Researchers say failures allowed logging of 25% of old growth forest despite extinction threat

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being “knowingly destroyed” by logging because of government failures to manage the species’ survival, according to research.

Matthew Webb and Dejan Stojanovic, two of the Eureka prize finalists from the Australian National University’s difficult bird research group, say governments have stalled on management plans that would protect known feeding and nesting habitat in Tasmania.

The researchers analysed logging in Tasmania’s southern forests during the 20-year course of the previous regional forest agreement.

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They found that a third of the eucalypt forest in this area had been logged between 1997 and 2016 and a quarter of old growth trees that provide nesting habitat for swift parrots had been cleared.

“It is very clear that critical breeding habitat is being logged and that current logging regimes are not sustainable,” the paper states.

“Over this period habitat loss was substantial across the breeding range, but the southern forests were the most heavily impacted.”

Tasmania’s regional forest agreement was rolled over last year to extend its life until November 2037.

Under Australia’s environment laws, regional forest agreements take precedence over the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

However, Webb and Stojanovic’s paper accuses the Tasmanian government of failing to finalise two management plans that would protect swift parrot habitat.

One, a habitat planning guide that would ensure enough breeding habitat was available, has been in draft form for a decade.

“The result is we’re still losing critical breeding habitat.” Webb said. “These are good attempts at regulation that have gone nowhere.”

Habitat loss, predation by sugar gliders and fire are key threats to the swift parrot, whose conservation status has increased from vulnerable to critical since the EPBC Act came into force.

The parrot is one of 20 target species on the federal government’s 20 Birds by 2020 strategy, which aims to improve the trajectory of some of Australia’s most threatened birds.

Stojanovic said the swift parrot was among the best studied Australian threatened species and its habitat was well known, but this knowledge had not been matched by appropriate conservation management from policy makers.

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“This paper is dealing with how we’ve managed the scraps of what was left after early habitat loss. We’ve smashed what’s left and rolled it over to lock it in for another two decades.”

Guardian sought comment from Tasmania’s environment minister, Elise Archer.

A national Senate inquiry has been launched into fauna extinctions in Australia, including failures to implement management actions to protect threatened species and critical habitats.