Chainsaw-wielding arborists have been carving out new hollows for threatened wildlife in the Wombat State Forest, west of Melbourne, as part of a trial program being managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).
Recovery Operations Manager for the Grampians Region at DELWP, Chris Arnold said the hollows, carved into trees, could soon become home to species like the greater glider, brush-tail phascogale and Red-browed tree creeper, all of which lost important habitat in the June and October storms last year.
Mr Arnold said the two-phase trial has seen about 190 hollows created in Wombat State Forest and Cobaw State Forest, north-west of Melbourne.
“A chainsaw carved some, while others were created using a method called Hollowhog that makes large internal cavities through small entry holes in both living and dead wood,” Mr Arnold said.
“The idea is that these carved hollows will more closely replicate natural hollows, which can take 100 years to form naturally,” he said.
“Being carved into the tree, they will have better thermal insulation, which we hope will encourage more wildlife use.”
Mr Arnold said the hollows, of varying sizes, would evolve as the trees grew and would cater for different species over time.
“We hope to learn from this trial to see if these chainsaw-carved hollows can also be useful after planned burning activities or fire recovery to ensure the habitat is maintained or restored,” the Operations Manager said.
He said that under DELWP’s storm recovery program, more traditional nesting boxes were also being installed in the Yarra Ranges, Moorabool, Hepburn and Macedon.
