In the local bush a log is so much more than a hearth warmer. For 20% of birds and 30% of mammals a hollow tree is home, a home that can take upto 120 years to build. For ground feeding birds, frogs, lizards and 20% of mammals fallen trees i.e laying around logs are home and habitat.
In our bushland suburb we are very fortunate to still have possums, gliders and bats as well as an impressive variety of bids, and ground dwelling lizards and snakes. The fallen timber, logs branches and sticks provide valuable shelter for the local wildlife.
There are other reasons too, to leave a fallen log lay.
The Florabank website explains “Logs provide both habitat and nutrients. As they gradually break down due to the actions of weather, fungi, and termites, they release nutrients into the soil. They also act as mulch, conserving niches of damp soil, which allows soil invertebrates to thrive and even assists plants to germinate and grow. At ground level, logs can act as mini-windbreaks, providing shelter from extreme weather for ground-dwelling fauna. Logs and sticks also trap soil and nutrients that are washed or blown across a site, and are particularly valuable in degraded sites to build up pockets of soil and organic matter for plant germination.”
Along the Coal Point peninsula we have a lot of bush that is worthy of considering and caring about. We also have one place that has the highest environmental zoning possible, Threlkeld Reserve.
Threlkeld’s exceptional environmental status is because it’s a bushland foreshore reserve. The reserve’s purpose is to protect the plants and wildlife, this means removing rocks, logs, sticks or other bits that the wildlife need to survive is not permitted because it compromises the intent of the zoning on the land.
