ONE of the Limestone Coast’s flagship bird species is set to receive greater protection following more than $3m in funding flowing to the region.
The South East Natural Resources Management Board has secured $3.2m in funding over five years from the Australian Government to help protect the endangered South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo.
The partnership project with Trees For Life, BirdLife Australia and Zoos SA will continue the legacy created by the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Recovery Team over the past 22 years of its work with land managers and the community.
Trees For Life revegetation services manager Vicki-Jo Russell said the new project would build on previous work and initiate new paths of community involvement.
“We’ll be building on previous sites and work with the community, like the successful Cockies Helping Cockies project that started in 2009,” Ms Russell said.
“Project partners will also be working with land managers and community on private and public land and propagating more buloke, one of the few species the cockatoo will eat.”
The new project team will seek support of the community in a variety of ways, including extending and regenerating habitat, planting feed and nest trees and help control weeds, nursing new buloke and stringybark trees to life.
The team will also engage with students to tell the story of the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo’s vulnerability and how people can help to protect it.
“It’s community and landholder commitment to the project that makes it possible,” Zoos SA conservation manager Dr Liberty Olds said.
BirdLife Australia’s recovery project coordinator Bronwyn Perryman highlighted the importance of the special species to the region.
“The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is a much-loved flagship species for our region,” Ms Perryman said.
“Our work will benefit the landscape and many other species at the same time.
“It’s so important that we continue to work with the community to ensure these magnificent birds remain in our landscape for many generations to come”.
This project is supported by the Australian Government’s Regional Land Partnerships initiative of the National Landcare Program and the South East Natural Resources Management Board.
To get involved, report a sighting or to find out more, visit the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Recovery Team’s website www.redtail.com.au
