Regrowing Forests Offer Vital Habitat for Threatened Species in Queensland

Queensland, the so-called land-clearing capital of Australia, is also showing signs of recovery with regrowth forests now contributing significantly to the restoration of habitats. State government statistics indicate that more than 7.6 million hectares of regrowth were counted across the state during 2020–21. Though young, the forests are emerging in new research to contain considerable ecological value for threatened wildlife. A study by researchers focused on 30 threatened animal species and found that natural regeneration begins to benefit most of them after about 15 years, with some species utilizing trees as young as three years. This trend suggests an affordable and timely opportunity to support biodiversity conservation by preserving naturally regenerating habitats instead of depending on expensive and slow tree planting schemes.

The study emphasized that various species may reap advantages from regrowth at varying stages of its development. For example, the squatter pigeon was found to utilize woodlands as young as three years, koalas nine years, while greater gliders require much older forests due to the fact that they need huge tree hollows. Therefore, the study asserts that saving old-growth forest remains paramount, but not neglecting holding areas of younger regrowth must not be underestimated. Preserving such young systems provides crucial food, shelter, and breeding ground, giving temporary sustenance to species until old-growth places are reestablished or saved elsewhere.

To understand the extent of regrowth, scientists used satellite imagery and publicly available data to estimate the proportion of each species' current habitat that is regrowth forest. The findings indicated that regrowth constitutes up to one-third of the total habitat of some species in Queensland, averaging 18% across the 30 species examined. However, regrowth areas also accounted for nearly three-quarters of the overall habitat cleared in the region since 2018, indicating that these areas are highly vulnerable to clearing, primarily for agriculture.

While reforestation through planting is one possible solution, it is often limited by seed availability, climatic challenges, and cost. Less than 10% of Australian native vegetation plant species are commercially available as seed, and restoration efforts are normally unsuccessful due to drought and other extreme weather factors. Natural regeneration, however, provides a practicable and less resource-intensive method of expanding wildlife habitat if appropriately managed and maintained. Landholders are, however, compelled to clear regrowth to maintain pasture productivity, presenting a major risk to conservation goals. 

To advance conservation of regrowth forest, several policy tools are available. Government-funded biodiversity stewardship programs offer incentives to farmers to offset the cost of maintaining vegetation and the financial gain that results from reduced pasture. These payments have the potential to lead landholders to adopt conservation-conducive management such as fencing regrowth or managing invasive plants. Carbon or biodiversity credits as market-based strategies also provide landholders with a financial incentive for preserving forest cover. Such credits are regularly purchased by corporations in order to comply with environmental offsetting demands. However, Australian carbon market integrity has come into doubt because of doubts surrounding the effectiveness of some credit schemes. Reassuring, open methods must be used to ensure such markets produce the green benefits they are pledged to bring.

In a positive step, Queensland introduced a carbon crediting scheme in February that allows farmers to earn carbon credits for protecting regrowth forests. The policy provides farmers with new sources of income while promoting forest protection. In addition to carbon sequestration, regrowth forests enjoy some farm-level benefits like providing livestock shade, avoiding erosion, enriching the soil, and enhancing natural pest management. On a broader basis, forest cover facilitates climate regulation, maintains biodiversity corridors, reduces sediment run-off into sensitive places like the Great Barrier Reef, and helps in reducing national greenhouse emissions.

In order to achieve optimum impact, experts advise that Australia's carbon and biodiversity credit markets should be complemented by more public investment in environmental restoration which only receives 0.1% of government expenditure and needs to rise to at least 1% in order to be truly effective. The report emphasizes that uptake of natural regrowth not only benefits wildlife preservation but also provides economic and ecological dividends for landowners. With science-based policy tools and funds, Queensland can transform its environment into one that is more coexistable with nature and agriculture.

Source/Credits:
Hannah Thomas and Martine Maron, The Conversation; DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111131; Photo Credit: Nate Biddle from Pexels