City joins project to create habitats for native wildlife

The City of Greater Geelong has joined with St Leonards Men’s Shed, St Leonards Primary School, and Bellarine Land Care, to create habitats for native fauna at Lake Lorne in Drysdale.

The organisations have developed a system for creating hollows, nesting boxes and coronation cuts that look natural to native animals, while also leaving the tree in such a way that the public can see that it has been cut for a specific purpose.

By creating different types of hollows, and monitoring with a wildlife camera, inhabitants of the tree are identified, and therefore, using specific hollows will attract specific animals such as microbats or different species of birds.

The city has attended seminars on habitat creation as a part of its Urban Forest Strategy, which expands the ideas and sets out the delivery of the One Planet principles, particularly Land Use and Wildlife.

Director of city services Guy Wilson-Browne said it was a goal of the city’s Urban Forest Strategy to provide habitat for wildlife.

“We felt it was time to start creating some hollows and habitat that was not detrimental to the structure of the tree, and is suitable for fauna to inhabit,” Mr Wilson-Browne said.

“With urban arboriculture becoming common place in the public realm, we are finding that hollows are being removed as they are deemed a tree defect, and a concern for the structural integrity of the tree.

“This has seen a decline in habitat for hollow inhabiting fauna in urban areas.”

By working with its partners, the city has been able to improve and enhance the project, and the environmental benefit that the trees contribute to the urban forest has increased.