The Riverina's ongoing loss of native vegetation to land clearing has created a risk of losing native wildlife and damaging farming through increased pests and lower pollination.
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That's according to two animal research scientist who have studied native wildlife in the region.
Data released under freedom of information shows that within Wagga City Council boundaries, an average of 262 hectares of native vegetation have been lost every year between 2009 and 2017.
Wildlife researcher Dr Debbie Saunders has previously used drones to catalog and track a colony of endangered Swift parrots that migrate from Tasmania to specific kind of native vegetation near Tarcutta.
"The loss of native vegetation absolutely has a flow-on effect to the wider environment," she said.
"If you have your ecosystem breaking down and lose your pollinators, for example, it will have an impact on crop pollination," she said.
"Winter flowing gums are quite important for insects to sustain themselves.
"The more diverse range of pollinators, the more likely you are to have pollination in the long term.
"There is growing evidence that biodiversity assists in the health of farming areas."
Within Wagga City Council, forestry was the most common cause of native vegetation clearing by a substantial margin, followed by cropping and pasture.
The levels of land clearing from both agriculture and forestry were significantly higher within the area formerly known as Tumut Shire, where thousands of hectares were being lost every year.
Junee and Lockhart council areas lost negligible vegetation by comparison.
Swift parrots are attracted to White Box and Iron Bark eucalyptus in the Riverina.
"I have personally seen those tree species being bulldozed on a regular basis," she said.
"It was very disheartening to see that first-hand."
Western Sydney University senior lecturer in animal science Edward Narayan said the loss of bushland around Wagga and Gundagai would put pressure on native wildlife and create opportunities for invasive plant species.
"There will be direct effects on native animals...the Riverina has some unique species of animals," he said.
Dr Narayan said many farmers were now part of the effort to preserve and restore native vegetation.
"It's a very fragile balancing act," he said.
"It's not that people don't want to save native species. The new thing coming up right now is called the 'nature-agriculture interface' which can have native species while at the same time supporting livestock and other farming needs."
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