Farmers in the New South Wales central west are trying to save a native bird from extinction.
The glossy black-cockatoo is listed as vulnerable in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, while in South Australia, it is considered endangered.
Once numbering in the tens of thousands, fewer than 8,000 remain in the wild across the country, according to BirdLife Australia.
Central NSW woodland bird coordinator Jayden Gunn said the species' declining population had increased overseas demand for illegally trafficked birds for the pet market.
That is despite it being illegal to capture and own glossy black-cockatoos in Australia.
The birds' numbers are in decline because its natural habitat is disappearing.
The glossy black-cockatoo feeds exclusively on the nuts of the native tree Allocasuarina diminuta, commonly known as she-oaks, a species found in the Conimbla National Park near Cowra.
Mr Gunn said this specific diet made the bird "incredibly susceptible to change and bush fire".
"When these trees are burnt or removed from an environment the cockatoo is displaced, effective immediately," he says.
"If a bush fire was to go through Conimbla National Park and whip out this area, the entire species would be displaced, fly out somewhere, and perish."
Bringing the bush back
In an effort to protect the species, a group of farmers in the state's central west has planted more than 1,000 she-oaks and will soon install 45 nest boxes.
Sheep farmer Phil Diprose purchased his property in 2007 after the native grasses and trees had been "annihilated" by the previous owner.
"We made a decision to do nothing and let the grass grow back," he says.
"Over time, the whole farm was covered in native grasses. That brought a whole completely different change in the bird species on the farm."
Since taking over the farm, he has seen three glossy black-cockatoos on the property.
"We were so excited because we knew that they were a threatened species. It is so nice to have them on our place.
"The opportunity is here to plant some trees strategically to have a critical mass that will support them through the breeding season."
Rewilding agricultural land
Mid-Lachlan Landcare's Tracee Bourke has been assisting landholders in the area with revegetating farmland.
"Getting some more feed trees in, in the right places is so important. It adds to the value of their farms, it adds to the productivity to get trees growing within the farms," she says.
"It is no use just popping some trees on a farm in the middle of nowhere. You need to be building on the habitat in the range they are already existing in."
David Watson, a professor of ecology at Charles Sturt University, has seen firsthand the impact tree planting can have on his 12-acre property near Albury.
"We have planted about 4,000 trees to bring it back from sheep country to the woodland it used to be," Dr Watson said.
"Then one day there it was sitting in a tree next to the kitchen window, a glossy black-cockatoo in a tree that we had planted.
"It was just a testament to the pay off to restoration. If you put the time in and you think about what you are trying to achieve, nature responds."
Grim outlook
A study by the Australian World Wildlife Fund found more than half of the forests and woodlands in New South Wales have been lost since 1750.
Dr Watson said the loss of bushland is preventing the cockatoo from accessing the food it requires.
"What we have done since settlement is cut down a lot of the habitat, and what is left is little patches that are widely separated."
Dr Watson said this habit destruction had put the glossy black-cockatoo, and other bird species, on a path towards extinction.
"There are a lot of species of birds in a death spiral. They are running out of room and resources. One big fire, flood or disease outbreak and that's it, they are out of options.
"Extinction isn't just some distant idea that might happen in the far, far future that their grandkids might need to worry about. It is happening now."
