Large old paddock trees are vitally important for the native birds and bats that make the Goulburn Broken catchment their home, like this dusky woodswallow. Photo: Chris Tzaros
The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority’s 2024 Year of the Wing highlights the birds and bats in our local landscape and the habitat they need to survive, which includes large old paddock trees.
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Goulburn Broken CMA project officer Janice Mentiplay-Smith said in autumn, landholders consider stubble burning in their paddocks and these vital trees were at risk.
“Large old paddock trees, dead or alive, are vitally important for our local birds and bats,” Ms Mentiplay-Smith said.
“These iconic old trees are dotted throughout our region but are often destroyed or incrementally weakened by the effects of burning, which has led to their decline across our rural landscape.
“Paddock trees are essential to a healthy farming landscape and are valued by the community for their economic and landscape benefits.”
As well as providing aesthetic appeal, paddock trees provide livestock with shelter from heat, wind and cold.
Their canopies reduce wind and water loss to crops, they store carbon, produce organic matter, recycle nutrients and improve soil biology and structure through their roots and connection to soil organisms.
They mitigate erosion and salinity and provide essential perching sites, habitat and highways for native birds, bats and other animals to move through the landscape.
Paddock trees provide livestock with shelter from heat, wind and cold, as well as a home for native birds and bats.
Photo by
Geoff Adams
“Paddock trees provide nesting and roosting sites for the birds and bats that eat insect and rodent pests and supply habitat for the pollinators that are essential for farm and landscape health,” Ms Mentiplay-Smith said.
“It’s important to remember that every paddock tree is important, as once lost, these hundreds-of-years-old sentinels of the landscape cannot be quickly replaced.”
Greater Shepparton City Council environment manager Sharon Terry urged famers and landholders to understand the risks associated with stubble burning and act accordingly.
“It is illegal to remove, lop or destroy native vegetation including paddock trees and standing dead trees, therefore protecting native vegetation during a stubble burn is crucial,” she said.
“Paddock trees are iconic to our agricultural landscape and provide numerous benefits that are vital to maintain a healthy environment.”
