Australian farmer spent three decades restoring land he once cleared; 24 bird species now live there

Fred Perry decided to make changes to his farming practices to conserve environment (Picture: ABC news) 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. For almost three decades now, Perry and his wife, Shona Perry, have been fencing off parts of their property and replanting areas with endemic and native plants.The change was also driven by something Perry...