Seeking Solutions at the Black Cockatoo Symposium

Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 Seeking Solutions at the Black Cockatoo Symposium

On the 7th of December, NACC’s Biodiversity Project Officer Kahree travelled south to Mandurah to attend Birdlife WA’s Black Cockatoo Symposium to learn some more about how to help our endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos here in the Northern Agricultural Region.

The event was opened by a very warm Welcome to Country by Bindjareb elder Franklyn Nannup, who shared some insights into the knowledge the Noongar people possess about the cockatoos and the timing of seasons. This was followed by presentations from nine expert speakers of various specialisations.

Merryn Pryor, WA Black Cockatoo Project Coordinator for Birdlife Australia, began with a very uplifting talk about the importance of community in black cockatoo conservation, such as by getting involved in revegetation projects and collecting data on population estimates with the annual Great Cocky Count. Next year, this will be held on the 3rd of April for anyone who would like to participate!  

Dr. Kris Warren, Professor of Wildlife, Zoological and Conservation Medicine at Murdoch University spoke about black cockatoo health, population demographics and ecology. Interestingly, black cockatoos will use irrigated lettuces as drinking bowls, without damaging the lettuce at all! She also made some suggestions into future directions for research, such as modeling movements and habitat use.

Dr. Michael Craig of UWA spoke about the importance of increasing and protecting water sources in the Darling Scarp for encouraging Karak (Forest Red-tailed black cockatoos) to come to new areas of the jarrah forest to feed and breed. This is particularly important in a warming, drying climate.

Francis Smit, Executive Officer for Landcare Serpentine-Jarrahdale (SJ) Inc. spoke about the evolution of the widely-used Cockatube ® artificial nesting hollow design to better accommodate black cockatoos long-term, and how they were used to assist in the short-term replacement of natural hollows lost over east following the devastating 2019/20 bushfires.

Rick Dawson, Director of Australian Black Cockatoo Specialists, flowed on from Francis in emphasising the use of artificial hollows as a short-term solution for promoting Carnaby Cockatoo breeding, using the research and recent artificial hollow installations at Coomallo Creek as a prime example of how successful they can be.

Dr. Sam Rycken, Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo Coordinator at Birdlife Australia, spoke about Birdlife’s breeding and fieldwork program for the black cockatoos and encouraged willing volunteers to come along to help out with fieldwork.

Megan LeRoy, Coordinator of Healthy Farms and Habitats at the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, shared PHCC’s Protecting WA Black Cockatoo project. This multifaceted project aims to enhance and restore black cockatoo habitat, including restoring remnants of the Federally-listed endangered Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain Threatened Ecological Community. The project also plans to increase the resilience of nesting habitats in the Peel-Harvey Catchment in the long-term.  

David Mitchell, Regional Leader Nature Conservation for the Swan Region at the DBCA, gave an overview of the State’s management of formal conservation reserves and responsibilities for the black cockatoos of the southwest.

And finally, Dr. Justine Parker, Environmental Scientist at Alcoa Australia, provided an outline of Alcoa’s Community Black Cockatoo Recovery Project. This project has been running since 2019, involving efforts made by Alcoa during their site assessment, mine planning, and rehabilitation stages by Alcoa to reduce impacts on black cockatoos at their bauxite mines along the Darling Scarp.

It was a day of hot topic discussion, curveball questions and insight into real-world black cockatoo conservation, and it was fantastic to be in a room full of experts, land managers, and conservationists. Carnaby Bill also made an appearance whilst conference-goers enjoyed a healthy lunch.  

This project is supported by NACC NRM through funding from the Australian Government’s Environmental Restoration Fund.

Kahree Garnaut – Biodiversity Project Officer

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.