World’s first that’s saving Australia’s wildlife one treehole at a time
As Australia’s wildlife grapples with the loss of habitat created by logging and bushfires, conservation biologist Matt Stephens looks into a tree hollow he carved using the Hollowhog, a game-changing tool he invented to create artificial tree hollows that become new homes for animals
According to Stephens, a natural hollow would take a minimum of 70 to 120 years to start forming. The Wilderness Society estimates that in Australia, 303 native wildlife species rely on hollows to nest and shelter, including 31% of native mammals and 15% of native birds. The Hollowhog can closely replicate nature, but faster.
"The fact that we can rapidly install one of these hollows within less than an hour is, you know, a real game-changer. And to think that then that hollow that we have created may last potentially two or three hundred years into the future, and each year producing another generation of fauna,” Stephens told Reuters on Monday. “It's a really exciting thing."
At his property in Blue Mountain's Sun Valley, Stephens watches as a new hollow is installed by arborist Eamon Dempsey, who now works solely on installing hollows with the Hollowhog tool, rather than cutting down trees or tree branches.
The Hollowhog is a high-speed cutting head with tungsten carbide tips that spins at a rate of around 11,000 rpm to carve into the wood of the tree, creating an entrance hole.
"Through that entrance hole, I can carve down that way, up that way, sideways, so I could get, in this instance, a 90-centimetre tall hollow by 45 by 90 centimetres wide to wide. So, a massive internal cavity for a tiny little entrance," said Stephens.
While nest boxes were seen as a solution, they remain a static structure. Whereas those created by the Hollowhog are able to grow in size along with the tree as it grows and wraps its tissue around the carved hollow, all the while remaining stable.
The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has already started using the Hollowhog to create much-needed habitats for Australia’s wildlife, as well as the Department of Primary Industry, landcare groups and arborists like Dempsey.
"The very first time I ever got my hands on a Hollowhog and actually started carving, it really filled me with hope that my career doesn't have to be all about cutting trees down, and that there is actually potential there for me to do more environmental, have a more positive environmental impact than a negative one by cutting trees down for my entire career," said Dempsey having installed over 1,000 hollows himself.
After installing a camera opposite one of the Hollowhog hollows, Stephens has seen various animals use it, including parrots like Rainbow Lorikeets, Rosellas, marsupials like Antechinus or gliders, and even a Lace Monitor lizard taking a peek inside.
Stephens hopes the Hollowhog will help Australia's hollow-dependant wildlife exist past the current rate of extinction.
"I can see the hollow going in, and know that long after I'm gone, maybe 300 years into the future that the hollow that we carved, for example, the hollow that we carved today, will still be operating, it will still be there, potentially as a home for wildlife. Just thinking about that I just think it's a really exciting thing," said Stephens.
To date, thousands of hollows carved by Hollowhog tools have been installed around Australia.
Reuters
