They have lodged paperwork with the federal environment department to cut down trees that could be used by swift parrots in Fosterville, north of Axedale.

It is part of a broader Kirkland Lake Gold bid to extend the life of its mine in the area for as long as 10 years.

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A narrow patch of grey box trees would need to be cut down to allow room for more tailings dams to store the rock hauled to the surface.

The area is protected by federal government legislation because grey box flowers bloom in winter, when rare swift parrots fly into Victoria after a treacherous sea crossing from Tasmania.

Swift parrot numbers have drastically reduced in recent years because of deforestation in their Tasmanian nesting grounds.

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Some estimates have put the number of wild breeding pairs at fewer than 1000.

One patch of trees earmarked for removal are within 10 kilometres of 20 sites where swift parrots have been recorded, paperwork lodged by Kirkland Lake ecological consultants lodged through a separate state government process says.

Consultants said areas like the nearby Mount Sugarloaf Nature Conservation Reserve were much higher quality than most of the "degraded" habitat close to the mine.

"(That) makes it unlikely that the study area provides critical or limiting habitat for the species," the consultants wrote.

They found it unlikely that modified habitat would be used for much foraging or breeding.

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The removals would likely not happen for several years and Kirkland Lake is working on broader consultations about the mine's future and environmental matters like vegetation offsets.

The company needs a raft of regulatory approvals over the next few years if it is to guarantee mining continues through the rest of the decade.

That includes permissions around future underground tunnels to the north and south to unmined gold.

The company also wants to add new "open cut pits" and new tailings areas where rocks hauled from under the ground can be sent.

Discussions about Kirkland Lake's plans for the future come as an environmental group steps up its focus on Fosterville.

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The Bendigo and District Environment Council has many questions for regulators, mining spokesperson Ian Magee said.

That includes queries about a new environmental effects statement Kirkland Lake should do to replace paperwork that is now well over two decades old, he said.

"(In that time) the mine has shifted from working in pits above the ground to a massive underground operation that is dramatically larger in scale," Mr Magee said.

"They've constructed a couple of very significant tailings dams."

The BDEC could also advocate for an independent assessment of money set aside for environmental rehabilitation bonds, Mr Magee said.

The scrutiny comes as Kirkland Lake Gold prepares to start exploring hundreds of square kilometres of underexplored land for gold.

The company won rights to explore land east and north of Bendigo in a state government process that ended last month.

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