Helms Forest Block – Black Cockatoos
HON GIZ WATSON (North Metropolitan) [5.22 pm]:
I wanted to make some comments on forests again this evening. I made some comments yesterday on Warrup forest block, which is near Bridgetown. Tonight I want to make some comments on Helms forest block, which is near Nannup, and reflect on the answers to some questions I asked in this house yesterday on the rehabilitation and welfare of black cockatoos—Carnaby’s black cockatoo, Baudin’s black cockatoo and red-tailed cockatoos. There is a very useful set-up down there which is run by some community members who rehabilitate black-tailed cockatoos that are brought to them from the community. Often cockatoos are found during logging operations if a tree with a nest is brought down. They have a very successful program of rehabilitating black cockatoos. In recent times black cockatoos have become a bit of a pin-up bird for forest conservation and woodland conservation. The Department of Environment and Conservation and community members are very concerned about the declining number of black cockatoos. They are certainly a magnificent part of the woodland and forest ecosystem, but their numbers are under threat and are declining as a result of loss of habitat. I have spoken in Parliament about the impact of the loss of banksia woodlands on black cockatoos and the interesting relationship between black cockatoos and pines, from which the black cockatoos now get a portion of their food.
The issue in Nannup, in particular Helms forest block, is that this block is due to be logged in the next three-year harvest plan. The connection with the rehabilitation of the black cockatoos is that the cockatoos, once they are well enough to be released, are released and they go where they want to go, but a lot of them end up in Helms
forest block. We know that because they have leg bands on so that they can be monitored when they are released from the rehabilitation centre. I have heard from the people who run the rehabilitation centre that their observation is that some of these birds are now using Helms block as their permanent habitat and often they do not range very far. They have made these observations of the released birds.
The other point is that I understand that the funding for the rehabilitation of these birds has also been cut. The good work that has been done to conserve a number of birds species that are under threat is being undermined because they are not receiving the funding that they have in the past, particularly from the Department of Environment and Conservation, to continue that work. Looking after black cockatoos is a very labour-intensive job because if the birds cannot go out and forage themselves, a substantial amount of material has to be brought in to feed them. The centre is doing a good job with these cockatoos and being very successful, and they are being well recognised by the Department of Environment and Conservation for that good work. DEC works hand-in-hand with the rehabilitation centre for its own research and knowledge. But at the same time they have the looming threat that the refuge into which these birds are being released is now under imminent threat of logging.
When I asked some questions about this matter in the house yesterday, the response was deeply disappointing. When I asked what assessment had been made regarding the impact of logging on the particular cockatoo species, and specifically on the requirements of the nearby Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre, I was given a very generic answer that, basically, it is all covered under the forest management plan 2004–13, and because the Forest Products Commission conducts its harvesting operations in accordance with the requirements of the forest management plan, I should just relax and there is really no problem. What I wanted was a much more specific response to this quite unusual particular case. I feel it is important to bring it to the attention of the Parliament that this is not a generic question about forest management across the board; it is specific to a unique situation of a very successful rehabilitation operation, which I am sure is supported for conservation reasons by the community in general, that is under threat because this block is about to be logged. I do not think that the minister has really grasped the dimensions of the concerns held by those interested in cockatoo rehabilitation and the protection of forest habitat.
The second bit of the question I asked was about the specific requirements of the nearby cockatoo rehabilitation centre, and the answer was — The FPC will communicate with adjoining landowners or other parties if and when more detailed harvest planning commences. That basically means that they will let people know when they are about to bring in the chainsaws and bulldozers. That was not actually what I wanted; I wanted a proper conversation about the relationship between that block and the good work being done in cockatoo rehabilitation and what the specific impact will be on that black cockatoo population if this area is logged. I then asked what evidence the assessment was based on, and I got, again, an incredibly broad answer, which was — Detailed research is undertaken by DEC into the management requirements of threatened fauna.I want to put on the record that I think that is a totally inadequate answer to a quite specific question relating to a specific area. My guess is that there is no specific detailed evidence or even assessment of what will happen if this block is logged. I particularly raised this because I noticed in previous exchanges in this place that the Minister for Environment has taken an interest in black cockatoos. I would like to encourage that interest even further and ask her specifically if she will take an interest in the details of this case. I have submitted a further set of questions on notice, which I am sure the minister will answer in due course, but I encourage the minister to ensure that the answers given to those questions are a lot more specific than the general responses she provided to my questions without notice in this place yesterday.
Although the black cockatoos are iconic and are a species that people find very moving and magnificent—as indeed they are—they are also like a canary in a coalmine in terms of an indication of the decline in a range of ecosystems and the ongoing impact of logging and land clearing. Black cockatoos are an indicator species. The indications are not good. The indications are that their numbers are declining and that in fact we should be doing everything we can to work out why that is happening, and doing everything we can to ensure numbers improve.
Extract from Hansard
[COUNCIL - Thursday, 24 June 2010]
p4613b-4614a
Hon Giz Watson
