With insufficient hollows in trees at the Yea Wetlands John Cummins Reserve, one juvenile eastern ringtail possum has found a home in the pylon of the reserve's footbridge.
The Gecko Clan Landcare Network will next year add to the state-wide effort of providing nesting boxes for native species in the Goulburn Valley.
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The network was granted $13,500 for a program to restore habitats and communities of native birds and mammals.
GCLN facilitator Claire Birch said she had already scouted with the 14 Landcare groups within the network for interest in developing the project.
“I have put the call out for how we can include an involvement from all our groups,” Ms Birch said.
“We will roll it out next year and I will be holding two nestbox building workshops which will also have an educational component where people can understand the importance of tree hollows.”
The network covers an area extending from Yarrawonga to the Strathbogie Ranges and Nagambie.
The nesting box placements will focus on areas which lack tree hollows or have species with less presence.
“A number of the Landcare groups in the network have done this before, but this is a first for the whole network to add to the thousands of nestboxes already across Victoria,” Ms Birch said.
“I will be doing the community engagement in helping people understand biodiversity.
“We will connect individually with each group with regard to designing the boxes for different species because each group will have their own species that they want to help.”
Ms Birch said there were different nesting box designs suited to different animal species which needed to be determined in each area.
“The groups have the intel from their own properties to know what’s best for their land,” she said.
“It’s locally targeted, which makes sense.”
The installation of nesting boxes complements the role of tree hollows in providing breeding spaces for native fauna.
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