Australian National University researchers release study outlining swift parrot habitat loss in Tasmania

The state government says it ‘does not believe that forestry is driving the swift parrot to extinction’ as new research reveals how much of the species’ habitat has been lost in Tasmania.

The swift parrot population is under extreme threat.

“Substantial” and “severe” is how a researcher has described the habitat loss in Tasmania for the critically endangered swift parrot.

It comes as a new study by the Australian National University (ANU) found that habitat loss has occurred in more than half of the breeding range for the bird.

Giselle Owens was part of the research team.

“We looked at the drivers of this habitat loss, and we found that the main human driver of this was production forestry,” Dr Owens said.

“We examined the trends of that, and there was a significant increase in forest loss since forest policy changed about a decade ago.”

Conservation biologist Giselle Owens. Picture: Supplied.

Dr Owens said the future for the swift parrot looked grim.

“Habitat loss for the species is going to drive it towards extinction.

“The swift parrot is a forest specialist, and it needs resources that are available only in old forests such as tree hollows — which take around 200 years to form — and food resources which are available in old trees more so.”

The threats to the swift parrot are not being addressed, according to Dr Owens.

“This is the first time that we’ve provided quantitative evidence of this scale and drivers of habitat loss.

“And without change, it is looking extremely bleak for this species. We can’t expect to see its habitat restored in our lifetime.”

Dr Owens said a change in forestry policy was needed to help the swift parrot.

“We need to address how we manage forests, and this is going to require reforms to forest policy that prioritise and enforce the conservation of habitat at a biologically meaningful scale for this species.

“The swift parrot is a species that we have good data for — and many species don’t have that benefit — so the trends that we’re seeing with the swift parrot we’re, frighteningly, is going to apply to a lot of other forest-dependent species in Tasmania.”

Minister Eric Abetz. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

When asked about the ANU research in Tasmanian parliament — Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Abetz said he “did not believe that forestry is driving the swift parrot to extinction”.

“Every single coop of forestry that is harvested is subjected to the Forest Practices Authority considerations of all the environmental matters that should be taken into account, such as whether or not the particular coop contains habitat which is considered important for our threatened species – be it the masked owl, or be it the swift parrot.”

Originally published as Australian National University researchers release study outlining swift parrot habitat loss in Tasmania