The Big Wet

The recent floods have had a massive impact on the people of South East Queensland. The flooding along the mighty Brisbane, Lockyer and Mary Rivers, has had a huge impact on those communities within the flood zone. There has been widespread loss of infrastructure, homes, crops and sadly, lives.
Those prolonged wet periods when it rains hour after hour, and day after day, can also impact severely on the local wildlife. Just like we need shelter from the storm, so too does our local fauna. I’m guessing most of us think animals can survive all that nature throws at them, even the weather, but habitat loss combined with extreme weather can have major impacts on local fauna populations.
You as landholders can help restore habitat for fauna to help get them through extremes in the weather and ensure their survival and ecosystem health.
Many animals such as possums, gliders and a large number of birds need hollow trees to nest, but also to shelter during extreme weather events. Unfortunately for them, the old growth trees that provide habitat hollows have largely been cleared from our landscape and many trees are too young to provide hollows. However nest boxes are a great solution. We have installed many nest boxes from Hollow Log Homes over the years, and they are often immediately inspected by Lorikeets at the very least!
Many animals such as bandicoots, snakes, echidna and skinks live their lives on the ground and also need somewhere to hide from the heat of the sun, predators, fire or storms. Ground habitat is often lacking in young revegetation or regrowth areas, but can be developed and maintained by stacking fallen branches or killed woody weeds into piles, installing rock piles or logs. Too often felled trees are burnt when they could be used to create great habitat, for ground dwelling fauna.
Habitat connectivity is also lacking throughout the landscape. Habitat connectivity can simply be described as the ability of fauna and flora to move through the landscape to ensure the viability of their populations. We often retain or establish habitat along rivers and creeks, which is great to allow for habitat connectivity along creeks and rivers, however these areas are often completely inundated by floods, which can be disastrous for some fauna, unless they can move to higher ground. We can ensure this habitat connectivity by making sure we plant and create habitat outside the flood zone.
Just like we need to build resilient communities ourselves that can adapt and survive in this land of extremes, we also need to ensure that our local ecosystems that have evolved over millions of years can continue to survive, by assisting the natural processes rather that disrupting them.

About the Author
Brush Turkey Enterprises is an award-winning business based in Maleny, on the Sunshine Coast, South East Queensland.

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