Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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Increasing Wimmera's nesting hollows with habitat boxes
Three times the number of animals in the Wimmera region will have homes than originally planned, thanks to a funding boost from the Australia Government.
Funding
In 2004 the Wimmera Farm Tree Group applied for a Government grant and received more than $20,000 to build about 450 nesting boxes. But the support of local timber suppliers means the entire project stretched to provide triple that number.
Activities
Yarriambiack Landcare Coordinator Iestyn Hosking said the team initially built 455 nesting boxes but then kept going, building about 1400 in total.
"It really came down to 10 to 15 locals who set up a kind of factory line in the Clive Crouch's shed, and worked intensively to construct and paint the boxes." Iestyn said.
Between May 2005 and May 2006, the group of dedicated volunteers built and installed the boxes across strategic areas on both private and public land.
"One of the main problems we have here in the Wimmera is that we've cleared massive areas of vegetation," Iestyn said. "Most of the good trees have been removed, so that puts a lot of pressure on the remaining trees to provide hollows for a whole range of birds and small mammals such as bats and possums.
"It takes between 200 and 300 years for buloke casuarinas and eucalypts to grow to a size where they produce hollows, yet this was the tree that was used in the past for fence posts and buildings!"
In all there are 13 different box sizes, with the most common being one foot by two foot. All have a little hole in the front and are bolted to trees around two to three metres off the ground. Often one size can provide shelter and breeding areas for a variety of species - for example, the Grey Teal Duck needs the same size box as the Brushtail Possum.
Achievements
The boxes should last at least 10 or 15 years and need only occasional maintenance. While it's too early to know what effect the boxes have had on breeding patterns, initial reports are promising, with the Rupanyup Landcare Group (the first to install around 100 boxes) reporting about 80 per cent colonisation by the spring of 2005.
"Another result of the project has been the massive interest generally right across the community," Iestyn said. "It's been quite surprising, who's literally come out of the 'woodwork' and ended up so passionate about the whole thing! Apparently this has happened in other projects too."
More information
- Iestyn Hosking, Yarriambiack Landcare Coordinator and Wimmera Farm Tree Group Secretary: (03) 5385 5060 or ihosking@yarriambiack.vic.gov.au
- Wimmera CMA: www.wcma.vic.gov.au
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