Lyrebird – forests gardeners
Lyrebirds are but one aspect of our forests’ natural army of ‘fuel reducers’.
Bandicoots, Potoroos, and other small diggers, hoppers and scratchers are all extremely important in turning over the forest’s compost daily. Add to this work force the insects and their larvae, termites and fungi that are constantly devouring leaves, twigs and even logs.
Sadly these effective and efficient natural fuel reducers are killed off, displaced or lose their cover and are eaten by foxes and cats every time the government land managers perform their burns; many are over hundreds and sometimes thousands of hectares of forest per burn.
To those with an ecological understanding these burns are destructive and counterproductive. To the government it’s a way to give the public a false sense of security while performing massive eco-cide in our forests. It’s overdue that this practice be reviewed.
Read The Age article “Not just a pretty tail: The lyrebird is a superb firefighter”.