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Amy Koch, creator of the guide Tree hollows
in Tasmania, with Sarah Munks of the Forest Practices
Authority
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A guide entitled
Tree hollows in Tasmania has been
developed to help forest field workers identify trees that are most
likely to contain hollows that can be used for shelter by Tasmanian
fauna.
Hollows are cavities in trees that provide important shelter and
breeding sites for some fauna species. In Tasmania, 42 vertebrate
species—comprising birds, bats and possums—are known to
use hollows to varying degrees. These species include threatened
species such as the masked owl and swift parrot.
The guide, developed by the Forest Practices Authority in
conjunction with the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, has
been put together by Dr
Amy Koch, who
has been conducting research into tree hollows for the past six
years. The results of Amy’s and others scientists’
research has helped identify what types of trees and hollows are
used by fauna.
During late November the Forest Practices Authority distributed the
guide and conducted hollow education workshops for forest field
workers in Tasmania’s state forests at Cluan Tier near
Deloraine, and at Mt Morrison and Wielangta on Tasmania’s
east coast. Over 50 forest workers from various organisations
attended the field days.
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Amy Koch talking to forest workers about tree
hollows on the field day at Wielangta
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The aim of these field days was to provide forest workers involved
in the planning and management of forest coupes with a greater
understanding of what makes a good hollow and how to select
appropriate habitat trees to be retained in order to maintain a
hollow resource both now and into the future.
Amy said that “Careful consideration needs to be taken when
selecting trees to retain in a harvesting operation to ensure that
the trees that will provide the best quality hollows are kept.
Because hollows take a long time to form, it is also important to
ensure that trees likely to provide hollows in the future are
retained within the landscape”.
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A masked owl
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The tree hollow guide and new knowledge passed on to forest
field workers aims to improve the identification of hollow-bearing
trees in Tasmania’s production forests.
An electronic version of the Tree hollows in Tasmania
guide can be downloaded here.
