Wild Wielangta

The recent announcement by Premier Bartlett about planting 2,500 hectares of Blue Gums on the East Coast over the next 5 years, as feeding habitat for endangered Swift Parrots, is bizarre and misguided.

If Swift Parrots are to avoid extinction they need to be able to breed successfully. For this they require forests full of old trees with suitable nesting hollows such as are found in Wielangta Forest, where most of the world’s remaining Swift Parrots have been breeding this year. But these all-important breeding sites in our State Forests are continuing to be woodchipped.

The Premier has completely missed the point. He is offering to provide Swift Parrots with a possible food source in the distant future whilst at the same time condoning the destruction of their nest trees. It is useless for these birds to have food but nowhere to breed. The protection of old growth forests is the key to their survival.

Premier Bartlett has clearly not consulted any scientists with expert knowledge of this endangered bird or even consulted relevant Government Departments before announcing this bizarre and misguided initiative. Two key scientific government reports that directly relate to the management and conservation of Swift Parrot habitat are soon to be released – the Strategic Management Plan for Swift Parrot Breeding Habitat and the Wielangta Swift Parrot Breeding Season Report 2008/09. The Premier has jumped the gun and unleashed this unscientific scheme before the experts have provided the Government with the advice the Government itself requested.

We are glad to see the Premier finally acknowledging that urgent action needs to be taken to save this beautiful bird from extinction albeit with a crackpot scheme. Hopefully in the coming months, he will take a dose of much needed scientific advice and announce a range of measures that will make a genuine difference to the conservation status of Swift Parrots.

For more information contact:
Sharon East 03 6253 5348
Lisa Cuatt 03 6253 5493
0428 399103
http://wildwielangta.edublogs.org
wildwielangta at gmail dot com