Planning move may allow farmers to remove trees
Posted
A Wimmera shire is hoping to be able to give farmers the chance to remove buloke trees from their properties, without denying an endangered bird its habitat.
The endangered red-tailed black cockatoo lives in the southern and western Wimmera and relies heavily on the bulokes.
The West Wimmera Shire's chief executive, Jim McKay, says current laws make it hard for farmers to develop properties where the trees are growing.
He says a planning overlay the shire has drafted has the support of environmental groups and will be considered by the Victorian Government.
"Under this, farmers can take out a limited number of trees - and they're only certain sized trees, too, so you can't take out large, mature trees but you can take out smaller ones - but as an off-set the farmers have to lock up areas of buloke and also they might be required to plant back bulokes," he said.
