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Construction, extraction of minerals, and farming are essential to a country's development. Nevertheless, these activities can result in land clearing and the loss of habitat with potential harm to Australia’s flora and fauna.
As Atlantech Graduate Environmental Consultant Jonathan Kool explains, it is therefore an ecologist or fauna spotter catcher’s priority to provide a best-practice approach for preventing and mitigating ecological effects while helping to re-instate habitat with salvaged material or nest boxes.
Ecological pre-clearance: Underpinning best practice
Federal and state/territory legislation, such as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Environmental Protection Act 1986 and others, protects the ecological integrity of land being cleared in Australia. This is further underpinned by State and territory-based legislation which helps industry guidelines to ensure best practices are followed.
Pre-clearance surveys are the significant first step in the process of land clearing. Pre-clearance surveys identify threatened fauna species and their habitats ranging from food or water sources and places were native fauna raise their young. Furthermore, this is an opportunity to inspect for other key features within the areas including but not limited to:
- Invasive weeds.
- Pest animals.
- Survey for endangered or vulnerable species.
- Viability of native seed for collection.
- Topsoil quality sampling.
- Assessing salvageability of natural features.
- Safety hazards.
Once these features are identified the appropriate protection and management can be undertaken before any harvesting, land clearing, or mining operations begin.
Miner South32 has an example of a pre-clearance survey and management plan it undertook at its Worsley Alumina Refinery in Western Australia.
Results and benefits of such a survey in summary:
- Important habitat areas for threatened species being mapped and recorded.
- Threatened fauna species and their associated breeding habitats which were unlikely to disperse after disturbance being reviewed.
- Survey methodology and data collection being conducted to inform an impact assessment to mitigate negative outcomes from clearing.
- Management plans being put in place to relocate, minimise, and protect threatened species.
These actions, and more, were conducted to minimise the likely impact of mortality or injury on threatened species and habitats.
A large monitor camouflaging up a tree
Habitat importance
Tree hollows and stag trees are particularly important to native fauna in Australia with 17% of bird species, 42% of mammals and 28% of reptiles found to require these as stated by National Parks and Wildlife Services NSW. Such trees are known as ‘hollow-bearing trees’ or ‘habitat trees’, and they take a long time to form (sometimes >100-150 years!).
Diameters of hollows range from 25 mm to >300 mm and are usually the result of wind breakage, lightning strike, fire damage, or a termite / insect / fungal attack on the tree. Wildlife uses these hollows to forage, shelter, roost and raise their young. Many of the species that are threatened in Australia depend on hollow-bearing trees with these providing a vital role in sheltering and nesting.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change in New South Wales states the availability of hollow-bearing trees across the landscape is a key limiting factor to threatened species’ ongoing survival and stresses the importance of having a diversity of hollows varied in sizes, depths, volumes and positions.
It is therefore important to maintain older and mature trees or offset these losses (via re-instating hollow-bearing stag trees or nest boxes etc.) to prevent further threatening vulnerable species.
Galahs utilising a hollow for nesting. Source: https://taronga.org.au/conservation-and-science/current-research/hollows-homes
Fauna Spotting and Catching
While guidelines, legislations, and codes of practice have been developed to protect nature, there is also rising awareness across communities about the importance of protecting ecosystems, having environmentally sustainable practices in place, and minimising ecological harm.
Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors and Voiceless Fund for Animals have developed a Queensland Code of Practice for the welfare of wild animals and habitats when it comes to land clearing, and for fauna spotter catchers to adhere to.
Clearing vegetation while animals are present can result in mortality, severe injuries and high stress due to land clearing activities. When their habitats are disturbed, there is a risk that they may lose food sources and shelter, have an increased risk of predation and possibly move to high-risk areas (such as roads).
As the Code outlines, “the application of ecologically sound design and planning principles to proposed developments represents the most important method of reducing and minimising adverse impacts on wildlife and the ecological values of habitat remnants”. It further states “the expertise of wildlife spotter/catchers and other suitably qualified experienced people is important in determining what constitutes fair, reasonable and appropriate measures, in the present circumstances”.
When engaging fauna spotter catchers for the preparation of a Wildlife Protection and Management Plan and other assessments, it should be a prerequisite that they are properly accredited and trained to meet best-practice guidelines for the detection, capture, removal, and disposal of wildlife from sites that are proposed to be developed.
Blue tongue lizard being relocated
Nest boxes and giving cleared habitat features a second life
According to Land for Wildlife, more than 300 of Australia’s vertebrate species (creatures that have backbones such as birds, mammals, reptiles) use tree hollows for protection, nesting, shelter, and roosting.
Well-ventilated nest boxes with specific dimensions have been found as an effective substitute to provide nesting and sheltering for threatened species where a tree hollow may no longer exist. There have been many studies to support nest boxes being used successfully in a wide range of settings – from in the bush, to urban residential properties, parks, and farm forestry plantations. The boxes must be co-located close to their other essential life resources such as food, water, shelter, and mates.
Experienced fauna spotter catchers and ecologists can assist in the development of plans to ensure nest boxes are properly selected according to a species’ needs and are placed in appropriate areas for the intended species. They can further advise on the revegetation/rehabilitation controls to ensure secure and safe habitats for flora, fauna, and animal life, with bushfire management designs in place (for example, access tracks).
Experienced fauna spotter catchers and ecologists can also recognise salvageable habitat features that could be used to augment habitat which can include stag trees, logs / log piles and rocks. These features can then be utilised in offsets or rehabilitated areas to provide a second life to these invaluable wildlife resources.
Long-term monitoring is essential for these augmented habitats to ensure objectives are being achieved or whether intervention and improvement are required.
Sugar gliders cuddling up in an installed nest box. Source: https://mvb.org.au/index.php/the-program/calendar-events/event/2912-monday-morning-walk-1-2019-grade-2-2-hours
Environmental support
At Atlantech, we provide a comprehensive range of environmental planning and operational support across a wide range of industries, including pre-clearances, fauna spotter catcher and nest box works and installation.
Our services also include environmental inspections, biodiversity offsets and monitoring, revegetation activities, auditing, and project supervision.
Contact us today for a confidential, free discussion or see our full list of services > https://atlantech.com.au/services/.
One of our nest box suppliers: Hollow Log Homes - Nest Boxes For Wildlife in Australia: www.hollowloghomes.com.au
Sources
- South32 (threatened species pre-clearance)
- NSW Government (hollow bearing trees)
- National Parks and Wildlife Services NSW (natural tree hollows)
- Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors: https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=42991366-5939-4305-90be-c56e3365947e
- NSW Government (rehabilitation controls guideline)
- Land for Wildlife (nest boxes)
Atlantech team member Jonathan Kool standing in front of a large hollow-bearing tree