Going Bush - The Swift Parrot

The endangered swift parrot has been sighted along the southern and east coast of Tasmania from as far south as Dover through to Orford on the eastern seaboard.

And during that time, our forest officers along with experts from the Forest Practices Authority and the Threatened Species Section have been watching and waiting to see where the swift parrots will choose to call home during their breeding season.

Much attention has focussed on the Wielangta area where there has been plenty of activity by swift parrots looking for suitable nesting hollows close to their food source - the flowering blue gum.

It has been six years since the parrots chose to spend the breeding season at Wielangta - but they are back and we are pleased to see them.

There is now sufficient evidence for Forestry Tasmania, the Forest Practices Authority and the Department of Primary Industry and Water's Threatened Species Section to agree to suspend forestry operations at Wielangta.

Contractors had been waiting to see if and when they could start work. The coupe was never going to be clearfelled - only partially harvested - but this year the swift parrot will have the area to itself.

The decision to suspend forestry operations at Wielangta is further evidence that the regulatory forest practices system in Tasmania is robust and effective.

We have said right through this process that if the swift parrots chose Wielangta, we would adjust our harvesting prescriptions to minimise impacts. We have done that and more.

It also vindicates the full bench of the federal court, which found the Regional Forest Agreement and the regulatory environment does indeed protect threatened species.

FT, the Forest Practices Authority and the Threatened Species Section will take the opportunity to jointly conduct further surveys of the parrots at Wielangta, which will help inform an on sight parrot plan for the area.

It is worth noting that for any management plan to be effective, it needs to take into account the broader Tasmanian landscape. For this reason the three are also working cooperatively towards a strategic plan to manage the habitat of the swift parrot in Tasmania.

The plan will serve all land use activities covered by the Forest Practices system.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Going Bush
• Nich Duigan
• Andrew Hart
• Swift Parrot
• wielangta
• Forestry Tasmania
• protected species
• birds