The VFA citizen science program made another trip out to East Gippsland last week, this time to visit the Colquhoun state forest on Gunnai Kurnai Country. Surveyors found endangered Greater Glider, more significant populations of Long-flower Beard-heath (Styphelia sieberi), large stands of the critically endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo feed trees Black She-oak (Allocasuarina littoralis), and Colquhoun Grevillea (Grevillea celata) which is only found in this small patch of forest in the Colquhoun.
Sadly, logging machinery has moved into one of the areas surveyed. VFA member Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) worked with the Age to expose logging in the area - known to be important habitat for the now endangered Greater Glider.
The Colquhoun is an important area for rare plant species like the Grevillea, and is one of the few places in East Gippsland which wasn't impacted by the 2019/2020 bushfires. Particularly for the Glossy Black Cockatoo it's an important feeding area, these incredible birds feed exclusively on the nuts of Black She-oak trees.
The federal government recently listed the Glossy Black Cockatoo as vulnerable under federal law. Yet in Victoria the species is listed as critically endangered, and their important remaining habitat and feed trees are still being logged in East Gippsland.
