Ecologist and developer work to save glossy black cockatoo habitat
Some of the last remaining glossy black cockatoos in northern NSW were under threat from a proposed housing development. That was until an unlikely friendship was forged between the developer and a local ecologist.
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00:00 Balancing the demand for housing with the need to protect the environment can be a tough nut to crack.
00:09 Carl Ferguson's land north of Grafton was his financial security.
00:14 Financially when I needed more money was to go ahead with some of this.
00:19 Neighbour and ecologist Victor Ostrowski was concerned about the glossy black cockatoos he'd seen there.
00:26 I was actually observing them when I saw the surveyor pegging the block out so my heart sunk straight away.
00:32 I knew exactly what was at stake.
00:34 Rather than pick up his protest placards, Victor knocked on Carl's door.
00:39 Over time, Victor persuaded Carl to give first option on the land to a charity set up to buy and manage it as a conservation reserve.
00:48 Well I would much rather try and save the habitat for the cockatoos instead of trying to make money.
00:57 We met under the prejudice of opposing worlds.
01:00 I'm surprised every day when I see how far we've come and how much closer we are to actually succeeding here.
01:06 The latest count of glossy black cockatoos revealed just 277 birds from south east Queensland to eastern Victoria.
01:16 11 of those were seen on this 3 hectare site in the Clarence Valley.
01:22 Environmentalists hope the collaboration that aims to secure this habitat will act as a model for others.
01:29 You know the communities are starting to come together and actually look around and go well we need to save this block of land,
01:37 the neighbours block because we want bush next to us not a high rise development.
01:42 Like birds of a feather, these neighbours now have a shared goal of protecting the environment.
01:47 environment.
01:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]