The Great Western Wildlife Corridor – why is it so important?
Located between Bullio and Bungonia, the Great Western Wildlife Corridor (GWWC) is an important landscape connection for the glossy black-cockatoo and the only vegetated habitat corridor between the Southern Blue Mountains and Morton National Park.
Glossy black-cockatoos require corridors of native vegetation with appropriate nesting and feeding habitat to move across the broader landscape, but the GWWC is being increasingly divided into smaller lots and cleared for new housing and infrastructure.
The Glossies in the Mist project
The Glossies in the Mist project aims to identify key feeding trees and map nesting hollows to secure foraging and breeding habitat for the glossy black-cockatoo within the GWWC. Because a large portion of the GWWC is within private tenure, the project relies on private landowners reporting glossy black-cockatoo sightings, mapping stands of Allocasuarina and, assessing feeding and hollow-bearing trees on their properties.
With funding from Saving our Species and Wingecarribee Shire Council's Environment Levy, the project aims to partner with landholders in Bullio, Wombeyan Caves, High Range, Mandemar, Canyonleigh, Belanglo, Paddys River, Wingello, Penrose, Tallong, Marulan and Bungonia areas within the GWWC.
Landholders who participate in the project will receive training to skill up on glossy identification, breeding behaviour and how to go about the searching, field assessment and reporting of favoured feeding and hollow-bearing trees.