Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2007L01320:body:0:p8
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2007L01320
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 18714–21630

foraging habitat have been cleared for Pine Pinus radiata plantations.  Subsequently, wildling pines have established themselves in large numbers in nearby remnant stringybark woodlands, particularly in southern areas.  Pines suppress the growth of young stringybarks and most understorey plants, and can kill trees that they overtop.  Since 1989, planning permits to establish plantations in Victoria have required the control of wildlings. ForestrySA with assistance from SA DEH officers are targeting pine removal in National Parks, Heritage Agreements and Native Forest Reserves since late 1990's early 2000's. Similar work is also being undertaken in Victoria.  Coastal and Sallow wattle also have the potential to impact on habitat regeneration of Stringybarks.  This is due to the change in structure of a patch and increase fuel height and loading.

Threats to nest sites

2.7 Nest site availability (Medium priority)
Dead nest trees are falling over at 4 - 7% per year (Hill and Burnard 2001), and this rate is likely to increase as the trees age. Many other dead trees are felled for firewood or when paddocks are cultivated. Emison and Caldow (1994) instigated an artificial nest site program, but Hill and Burnard (2001) argued that nest hollow availability is not limiting the population, at least in the short term, because there is a low rate of re-use (33%) of known nest sites, with some birds occupying nearby sites in subsequent years. They also noted that Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos have very similar requirements and have been recorded on several occasions using hollows previously used by Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, yet the number of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos is increasing (Barrett et al. 2002). Although the birds prefer dead nest trees, in areas where dead trees are now very rare, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos persist and breeding success is not different to flocks in areas where dead trees remain common (Hill and Burnard 2001). The need for an expanded artificial nest hollow program would need to be reviewed if significant nesting habitat losses are sustained, for example in a wildfire, or if current rates of nest tree loss accelerate.

In the medium to long-term the continuing loss of dead hollow-bearing trees, lack of regeneration of future hollow-forming trees and declining health of scattered trees on private land are potentially serious threats. Many nest trees are near the end of their lifespan (Gibbons and Lindenmayer 2002) and there is a landscape-scale cessation of eucalypt regeneration in the sheep-wheat belt of south-eastern Australia (Robinson and Traill 1996, Reid and Landsberg 2000). Given that trees containing larger hollows used by Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are likely to be over 220 years old (Gibbons and Lindenmayer 2002), there is likely to be a serious shortfall in suitable hollow-bearing trees in the decades to come. Replanting the required