When sourcing firewood this winter, please ask yourself - are you burning their homes to warm yours?
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I'm referring to all those Aussie animals that need tree hollows and mature trees to live, breed and forage in. These trees are usually 120 yrs or older.
Government websites tell us that almost all of Australia's parrots, including cockatoos and lorikeets, use tree hollows for nesting. The loss of woodland birds in SE Australia has been linked to firewood harvesting. In NSW alone, about 290 vertebrate species use tree hollows or utilise dead trees as nest sites.Even tiny cup shaped hollows can be homes for micro-bats and small birds.
Firewood harvesting practices and an increase in bushfires have led to a net loss of native hollow bearing trees in our region. This net loss is where the number of hollow bearing trees decrease faster than new hollow bearing trees are formed. These large trees are declining dramatically and the trees we plant today will take 100's of years to become homes for wildlife. Mature trees with hollows are becoming critical habitat for the future of our wildlife.
Even hollows left on the ground, and dead standing trees play a vital part in the ecosystem.
What is the most eco friendly way to get your firewood and still leave homes for the various glider and bird species of our region?
If you source your own wood it's easy to select some fallen timber and leave hollows. People should note that it's illegal to source from Travelling Stock Reserves, council lands or bush blocks without owners permission.
If you have property, perhaps you can plan for a low impact secure firewood future by growing your own. Species such as Black wattle produce good, hot burning wood. Grow whatever trees best suit your site, harvest them when young and leave our wildlife homes alone.
If you purchase wood can you be certain where it came from? Question the supplier. Was it sustainably harvested from plantation timber? Was it purpose grown ? Or did it come from felling native woodland trees or threatened species habitat ?
Mark Selmes, Taralga
Call for petrol sign
Another stranded motorist at my gate last night begging for petrol. Please can we have a sign "Last Petrol between Goulburn and Oberon at the weekend" on the road out of Goulburn and Oberon - it's well overdue.
Jenny Diprose, Curraweela
Long live Wakefield Park
I would like to put forward my growing frustration with continuing major changes to laws and infrastructure to appease a few despite the many that find the park an attraction.
Take it from me, I'm not the only one who visits Goulburn just for this track. If it goes I will not be exiting the bypass anymore. There's no point in Goulburn - it just has a gaol.
This is one of the strictest tracks when it come to noise levels against the competitors that use it. Not that this has stopped me and my support for it.
Seriously, to lower the noise limits lower than an ADR approved road car/bike used on the street...utter stupidity. Long live Wakefield Park.