STAKEHOLDERS from around the region will gather in Dubbo next month to learn how chainsaws are helping to improve habitat conditions for birds and small mammals.
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Mick Callan, project support officer with the Central West Environment and Waterways Alliance, said a forum at Taronga Western Plains Zoo on June 23 would turn the spotlight on habitat loss in central and western NSW and offer positive solutions to the absence of tree hollows in the landscape.
Mr Callan said land clearing since European settlement had created real problems for hollow-dependent birds and animals, including parrots, owls, and sugar gliders, possums and micro and larger bats.
"Hollows are an important part of the environment," he said.
"They are required for important species to shelter and reproduce. It takes 100 years for a small hollow to develop. Larger ones are formed over 200 or 300 years."
Mr Callan said the Dubbo Hollows for Habitat forum would be attended by farmers and landholders, community members, Indigenous and environmental groups and representatives from local government.
There would be a series of technical presentations on a range of topics, including nest box construction and maintenance, as well as discussion about the importance of revegetation and habitat enhancement for the future.
A major feature of the day would be an example of a hollow augmentation technique demonstrated by an arborist from Bathurst.
"This involves the manipulation of a standing tree to incorporate hollows by cutting out sections of timber using a chainsaw," Mr Callan said.
"The forum will be held at the zoo's Savannah Room from 9.30am to 4pm. Registration through the Eventbrite webpage is essential.
"Details are also available through the Central West Councils Environment and Waterways Alliance website."
Mr Callan said the alliance was a partnership of 18 councils across central west NSW, encompassing both the Central Tablelands and Central West Local Land Services (LLS) regions.
Member councils had a long history of collaboration, he said.
Much of the focus of the group surrounded issues along waterways and rivers including the Coxes, Fish, Macquarie, Castlereagh, Bogan, Lachlan and Cudgegong rivers and their many tributaries.
