Australian farmer reversed land clearing; 24 bird species now stay year-round

King Island in Tasmania, Australia is known for its green farmland, cattle and tourism. But beneath that landscape is a much older story of forests and native vegetation that once covered large parts of the island.Over about two centuries, large areas of that vegetation were cleared to create farmland, ABC news Australia reported. The changes affected the island's wildlife, with several native species disappearing and others being pushed towards extinction.Farmer Fred Perry was once part of that clearing process. Raised in a farming culture where native vegetation was removed to make space for agriculture, he spent years doing what many farmers before him had done.“I bashed the trees down and burnt everything. I was a bash and burner,” Perry says.Things changed when their children came home from school and told their father that he needed to do more to protect the environment.