber’s logging of critical habitat
THE apparent destruction of nesting trees in the state’s south has been described as a “disaster” for Tasmania’s critical endangered swift parrot.
The logging of habitat in a forest coupe at Tylers Hill, near Dover, could also pose a roadblock to certification for the former Forestry Tasmania, now called Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT).
Swift parrot researcher Dejan Stojanovic, a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University, said he was “heartbroken” on seeing the site.
He had gone there to set up nest monitors and devices to protect the parrot from sugar gliders, its No.1 predator in Tasmania.
“It was pretty shocking, to be honest. We’ve been monitoring this site for about a decade now and we’ve known for a long time that it’s critical swift parrot habitat. On arrival a whole patch of bush where these birds have nested for over 10 years of our monitoring was just gone.”
The bird spends winter in southeastern mainland Australia before migrating to Tasmania in late winter or early spring to breed.
There are thought to be fewer than 2000 left in the wild because of habitat destruction and other factors.
In 2016 STT failed to achieve Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, seen as a commercial imperative for the struggling government-owned business.
One of the main concerns of FSC auditors was STT’s lack of swift parrot protection. They called on the company to better consider the effects of coupe-level forest operations.
Part of the coupe in question, believed to have been logged in the last few months, has already been quarantined from timber harvesting by STT because it hosts swift parrot nesting areas. Logging on Bruny Island, where swift parrots are known to nest, has also been temporarily halted until a swift parrot management plan is complete.
In a statement yesterday Environment Minister Elise Archer said her department was working closely with the Forest Practices Authority to ensure appropriate management of swift parrot habitat.
“Ongoing discussions with Sustainable Timber Tasmania are aimed at developing a strategic landscape approach to the management of the species,” she said.
“STT is working with swift parrot researchers to develop this approach, and has indicated that this process may be completed by the end of 2017.”
Dr Stojanovic said protecting the bird’s nesting areas “wasn’t really that hard”.
“Don’t cut down mature trees in areas where we know swift parrots need them,” he said.
The fact the logging was done legally was an “indictment of the quality of the law”.
Forestry Minister Guy Barnett said the coupe logged was within the production forest zone, which the Wilderness Society and the Greens had signed off on as being available for harvesting under the dismantled forestry peace deal.