21 August 2017 Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Level 15 8 Nicholson St East Melbourne Vic 3002 Dear Councillors, Thank you for the opportunity to lodge a submission to the Central Victoria Investigation on behalf of BirdLife Australia. BirdLife Australia is Australia’s leading environmental organisation dedicated to the protection and survival of Australia’s native birds. BirdLife Australia has been advocating for Australia’s birds since 1901. During this time we have built up an extensive knowledge base which is underpinned by our research activities. We run a large database of bird sightings which feeds to Atlas of Living Australia and provides most of the information used in this submission. Yours sincerely Euan Moore BirdLife Victoria Group Key Biodiversity Area Victoria Coordinator Phone: 03 5472 1572 Mobile: 0407 519 091 Address: 6 Andrew St Castlemaine Vic 3450 Submission on behalf of BirdLife Victoria Group to the VEAC Central West Investigation. August 2017 The areas under consideration by VEAC form extensive areas of remnant forest, mainly along the higher areas between Heathcote and Ararat. All these forest areas have suffered from extensive exploitation of natural resources over the past 150 years. Many of the forested areas are regrowth on land which due to steepness, infertility or water limitations were unsuited to farming. Today these forests provide important habitat for birds, other fauna and an extensive and varied flora. These forests provide important links between other forests in the area and the bulk habitat that is required to ensure viable populations of forest and woodland species. These forests are situated close to major population centres in the state. All are within about two hours drive of Melbourne and are close to the major population centres of Ballarat and Bendigo. This proximity to population centres means that there are high recreational demands for these forests. Part of this demand will be through wildlife and birding tourism which will flourish if there are target species that are readily accessible. Birding tourism tends to be at the high end of the market however all tourism that is associated with these areas will have economic benefits for nearby towns. This is exemplified by the Daylesford area which is already a popular tourist destination that benefits from the local environmental. This submission will concentrate on the importance of these forests to native birds and will deal separately with each area covered by the investigation. We have used data from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) 1 for the preparation of this submission. This data includes our own data from the BirdLife database (Birdata) as well as data from other sources such as the Museum of Victoria and the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. Full details of the sources of this data are shown in the attribution for ALA in appendix I. Records which we feel are suspect based on the source or extreme rarity of the species in Victoria have been excluded. We have also excluded some historic records where the species concerned is locally extinct e.g. Grey- crowned Babbler from the Macedon area. Across all areas the data shows that many bird species are declining in range. For those species that are listed as threatened a number have not been recorded in recent years. For some species this may reflect a lack of observers, particularly where there are large numbers of records. For rarer species, a lack of records for 20 years or more indicates that these are either vagrants or that they are regionally extinct. 1 Atlas of Living Australia occurrence download at http://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search accessed on Fri Aug 18 06:51:18 UTC 2017. There are common threats to all the forests in the investigation region. All are potentially subject to logging for timber which will remove many of the structural elements from the forest. Too frequent logging also keeps the forests at a perpetually young stage preventing the development of tree hollows which are so important as nest sites for owls, parrots and a number of other birds. Hollows are also essential for the survival of small mammals that are food for the owls. Firewood harvesting is also a threat to these forests. Firewood harvesting extends beyond those areas which are used for timber to woodlands where tree sizes are smaller and unsuited to timber production. Firewood harvesting also removes timber from the ground which provides important structural elements for many woodland birds. The areas under consideration have all been subject to gold mining in the past. There is still pressure for many of these forests to be made available for gold fossicking. This activity has a major impact on the ground surface and on waterways in these forests. By turning over and removing much of the surface layer habitat for birds and other plants and wildlife is destroyed. Where fossicking extends into creek lines it also has an impact on the water quality in those creeks. Many of the creeks from these forests ultimately feed into reservoirs that provide water for domestic and agricultural use. Fossicking and associated disturbance of soils and vegetation has a major impact on those birds that feed and live on or close to the ground. Climate change is an issue that must be addressed as part of the management of these forests. It is predicted that the Victorian climate will get warmer and drier in coming decades. This will reduce the area of habitat that is available to those species that are adapted to a cooler and wetter climate. Having continuous areas of forest that stretch from the drier lowlands to higher ranges will enable some of those species to move to higher altitudes where the climate is more suited to their needs. These refuges will get smaller over time but they will help the survival of these species in the medium term. It is also likely that these altitudinal refuges will also help the survival of species that are not currently found in these forests but will be forced from woodlands to the north and west of the investigation area. We are also seeing east coast migratory species such as Pacific Koel and Scarlet Honeyeater turn up in these forests. At this stage they are vagrants however changes to bird movement patterns further east suggest that this may be part of a change in range associated with climate change. If the current decline in woodland birds is to be stopped it is essential that destruction of their habitat is stopped and that their remaining habitat is secured. There is also a need for habitat links that will connect the larger areas of existing habitat so that species can more easily recolonise previously used habitat or colonise new habitat in the face of changes brought about by climate change. Wellsford area The Wellsford Forest is very close to the city of Bendigo. The forests are similar to those in the Greater Bendigo National Park and in the various regional parks that surround much of the city. The Wellsford Forest makes a major contribution to the value of these protected areas by increasing the effective size of these reserves. Approximately 165 bird species have been recorded in the Wellsford Forest and its immediate surrounds. Many of these species are listed under EPBC, FFG or on the DELWP Advisory List of Threatened Species or in the Action Plan for Australian Birds. Table 1. Species EPBC FFG Advisory Action Plan for No of Most List Australian Records Recent Birds 2010 Year Hardhead V 2 1978 Grey Y V 1 2012 Goshawk Square - Y V 4 2016 tailed Kite Malleefowl Vu Y En V – A2bce 1 historic Brolga Y V 1 1975 Swift Parrot CE Y En En - C2a(ii) 22 2011 White - V 5 1993 throated Needletail Speckled Y V 5 2004 Warbler Chestnut - Y V 1 2016 rumped Heathwren Diamond Y NT 17 1993 Firetail Regent CE Y Cr CE - A2b 2 2008 Honeyeater Black - NT NT – 52 2016 chinned A2bc+3C+4bc Honeyeater Purple - V 1 1971 gaped Honeyeater Crested Y NT 65 2016 Bellbird Hooded Y NT NT - 20 2017 robin A2bc+3C+4bc Grey - Y En 3 1998 crowned Babbler Table I. Threatened birds of the Wellsford Forest The Wellsford Forest provides habitat for a number of woodland birds that are known to be declining in numbers even if they are not yet listed as threatened on one of the schedules discussed above. In addition to species listed above this guild includes Spotted Quailthrush, Gilbert’s Whistler and Crested Shriketit. This area is also at the easternmost edge of the range of the Purple-gaped honeyeater. The addition of the Wellsford Forest to the protected areas around Bendigo would further enhance the protection of this important area of box-ironbark woodlands. Cobaw Forest The Cobaw Forest is a large remnant forest in a largely cleared landscape north of Mt Macedon. It is relatively close to the major population centres of Kyneton and Woodend. This forest is sufficiently large to provide effective habitat for sustainable populations of woodland birds to be maintained. Approximately 130 bird species have been recorded from the Cobaw forest and surrounds in ALA. A number of these species have been recognised as threatened on one or more of the schedules of threatened species. These species are listed in Table 2. The water and wetland birds in the table below will be found in small wetlands and lakes which are mainly outside the Cobaw Forest. Most of these wetlands will be on private land which is outside the scope of the investigation however the quality and sustainability of water in these wetlands will be affected by the management of catchments within the forest.