JENNY AITCHISON
MINISTER FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORT AND ROADS

MEDIA RELEASE - HABITAT HOLLOWS A WIN FOR REGIONAL WILDLIFE AND WORKERS

Vision, images and audio grabs available to download here

Local wildlife and workers are both getting a boost through an innovative program carving out new shelters across regional NSW for native fauna displaced by road projects.

Local installers have been trained to use a world-leading tool, developed by a Transport for NSW environment officer, that enables them to quickly and easily carve hollows for a range of animals within existing trees.

Arborists on the Central Coast, Hunter, Mid-North Coast, Northern Rivers, Illawarra, South Coast, Monaro and Snowy Mountains, Central West and Plains and the Northern Tablelands have been trained to use the tools, which are faster and less invasive than the alternative chainsaw method.

The Habitat Hollows program has created around 1,500 shelters across the state and 10,000 Australia-wide so far, with more in the pipeline.

CCTV vision shared by Transport shows threatened species such as Brush-tailed Phascogale, Squirrel Glider, Greater Glider and Powerful Owl have found shelter in the carved hollows, which mimic the temperature and humidity of natural hollows.

Habitat Hollows was first introduced to rebuild natural habitats after bushfires and is now included in TfNSW’s Biodiversity Guidelines.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison:

“In the next 12 months, we’ll be installing around 350 new hollows as part of Transport projects across regional NSW, from Ballina to the Shoalhaven.

“Around 60 local workers have already been upskilled across regional NSW to install these new, sustainable, wildlife homes in areas including the Central Coast, Hunter, Mid-North Coast, Northern Rivers, Illawarra, South Coast, Monaro and Snowy Mountains, Central West and Plains and the Northern Tablelands.

“On the South Coast, as part of the Princes Highway Upgrade, workers at Jervis Bay Road Intersection project will use this training to install more than 30 new carved homes for animals as part of 80 new artificial hollows being installed in the coming weeks.

“Training local regional arborists to install the hollows means once work on our projects is done, they can continue to carve new homes for native animals into the future.”

MEDIA: Ryan Young | Minister Aitchison | 0477 60 886