Wildlife

Conservation of the many species of wildlife living in State forests is a fundamental aim of forest management carried out by State Forests of NSW.

In the past 200 years, many Australian wildlife species have disappeared (become extinct) or become rare (and therefore endangered) because of human activity, primarily through the clearing of land for agriculture. Yet the diversity of native wildlife, the animals and plants, living in State forests remains intact. The dedication of forested land as State forest early this century saved many wildlife species from decline, and perhaps even extinction, as a result of the expansion of the colony.

Foresters have long appreciated that all forms of forest life are interrelated and do not exist or grow in isolation. Wildlife that make up and live in forests depend on each other for survival. For example, honeyeaters are birds that feed on the nectar of trees, and the trees in turn depend on the honeyeaters to spread pollen from their flowers as part of their reproduction.

Cycles of nature

Forests are dynamic ecosystems which constantly change - birth (or germination), growth, death and decay are all part of the natural forest life cycle. Natural changes take place all the time as living conditions change. Sometimes the changes can be dramatic and devastating, as in the case of severe bushfire or land clearing. Other changes are subtle and gradual, like a sapling growing into a sturdy mature tree; a mature tree ageing and developing hollows where birds, like owls, and small tree dwelling (arboreal) mammals, like possums, sometimes live; and the decay of a fallen dead tree.

 Changes to the forest canopy and ground cover are important aspects of the natural dynamic forest ecosystem. Following the disturbance of a forest area, for example, by an activity like timber harvesting, the adjacent undisturbed or protected forest areas will provide the source for recolonisation for animals that rely on the tree species that have fallen. As new trees develop and grow (regenerate) in the disturbed forest area to replace the trees removed (regrowth), the natural habitat slowly re-establishes and, with time, the animals gradually move back into the regrowth forest area. Some animals also specialise in living in disturbed areas.

Sustaining the balance

Sustaining the complexity of interwoven relationships in a native forest - which reflects the forest's biodiversity - is the key element to forest management practised by State Forests. All forestry activities are carried out in strict accordance with formal plans drawn up by State Forests prior to any activity commencing and approved by a number of other agencies, in particular the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) considers all activities and impacts on wildlife.

Specific species research

Fauna surveys carried out as part of State Forests' focus on fauna species within individual forest areas. State Forests also undertakes ongoing research of particular species throughout the State or in particular parts of NSW, often as long-term research projects. For example, a project studying the effect of different types of timber harvesting on birds and gliding possums at Waratah Creek near Eden has been underway since 1982. It is one of the most detailed research projects of its type ever undertaken in Australia.

State Forests' wildlife research encompasses three broad categories:

• the first and most important includes species which are or might be adversely affected by timber harvesting
• the second category includes those species which are or might be favourably affected by timber harvesting, and
• the third category includes those species which are apparently unaffected by timber harvesting.

The ultimate aim of all research, however, is to provide knowledge which will ensure that forest management is compatible with and enhances wildlife management.

Working together

State Forests' researchers work closely with local field staff on wildlife surveys. Researchers also provide advice on wildlife and regularly conduct workshops for State Forests' staff and other organisations. The workshops involve wildlife identification and ways to protect and conserve wildlife during forestry activities.

Training field staff, and taking advantage of the expertise and local knowledge they already have, is a particularly important element of forest and wildlife management. For all forestry activities, special procedures apply to protect the habitat of wildlife. These include; retaining particular habitat trees, or areas of forest; leaving wildlife corridors (strips of forest which link reserves); and excluding logging from sensitive areas, for example, where critical habitat for endangered species occurs.

Threatened and endangered species

Fauna sightings are reported in case special protection measures need to be followed. This is particularly so if, for example, a fauna species is listed in Schedule 1 or 2 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act as a species of special conservation significance (endangered or vulnerable). In cases like this particular management procedures must be followed.

If an endangered fauna species is sighted in a forest area, timber harvesting and other forest operations can only proceed under specific conditions set by the NPWS. Specialists from both the NPWS and State Forests usually carry out detailed surveys in a particularly sensitive area, or may conduct specific research projects. Ongoing joint surveys between State Forests and the NPWS, of koala and potoroos in forests in the south-east of the State, are examples of such co-operative projects.

Sometimes surveys produce long-suspected but unconfirmed results. In 1991, an international team of Earthwatch volunteers and State Forests' field staff working in State forests on the north coast conducted a successful survey of the Hastings River mouse, thought to be amongst the world's rarest and most endangered mammals. In August 1994, State Forests' research staff working on a joint State Forests-NPWS survey in Nullica State Forest near Eden, found several smoky mice, a species usually found in Victoria and thought to be extinct in NSW.

At other times, field surveys can produce surprising results. A large survey in the river red gum-mallee forests of western NSW has detected the presence of mallee fowl, a rare ground bird the size of a pheasant, in areas where they were thought to be extinct. It has also discovered the presence of the southern ninguai, one of the world's smallest marsupials (and, though weighing only about 10 grams, is a ferocious hunter known to attack insects larger than itself), much further south than previously recorded.

Near Narooma, on the State's south coast, field staff carrying out pre-logging surveys netted and identified (then immediately released after identification), a golden-tipped bat, a small rainforest mammal species once considered extinct. Following this discovery, State Forests and the NPWS worked together to consider the best way to ensure the bat's habitat requirements would not be threatened by future timber harvesting activities.