In April and May, Wheatbelt NRM supported Black Cockatoo Crisis screenings in York and Toodyay inspiring around 200 community members to help protect local black-cockatoos from racing towards extinction. The documentary, produced by Jane Hammond, highlights the importance of protecting what little habitat there is remaining for the Southwest’s threatened Forest Red-tailed, Carnaby’s and Baudin’s Black-Cockatoos.
All three species are facing significant threats to their existence. Vital habitat is being cleared to make way for expanding cities and towns or mines. Even the introduced pine forests to the north of Perth, which were planted following the clearing of the extensive banksia woodlands, had become critical feeding grounds for the Black-Cockatoos. The established pine forests were found to be having a significant impact on ground-water resources, and as a result the forests are being cleared, with the entire pine plantation expected to be cleared by 2025/26.
While most of these activities are occurring outside of the Wheatbelt NRM region, the Black-cockatoos that breed in the wheatbelt each year rely on coastal feeding grounds outside of the breeding season, so protecting remaining habitat in the coastal regions is critical to protecting the Black-Cockatoos of the Wheatbelt.
Landholders have worked with Wheatbelt NRM to protect over 650 hectares of Black-Cockatoo habitat from grazing, plant over 130 hectares of diverse food and habitat plants and install 30 nest boxes within current Black-Cockatoo breeding areas in the region. Two of the installed nest boxes were successfully used by Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos within 3 months of installation! These works were funded through the Australian Government’s Environmental Restoration Fund and Regional Land Partnerships programs, as well as the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation’s Clean Waterways programs.
If you live in Northam, York or Toodyay shires, here is a list of local native food and habitat plants you can plant in your garden or on your property to help protect the future of these iconic species.

The film screening in Toodyay was run by the Toodyay Naturalists Club, with funding from Wheatbelt NRM.