• “UN puts price on Biodiversity Loss ” – article at ABC (by environment reporter Sarah Clark 13th July 2010)
• “Biodiversity loss brings ecological systems closer to a tipping point”  – article at UN “Biodiversity loss is moving ecological systems ever closer to a tipping point beyond which they will no longer be able to fulfil their vital functions,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned  in his message for the International Day  for Biological Diversity, observed on 22 May, 2010.
• A Balance of Faeries .
• “East Coast Corridor to protect Wildlife” – article at SMH ( by Nicky Phillips 14th July 2010 “Australia has an very poor record of wildlife extinction. Close to half of all mammal extinctions that occurred on the planet in the past 200 years have occurred in Australia“
• THREATENED FAUNA of AUSTRALIA – at wikipedia
• FAUNA of AUSTRALIA – at wikipedia
• Creation : God and Endangered Species – at Ecospheric Ethics .
• Global Biodiversity Outlook GBO3 -  “flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity”
• Resourcism , the Ideology of Despoliation &  earth mindless – short essays.
• Steve Keen’s Debtwatch at debtdeflation.com : including monthly reports on debt levels in Australia and USA. In his book “Debunking Economics,” ” Steve let the general public in on a little-known secret: that many widely believed economic models have been shown by economists to be wrong—hence the subtitle to his book, “the naked emperor of the social sciences”.”
• Koala Diaries – HOME - this website shows how people are concerned for the Australian KOALA. Is this concern going to go the same way of the Australia Koala Foundation, lots of furry suits, convenient politicised and sanctioned “scientific” reports, moneys collected, trinkets and badges sold, trackers on koalas, imprisoned koalas in reserves, justification for not considering the koalas of the Scenic Rim Council Region as development in SE QLD further fragments our Koala habitats on the east coast of Australia?

Green energy as a fuel : consequences - habitat loss for threatened species - AUSTRALIA

• “How South East Queensland Regional Plan gives developers power to trample upon residents’ rights” – article at candobetter.org

The Australian Koala is NOT listed as threatened by Australian EPBC laws. The Australian KOALA is at risk from:- Developments and infrastructure, clearing, non sustainable farming, dogs, cars, disease, stress, lack of habitat, fencing, light, noise,  and rural subdivision practices in the Mt Warning Caldera Region – from South of Ipswich, SE QLD, to over the border into NE NSW. All along the coastal strip in SE QLD and NE NSW intense, inappropriate urban development and infrastructure is destroying and fragmenting the BIODIVERSITY & HABITATS for Australian Koalas at an ALARMING RATE. Developments such as KINGS FOREST by Bob Ell and LEDA Group (project 28) signal the beginning of the end of local free Koala populations on the coast side of the PACIFIC HIGHWAY , Tweed Shire, NSW.

• “Stop developer Bob Ell from taking major koala habitat” at candobetter.org – this article reminds us that many people still are authentically concerned for Australian Native Wildlife, but that developer “right of way” has become the “Australian Way”, at the expense of our childrens’ future wellbeing.
  

• Kings Forest Residential Development – Hansard Transcript 10th March 2010 – NSW Parliament – speaker Ian Cohen .
• Phantom Koala and Part 3A of the NSW Planning Law – bluecray
• Australian wildlife should be able to enjoy environmentally sustainable habitats within which to live their lives free from human harm by high energy low sustainability  infrastructure developments created by people who are not acting wisely.
• Phantom Koala and the Goanna – environmental advocacy poem and some ideas about environmental activism

• Individual Responsibility : Biodiversity * Free Will * Part 3A of the NSW Planning Law :
• Local and regional Organic Lifestyles * History of Environmental Sustainability *

• Wisdom in the Land * A Balance of Faeries *
• ** The artwork of me meditating with the Black-footed Rock Wallabies is from Trephina Gorge NT, Australia, summertime, early 1990′s.

I have tried to update this article a number of times. The Qld government appears to keep rearranging itself, its departmental responsibilities and Koala Habitat visions. I wonder now, if anyone there even knows what they are doing??? (SEE BELOW##). Perhaps, for more info, you could try searching the QLD GOVERNMENT .

{###(UPDATE 25th August 2010)I wrote an article more recently on Koalas – “I Will Protect You and Teach You” (30th July 2010) which has more recent Queensland Koala legislation, policy, ecology info. Also, see my article in Balance of Faeries blog – “I will Jail you and Feed you” – which is more about the NE NSW Koala situation concerning the Tweed Coast Koala Advisory Group. Koala populations in SE QLD and NE NSW  are still decreasing rapidly.} However, what I have written below will possibly still give you more background info… good luck!!!

Submissions are currently invited on two issues shown below: (click HERE for the link to these DETAILS at the QLD Department of Infrastructure and Planning)

* 1. The moratorium on clearing vegetation, part of the Draft South East Queensland Koala State Planning Regulatory Provisions (PDF icon 151 KB). Submissions close 24 December 2009.
* 2. The biodiversity development offset area policy, part of the Proposed South East Queensland Koala Conservation State Planning Regulatory Provision (PDF icon 794 KB). Submissions close 1 December 2009.

Please remember, there are areas where Koalas are not deemed as important, within SE QLD Koala Mapping – some of these areas, West and South-West of  Brisbane, will now be seen as opportunities for inappropriate development, despite Koalas actually being present there. Koalas need these areas, deemed less important by government planning, for their health, and movement. It is important that inappropriate development in these areas doesn’t destroy what remaining koala “corridors” are in place, and the chance for future Koala “corridors” to be created and enhanced.

Recent Background:-

Back in the mid nineties, the Queensland and SE Qld Local Governments’ approved ongoing development processes were continuing the 20th century’s relentless rate of clearing & destroying coastal wetlands and Koala habitat areas. This rate was far from environmentally sustainable for future generations of South East Queensland, and indeed, the world.

Rates of development are currently still environmentally unsustainable, despite Ramsar Convention, Agenda 21 and protection of threatenend species and ecological communities at various levels of government ( SE QLD ; NE NSW ; AUST ).

Koalas have long been a political and development “football”, and now issues of relocation,  infrastructure development, and conservation / habitat status are again being re-defined by governments and “scientists” throughout the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

Now that we have almost completed our first decade of the 21st Century, the environmental law capacities of the combined Australian Governments have vastly increased. They have become much more complex, supported by an array of GIS and mapping data, studies, scientific processes and protocols.

Study after study has been completed. Map after map has been produced.

Regional Planning instruments have multiplied faster than wire coathangers in a wardrobe, AND  YET – Koala corridor after corridor is still being destroyed, even as I write this article. And,  -  more elections and regional plans are looming!

Dedicated on the ground Koala carers, hard working community groups, well meaning scientific researchers, and informed environmental legal advisors have gradually impacted on the Government. There still remains

• developer trends to clear land in a wholesale manners
• government trends to implant infrastructure as a necessity that over-rides environmental sustainability
• increasingly complex regional planning documents.

The Queensland Government has closed the comments for the new Koala Planning Regulation provisions, but the Draft QLD Government SEQ Regional Plan 2009-2031 is still open for submissions. Workshops around SE Qld have been held, and are still being held.

Invitations for Comment closed for the SEQ Koala State planning regulatory provisions on Feb 27th. Information concerning these Koala Planning Provisions for SE QLD appears to be in the hands of the  Queensland State Government Department of Infrastucture and Planning .

Regional Workshops and Articles:-

• The Logan and Albert Conservation Association : activities for DRAFT Qld Government SE QLD Regional Plan 2009 – 2031 . This is a very informative article concerning Koalas.      The Qld Governmant SEQ Koala State planning regulatory provisions in the Mt Warning Caldera Region of SE QLD can be found on the LACA site HERE.
• The Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council has some info regarding a workshop held,and other LINKS for the SEQ Regional Plan. They have sent a submission.
• LACA also has articles on Information relating to the preservation of the Koala population in Logan and Albert Shires .
• EDO QLD (Environmental Defenders Office QLD) has held, and is holding more workshops for this Draft SE QLD Regional Plan 2009-2031
• The Qld Conservation Council held this event, but the link has now disappeared (updated 3rd December, 2009)  :  Event: ‘Draft South East Queensland Koala State Planning Regulatory Provisions Seminar – Brisbane’

**Qld Department of Infrastructure and Planning : DRAFT Qld Government SE QLD Regional Plan 2009 – 2031 Submissions close on April 3rd 2009.

• SEQ Catchments Submission page and information for the DRAFT  SE Qld Government Regional Plan 2009-2031. Well, if you look, there doesn’t appear to be much information about the above  DRAFT, so why not try the Department of Natural Resources and Water ? The LEGISLATION that they work under can be found on this page HERE . There is information on VEGETATION, but the KOALA appears to be missing, as does mention of the DRAFT SEQ Regional Plan 2009-2031. And, oh look, the KOALA is also missing from the Australian Threatened Species LISTS under Legislation!!! ( Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) Endangered Species Protection Act 1992) ***(see below)

There is, however……. A PLAN… yes, another PLAN!!! The National Koala Conservation Strategy !

And so, summing up, and I am sure that I have missed lots of links and info, but have a search around, and you are sure to find what you need. Just be tenacious.

1.The Koala’s well being in SE QLD appears to be in the hands of Qld Planning and Infrastructure.

2.As I mentioned above, there is a new SEQ Regional Plan for 2009-2031 being put together now, in its DRAFT form and submissions are still open.

3.The Australian Government has a National Koala Conservation Strategy, but does not actually protect the Koala by Legislation.

4.The Environmental Protection Agency, the Agency acts under legislation listed at this Link:  Legislation .

5.The KOALA is recognised by the Queensland Government under the Nature Conservation Koala Conservation Plan 2006

6.The key Koala Corridors of the old Beaudesert Shire and Boonah Shires – Now the Scenic Rim Regional Council – have been left out of these reasonably new SEQ Koala Plan documents due to the KOALA populations, distribution and Planning guidelines.

**Draft South East Queensland Koala State Planning Regulatory Provisions at the Qld Department of Infrastructure and Planning. You can view Maps here, documents etc concerning the future direction of Queensland Government Development protocols and the threat to Existing Threatened Koala Populations of South East Queensland. Keep all this in mind if you are commenting on the new SEQ REGIONAL PLAN 2009-2031. The Koala Maps provided by the website of the Qld Department of  Infrastructure & Planning seemed  exceedingly frustrating to read, over technically presented, and are extremely slow to load if you do not have high speed internet!

Ipswich Koala Protection Society – (IKPS) – wild life rescue, image gallery, how you can help Koalas of the Ipswich Region, and LINKS

##PLEASE NOTE : The Links  that do not appear to work anymore are mainly the QLD EPA LINKS. The Google search engine now resends many of the links to the  DEPARTMENT of  ENVIRONMENT & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.

And so, what we appear to have is a sudden change in where all the KOALA information can be found, concerning recent internet public information on the KOALA in Queensland.

When this article was written, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure appeared to be holding much of the information about planning for the KOALA 2009.   Here is the current (October 2009) info available at the QLD Dept. Planning & Infrastructure KOALA PAGES . It shows timetables for the events surrounding Koala Planning 2008-2009 and the Queensland Governments State Planning Policy.

Also, it shows how this Department (QLD DIP)  is responsible for introducing interim development controls, updating the SEQ Regional Plan Section2.2 Koala Conservation and “fast-tracking the development of a state planning policy for koala conservation in SEQ, in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Resource Management.”

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Remember: The Queensland Government Environmental Protection Agency has a copy of the KOALA Conservation Plan 2006 for the Management of Koalas in SE QLD 2006-2016. In this Plan, the Koala appears to be left out of consideration within  Scenic Rim Regional Council Areas. This statement is now obsolete, as the EPA appears to have disappeared from the QLD Government to be replaced by the Department of Environment & Resource Management. Talk about keeping people confused! This is amazing. No wonder the Poor Koala is disappearing and facing entrapment in this region, when the Government Land Stewards can’t even show consistency in their own organisation.

And you should see what is happening just over the border on the Tweed Coast , NE NSW, concerning KOALAS. It is ongoing development that appears to be relentlessly and carelessly repeating the mistakes of the SE QLD non sustainable Development agendas of the past two decades.

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***”New nominations for species and ecological communities will be assessed under the EPBC Act by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) according to the criteria for the new categories and listed accordingly. The TSSC will reconsider the status of the initial list of threatened species and communities in line with the new refined EPBC categories as information is updated and made available for assessment” from  : EPBC ACT LIST of Threatened Species

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And where is the KOALA?????

Phantom Koala and Benoit compare biodiversity with moneybags. They decide that biodiversity fills the world with beautiful things, and moneybagsmakes lots of dangerous empty spaces full of machinery and bare earth

“A preliminary investigation of the distribution of koalas and their potential habitat in the Tweed Shire, and implications for management”  by Judy Faulks . Find article at – Australian Zoologist, June 1991 Vol. 27(1 & 2). Whilst this investigation was in NE NSW, there are implications for Koala populations in SE QLD, so why not have a read!.

Phantom Koala (PK) articles  at  Bluecray Balance of Faeries blog  &  Bluecray Wisdom in the Land blog :  there may be some more useful links here in these articles:

• A Balance of Faeries – revisited
• Holiday time for PK & Litoria near Egg Rock
• PK (Phantom Koala) ponders past Pottsville for Food
• Kings Forest Koalas and NSW Planning Laws
• Koalas Mt Warning Caldera Region NE NSW SE QLD
• Phantom Koala and the Roadworks
• Corridors Conservation and Phantom Koala
• PK and Litoria

LINKS:

thekoala.com – simply presented koala information for the lay person or young student

Koala at Wikipedia

Koala Research at the Environmental Protection Agency – QLD Government

Griffith University : Griffith Research online – The Research and Management of Non Urban Koalas – oops, couldn’t find it!!!

Koala research LINKS : at Koala research site

Koala Links : at koala research site (I contacted this research team, a number of weeks back, for more information to put into my articles, but have yet to receive an answer)

My own personal  experiences with Koalas and Koala advocates includes having shared habitat with them on the Marburg Range, west of Brisbane, Qld  for many years.  Living between the Nightcap National Park and the Whian Whian Forests – Fox Road, Rosebank, Lismore Shire. And living at  Upper and Lower Beechmont in the Hinterland of the Gold Coast.

Koalas have come to my door, talked to me from the trees. I have watched them eat leaves from trees that are not on  koala tree lists, watched them climb trees that are not on any koala tree lists, talked to volunteers that have released Koalas into the Scenic Rim Regional Council Area (old Beaudesert Shire), talked and worked with Koala carers, scientists and advocates who have testified in Court on behalf of Koala’s when Highways have been built through the SE QLD Region. I have also talked with wildlife workers who have worked with entrapped Koala Populations on the Gold Coast, SE Qld.

My art for Phantom Koala (PK) was conceived many years ago, as a vehicle to explore and portray the Koala as an animal that is largely misunderstood, romanticised, politicised and exploited for monetary gain.

“A Balance of Faeries” 1989 by al at bluecray.org – a story about habitat clearing, Koalas, and how little by little, the Koala Habitat clearing in SE Queensland has  implications for more than Koalas

If you look at the trend for infrastructure development within the SE Qld Region, there will be a focus to develop the west of the Brisbane metropolitan region. Infrastructure of vaste arterial road systems and associated developments will occur, and if the KOALA is not included within any protective legal mechanism, this will mean a halt to Koala Population travel along the current, already fragmented “corridors” west of Brisbane and Logan Cities and the Urban Development to the Qld border and into NE NSW. The Old Shire of Boonah and Beaudesert (Scenic Rim Regional Council) are in this region, as is Ipswich City Council . To the south of the Border, in NSW, lie the Tweed Shires, Kyogle Shires and Lismore City Council areas.

****example of proposed development areas west of BRISBANE:- “Supercity plan to cope with population growth in southeast Queensland” – as told by the Courier Mail May 2010 – “The ULDA will now take planning control for the identified areas from the Ipswich and Logan councils to assess their capacity to deliver more than 100,000 new homes.”****

• Entrapment of Koalas in fragmented, localised, often non biodiverse vegetation communitites and habitats logically can cause stress, and much work on the part of caring koala workers , to maintain their upkeep.
• Koalas do not read maps, understand planning documents, line up willingly at scientific or ecological expert’s offices and ask to have trackers put onto them, or be examined (even if this is done “with care”).
• Koalas do not understand state borders, council boundaries or roadside signage.
• Koalas do not line up to be taken to zoos, be cuddled by people eager to have their photo taken with them.
• Koalas do not form lines in eager anticipation of  being rescued, when engineers of infrastructure, mines and housing developments bring in bulldozers and large mass destruction machinery.
• Koalas have, however, been documented to run extremely long distances, under stress, when released into unkown habitat areas.
• Koalas have been documented to come to people, when they need help.

If you have read to the end of this article, I congratulate you. It is, indeed, a very long article. But it barely scratches the surface of what is required to help Koalas of the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

Become informed, listen to your heart and  try not to become exhausted by the  rigidity & rigmarole of bureaucracy.

Above all, inspire others to create a world where  ”laws” to protect these beautiful and unique animals are no longer necessary, due to increased respect for  Natural Law and true custodianship and stewardship of  of Koala habitat in Australia.

Back in the 1990′s I was involved in a number of different community environmental initiatives – landcare co-ordinator, ACF Gold Coast Inc. committee member / campaigner  and  ICM Committees (Lockyer Ck SEQ & Loders Ck SEQ) rep.

Community environmental education and activities that I engaged in included:

• Government policy planning
• lobbying for Koala corridor linkages
• vegetation mapping
• community workshops
• land & water  management issues
• development forums
• roadside management
• habitat fragmentation

Next to my place is the small beginnings of a wide gully.  This gully has been transformed by road building and other building near  it.

It travels via a number of waterholes , then feeder creek  eventually to Burringbar Creek.

The land is surrounded by forested areas, agricultural land and small localised rural settlement.

At least one Rufous Bettong  visits  & lives in this area for a number of weeks each year.

Thickets of vegetation, old fallen tree logs, a variety of niches to  set up a nesting spot and stay for a while to live could definitely be appealing to a Rufous Bettong.

The gully and surrounding land is part of  this Rufous Bettong’s territory. Its home and backyard.

Rufous Bettongs live in and eat from these  backyards. These yards are rather extensive – over kilometres in range, with more than one nesting site, contained within that area, depending on what the Rufous Bettong is doing, or what environmental changes are occurring.

I share some of the  Rufous Bettongs’  yard,  here near Burringbar .

My vegies are shared with Rufous B.  The sweet potato growing here is often found dug up. I hear it digging and foraging about  in my little organic garden, bush and nearby grasses  in the evenings.

However, the grassed area next door is not mine. It belongs to someone else. Someone sprayed glyphosate across it. Also at  the top of the sloping catchment  is a road.  The council and contractors  herbicide and mow the roadside at least twice a year.

The area of tall introduced grasses, that afforded the Rufous Bettong extra protection became yellow and died quickly after the gully was sprayed.

The pathways and resting spots of other small animals that lived there were more apparent for a short while, until they re-adapted their travel and lifestyles.  The changing of the landscape can have many consequences.

This little open gully leads through a range of small landscapes and vegetation communities:-

regenerating, resting forest habitat;

many camphor laurels;

cleared areas;

tall exotic grasses;

creek rainforest communities in a high state of disturbance;

and areas of strong shady  canopy from tall treed areas with little understorey. This understorey area is full of leaves, native and the more prolific weed tree seedlings, branches, rocks, weeds.

You can hear the Rufous Bettong moving about outside, when it is living  here.

One day, last spring, I had gone into the sprayed area to plant several trees. At this time, the tall grass was a rough blanket of dead yellow, falling in death to expose the deep thatched nature of the grasses’ understory.

The thatched layer was quite high, and opened up  in places.

The Rufous Betong had nested in one such thatched area  when I walked next to it. I disturbed it, gave it a fright.

Extracting itself from the undergrowth, it thumped away very quickly. Poor dear Rufous Bettong!

Lessons learnt?

Lesson 1 :  Aepyprymnus rufescens – RUFOUS BETTONG * = beautiful!!!

lesson 2 : sudden change and human traffic can cause stress to a vulnerable animal… a threatened species listed animal – marsupial… one of 25 listed little darlings

lesson 3 : Rufous Betong , one of 25 threatened Marsupials in NSW RUFOUS BETTONG – vulnerable marsupial species listing in NSW

“The rufous bettong (Aepyprymnus rufescens) is listed as VULNERABLE on the schedules of the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act. The species was listed because:
* Its population and distribution have been severely reduced
* It faces severe threatening processes
* It is an ecological specialist (it depends on particular types of diet or habitat)” from http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/RufousBettongVulSpListing.htm

Australian Government Biodiversity homepage

Threatened Species and Ecological Communities – Australian Govt

EPBC ACT listing of  Threatened Fauna in Australia here you will find Nominations, Recovery Plans, Quick Links searches, and EPBC Act Lists for Threatened Flora, Fauna, Recovery Plans, Critical habitat, Key Threatening Processes, Threatened Ecological Communities, Threat Abatement Plans

Australian Macropodoidea: conservation status, likely change since white settlement, suggested reasons for the change. (From Calaby and Grigg, 1989) : Family Potoroidae – Potorros, Bettongs, Rat-Kangaroos

Species, Populations, Ecological Communities – Threatened Species Profile Search :    at the   NSW Government Environment :  Threatened Species in NSW Listings

Threatened Species - NSW Government

there are 25 threatened marsupials in NSW – NSW  Government Threatened Species

bluecray Regional Environmental News – Mt Warning Caldera  SEARCH :Rufous Bettong

Rufous Bettong distribution and vegetation association – Northern Rivers, New South Wales

Rufous Bettong at Australian Museum Online – unfortunately, today I was looking at this link, and there is no longer any mention of the Rufous Bettong there (June 2009)

Mammals of Lamington National Park  Rufous Bettong

Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia: A Monitoring Strategy 2005 ISBN 0 86443 746 3  from archived Rainforest CRC (no longer operating but archives available still)

Some Wildlife of the Scenic Rim – 2007 : talks for From a Series of wildlife workshops hosted by Wildlife Tourism Australia and the Logan and Albert Conservation Association , sponsored by Beaudesert Shire Council through the Community Environmental Assistance Grants Program and Community Events Program

Rufous Bettong at the Marsupial Society of Australia

Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002 at  Australian Natural Reousrces Atlas

Hortico Weed Killer  360 Concentrate Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS SHEET) = GLYPHOSATE MSDS

• loving vision to heal + habitat = more habitat and more biodiversity
• killing to heal + habitat = less habitat, less biodiversity

The Agricultural Chemical and Machinery Industries‘ direction within mainstream society has endowed future populations of  our world with:

• fast food production,
• decreased biosphere activity
• fast development
• increased production yield in mainstream Horticultural, Agricultural and Amenity cropping systems.
• Everywhere you drive, along the side of the roads you can see this legacy of the Agricultural Chemical in the form of  dead grass and micro habitat sprayed with herbicides.
• Everywhere you shop, you can purchase food products as a legacy of this fast fix Agricultural Chemical legacy.
• Every time you meet council and landlord requirements to “pest proof” your new building or leased property, you sponsor this legacy of Agricultural Chemicals.
• Everytime you you chose the comfort of  poisoning a rat, spraying a fly, safeguarding your home from those “terribly annoying and threatening spiders and ants”, you further this legacy of Agricultural chemicals into the world and the food chains.
• Every time you need to travel many kilometre to retrieve food and accomodate lifestyle, the machinery industry helps you, via roads, non regionalised industry, and non sustainable developments.

Now, I do not mean to make you feel uncomfortable about this. Or do I…….

• Agricultural Chemicals and Large Machinery  are a wonderful and terrifying gift from Science and, in turn God. These pesticides and machines, if I may so loosely term them, have saved lives, and helped feed millions.

And this, dear environmentally concerned reader, is the quandary. The annoying dichotomy of existence today.

The Quandary

*Chemicals + machinery+microhabitat and habitat = Bare soil / limited habitat

How does one practice and live valid, sustainable lifestyles (especially those that we, and our peers have become so accustomed to), and yet keep our environments comfortable, safe and abundant?

“Chemical free” I hear the advertisement chirp cheerily on the radio. “Without harmful chemicals”, “biosafe” .  .  .       I see the presenter announcer –  in pristine white gleaming kitchen, as she wipes those dangerous germs from the kitchen bench, her baby’s hands, and her swing lid garbage bin.

Well, we are all chemical. It is highly chemical. We are a biochemical complexity on a biochemically complex earth.

*The trick is: chemicals , particularly man made ones, are on the rise, permeating our food chains, air, water and soils.   Our world has become so full of these new, and often combined chemicals, that. . . …… that it is hard to know what was natural, in the beginning, and what is “natural” now.

Our minds have become so full of this knowledge, about these chemicals, that we have reached new plateaus of tolerance and comfortability about them all (well, at least many of them).

Yet, listen to this reasoning:

• We may be all chemical.
• We may strive to define what is a “good chemical” and a “bad chemical”.
• Essentially, in between all those biochemical components that make up the living earth………. in between all the organic, and inorganic chemicals of our living planet, there exists SPACE.

And there is alot of it!                 In fact, mainly, we ARE composed of SPACE. There is quite alot going on, in that space….. another story………. I digress.

Tolerance Plateaus and Stress

So the tolerance plateaus that  much of society have reached, with regard to man made chemical creation?

• Food chain chemical adjustment.
• Brain wave chemical adjustment.

The combined effects from media and industry onslaught of killing the bug, monculturing the lawn, product fixation, running to a deadline, playing with the beast?,

Generally, over-driving natural systems to the same extent we drive our neurotic selves., Causing a number of  abreactions.  Combined effects of combined effects carry with them unpredictable outcomes.

Chemical Monoculture Mindsets

*Bare soil    =      limited habitats,limited biodiversity

*Chemicals + machinery+microhabitat and habitat = Bare soil / limited habitat

These mindests have been built up of a number of generations now – courtesy of

• marketing,
• advertising (some of it, you even invite into your home via tv, radio, via playing it while YOU go about YOUR day). Why look!!! I even have google ads on bluecray…well, i tried them for a while…
  
• Product & Company endorsement via guidelines laid down in government and agency activities
• Schooling “norms”
• Peer Higher Education interfacing with Corporate/ Business.

Now all of this makes me think of R J Lifton’s writings,  how my experiences in life show me that many people adopt this strategy of “killing” in the name of healing, as explained by R J Lifton.

Nature is also under stress. And like us, has coping mechanisms.

However, consequences from all of these stresses  - the ongoing complexity of them…… makes the little things rather important.

Little things, like not killing, but growing habitats.

In our dazed neurotic state (complex as it is),  we forget what we were doing. We forget our simple, caring lives.

Instead, we find ourselves caught in an ever informed, mindblowing realisation that it really IS going way too fast!! All of us, so many people in the planet lost into their moment, and times are changing, again!

Vision and Love

I would like to bring this article back to the beginning now.  Back to that directional  idea. That idea of killing something with chemicals, spraying the country, waterways and estuaries with chemicals.

• Machinery and chemicals cause small localised losses of biodiversity
• These losses can accumulate rather rapidly owing to other localised pressures that are also within that particular ecosystem or even habitat.
• I have noticed that many small and sometimes larger property management tree plantings  are cleared extensively by mowing or herbicide. A strange birth path for an environmental project. Killing the land to heal it. It isn’t even a gentle killing!!
• Various different growth stages, over time, of different plant communities = Variously different habitats and related biodiverse flora and fauna communities

This is a symptom. This is looking it right in the eye, at the ground level. TAKE A LOOK!!!

*Over cultivation  + Mowing + herbicide use  =    limited habitats  +  limited biodiversity

*Bare soil    =      limited habitats,limited biodiversity

• Australian landscapes have a fundamental dynamic biodiversity that has functioned for tens of thousands, even millions of years.
• Different biodiversity dynamics appear regularly. The trick is in keeping the biodiversity going, so that balances can occur more readily.
• Nature is amazing, and it can re-invent iself quite remarkably. A bare mown patch of ground can, perhaps, turn itself into a forest. It certainly can, if it is in the middle of a wet rainforest, surrounded by biodiversity. If it is along the Darling River, it may take many, many years or even decades and centuries to “reinvent” itself into a dynamic yet stable over time,  biodiverse habitat.

Various different growth stages, over time, of different plant communities = Variously different habitats and related biodiverse flora and fauna communities

• Habitat regeneration, without chemicals and large machinery is caring for our country, flora and fauna.
• Habitat regeneration need not be  about killing habitat. Although natural processes do respond to death in a rebirth way.
• Habitat repair, after destruction via machinery and chemicals,  having gone past critical level, responds with less and less resilience.
• Habitat regeneration is about understanding and loving habitats. Loving nature, and bothering to spend some time there, to care, before you race in and kill habitats and micro-habitats.
• A loving approach to Habitat regeneration makes more sense.
• A loving approach to Habitat regeneration takes more time. The birth energy of such a regeneration project is alot more well adjusted to fit into natural rythms already working on the revegetating sight.

Meanwhile, back to the Abreactions, the biochemical and psychological stresses that we are handing ourselves over to.

• When someone is acting from a primed stress response, any further stresses can cause chronic illness.
• When an animal is acting from a stress situation,  especially if stress patterns are already deeply based in the animal’s responses, with further stresses occurring, that animal may become further stressed, depending on it’s coping mechanisms.
• Changes that occur too rapidly, will often then cause more stress.
• The same can be said for a micro habitat.  The most basic micro habitat for much survival, here on earth, is the humus level. This humus level is a fantastic earthly biological wonder.  Beyond this are the smaller creatures of earth, the bacteria, the insects, the spiders, the fungi, the lichens, the small molluscs, reptiles, mammals etc, plants, vegetation communities.
• As our personal environment changes about us, be it social, homelife, daily or work related, our earth’s environment is also moving  fast, about us. (especially in rapid development areas).
• Social Environmental Stress is also rapidly changing.
• Habitat destruction comes in many forms.
• Habitat destruction stresses us and earths precious creatures and life forms  in more ways than you can imagine.
• Habitat destruction has far reaching consequences on, and via the more basic earth elements, such as fire, wind, rain, heat, cold, weather etc.

Killing to heal is an auto response that doesn’t always serve us. Loving to heal is a whole much better. Get it?

killing to heal + habitat = less habitat, less biodiversity

loving vision to heal + habitat = more habitat and more biodiversity

Environmental Ethics at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Peter Vintila at Postkyoto Centre : See some of Peter Vintila’s work here:- ABC Unleashed: “Climate War” 6th November 2009; Post Kyoto Journal . His works show the dichotomies of human acquired learning responses and social adaptive tendencies when, the whole of our beautiful blue planet is at risk from our collective social activities. The tendency to “fight, flight and freeze” – the trauma adaptive qualities of centuries of “threat from outside” are now being acted out en masse by society. These learned adaptive processes, whilst possibly serving us collectively in humanity’s “youth”, are now outdated, and a new, brave form of courage is required. That of a VISION encompassing loving, sharing, forgiveness, acceptance – growing and nurturing “the good” in place of fighting and destroying “the bad“.

This can be said, in general,  for wars, developments, community revegetation programs, roadside management, planning instruments, daily lifestyles of individuals and much much more.

“A Balance of Faeries” 1989 – A true story

• Weed Identification – IBRA – SE Qld
• Weed Identification – IBRA – NSW North Coast

**FOR People wishing to find useful community submission information please see this article: – January 2012 SUBMISSIONS for Kings Forest INFORMATION**

Acid Sulfate Soils Background Information

• ACID SULFATE SOILS are a component of the Kings Forest Project Development, Kingscliff. I have recently added some ACID SULFATE SOIL (ASS) links in bluecray’s  Ecosystems Links PAGE . 

I have recently (Dec. 2011 – Jan 2012) updated some of this article, to include more specific points regarding this highly environmentally degrading development that should have never, in the first place been allowed, in its current form,  by the Australian Government, NSW LABOUR Government and the Tweed Shire Council.

Kings Forest Proposal and Submission Information

• The Proposal Information and ongoing submission stages of this State Significant Site can be found at:- http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au.
• The Caldera Environment Centre has valuable information for any person wishing to make submissions on this ecologically degrading and shameful Part 3A development that is occurring in the Wetland Catchment Area of the Tweed Coast. (December 2011)
• Kings Forest Submissions 2012 – article at bluecray.org – helpful community submission information
• Australian Government’s Ecologically Sustainable Development website and information about Ecologically Sustainable Development

below are some  other bluecray articles regarding this Kings Forest Development and the surrounding / adjacent areas:-

• Kings Forest Investment Property – Wetland Habitat Destruction on the Tweed Coast (bluecray’s article on Kings Forest (25th Dec. 2011)
• Illegal Clearing Cudgen Nature Reserve – a balance of faeries revisited (17th Nov. 2011)
• Kings forest development threatens 21 threatened species of fauna (28th Feb. 2009) - this article gives a list of some of the Threatened Species at risk from this non ecologically sustainable, intense development. Bluecray recommends that this Kings forest development should have detailed species (for flora and fauna and ecological communities) “management” plans, for each and every species and community that is under threat from this development. Bluecray also recommends that on site monitoring and ongoing evaluations by local wildlife and vegetation / ecological “experts” should be included in every stage of this development. this should be done at the cost to Leda (the developers).
• Endangered Ecological Community and Kings Forest Development, Tweed Coast, NE NSW. (7th Oct. 2009)  (this is one of the ecological communities of the Tweed area that is NOT considered in any of the plans – due to timing of its listing)

** A NOTE to the thousands of readers who have visited or are currently visiting bluecray’s articles on KINGS FOREST, Kingscliff, Tweed Shire. ( 12th December 2011) , cheers, Alison Polistchuk 

• **Due to the ongoing ignorant and at times ruthless battle that is stirring concerning the Kings FOREST KOALAS and other  Endangered (threatened species), the CONTINUED degradation of Australia’s disappearing wetlands,  and lack of care by individuals & corporate entities towards the people of  NE NSW and SE QLD:-  bluecray has decided to tag, point out and consolidate historical investigations, documents, and evidence. (oh, and by the way, I suggest to any that may be involved in considering threat /nuisance toward both bluecray and the author, that there are, as I write, higher entities concerned, who are watching.) Please, to ALL involved…. why not stay in the light, work with creative love and integrity! When under pressure, creative loving educational solutions are much stronger, than brute force, ignorance, back room agendas and subversive threats and bullying tactics.  

If you are searching for information that may be helpful in EDUCATING  Tweed Shire Councillors , individual men and women running and employed by (either directly or indirectly) the Leda (property development group) and the NSW Government, try searching for “ESD Strategies at the Local Government Level”  (environment 21) . This will lead you to a  a Case Study of the City of Newcastle by Darren McKay and Ray Rauscher from the University of Newcastle. This document is a good recent historical educational study on ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT as conducted via international agreements, Federal / State law and policy procedures and the Role of Local Government. It will bring you up to speed on the background surrounding Ecologically Sustainable Development in Australia. Some of the document’s references to policy and law have changed, (eg. the Federal Labour Government ratified the Kyoto Protocol in late 2007) since it was published, but, it gives a concise historical perspective on many of the issues facing local councils in implementing Ecologically Sustainable Development.

Some general info about KINGS FOREST

• Kings Forest Development includes areas of cleared land that could be (and could have been) regenerated to enhance the wetland  habitats and nearby ecological units. This “State Significant Site”  has a long history of community, technical and scientific concern about it’s future. In the hands of developers – currently  the Leda Group, it is being scrutinised by the Tweed Shire Council and the NSW Department of Planning.  Kings Forest requires as much public input as possible to ensure that its habitats and the vital “corridor” role that it plays for vulnerable species such as Koalas and other native flora and fauna in the Mt Warning Caldera Region are protected and enhanced.
• The areas about the Kings Forest site  are already under much development pressure, as is much of the Tweed Shire Region, which is contained completely within the Mt Warning Caldera Region of NE NSW, Australia. These development pressures already include INFRASTRUCTURE and  AIRCRAFT noise components. The  Gold Coast Airport’s Key Flight Tracks detail flight tracks for aircraft both arriving and departing. Information clearly shows many regular nearby & overhead daily flights of large aircraft. The Aircraft Noise Maps for the Tweed Coast can be found here.
• Sensitive nature and wetland areas are adjacent to Kings Forest. Wetlands have been cleared and almost totally destroyed along the entire Tweed Shire and adjoining Gold Coast Coastlines. Kings Forest is no exception. It deserves much scrutiny and attention by planners and other government authorities and agencies. Wildlife that is still currently surviving by running before the bulldozers, will go into surrounding bushland, where further stresses on Native Wildlife Habitat will occur. Drainage and CATCHMENT ALTERATION will also create stress for Migratory  and other wildlife relying on current water table and wetland habitats, as they try to adapt to a rapidly changing and degenerating ecosystem. This development is full of “Motherhood Statements” and disgraceful “Smoke and  Mirrors” and Machiavellian Scenarios.  The KINGS FOREST Development, Kingscliff  holds many stories. Some are still unfolding. The documents attached to this development are expansive. Take the time to research, as there is much more to this development than meets the eye.

• Koala Corridors and Buffers Zones should be part of the WHOLE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH. The area being developed for human settlement and infrastructure SHOULD include a whole plan approach, whereby the KOALA and ITS HABITAT is integral and 100% incorporated into the whole design. This should be so for ALL the native wildlife species that rely in part, or totally on the Kings Forest area for SURVIVAL. To do this, the number of houses/ size of urban stages must be dramatically decreased and designed in a way that more open natural space and connectivity is promoted. 

• This is the same for ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PRINCIPLES :-  water storage for each house; SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT and WASTE MINIMISATION – throughout both the construction and urbanisation phases; improved and enhanced wetland and INTEGRATED CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT & integrated native wildlife  habitat  enhancement throughout the entire development; sensible covenants on fencing, dogs, cats, rabbits, vegetation; energy efficient materials/design and development procedures & processes; local and regional environmentally sustainable employment opportunities; local food & local sustainable industry creation or mentorship (not just tokenism); fire, flood, noise, environmental and noxious weeds awareness. Town Planners know these lists more comprehensively. Tsunami and FLOOD evacuation procedures should also be incorporated fully into the design, as well as fire evacuation. This is particularly so for children/youth community and aged facilities.
• SOCIAL INCLUSION and COMMUNITY RESOURCE areas – especially for young families, youth, disadvantaged and the aged. Comprehensive Educational information for all prospective and existing settlers to the REGION can be of great value also – particularly for ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS, and SOCIAL WELLBEING. TRANSPORT should be state of the art Environmentally Sustainably Networked and Implemented, by both the developer (who profits and thus should care where and how his/her profit arises) and the Governments (who should CARE and show diligent leadership).
• SHADE:- in a time of increasing Sun Cancers, the level of integrated shaded pathways, roadways, parkways, parking areas and recreational areas is important. Energy efficient Shading comes in the form of landscape/Habitat Trees. Eucalypts are not good nor safe landscape trees for this use, due to limbs constantly dropping.
•  Concerning the road linkages (that are proposed to go through the KINGS FOREST DEVELOPMENT) from the Pacific Highway through to the Tweed Coast Road and other coastal roadways servicing the urban developments on the nearby coastline (Kingscliff through to Wooyung), the question is:-  will this Major Linkage Collector Road have to cater for even more traffic than local residents?  YES, it will. The Kings Forest Stage 1 Project Application “Traffic engineering assessment” (prepared for Project 28 Pty Ltd 2nd March 2011) and the Tweed Shire Council predicts a tripling in traffic along the Tweed Coast Road eventually. Thus FOUR LANE Major Roads and COLLECTOR ROADS will carve up and destroy much more of the fragile remaining ecosystems,  creating Noise and stress  for all residents (non, 2 ,4, 6 and 8 legged).
• I would rate the  ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY of this project – on a scale from 1 to 10 as about a MINUS 5.
• Healthy minds, educated people, these days, try to do the right thing by our beautiful endangered species and their homes. However, money and power in the hands of ignorant and unwise people has time and time again created more and more destruction. The Tweed Coast attests to this. This is called “living a lie”, and it makes people sick and delusional  until they wake up and create a change for the better – both for themselves, and for others.
• The buffer zones indicated in the planning documents are highly inadequate. again, a whole development approach is required.  I recommend that Mr Ell and his team need to go back to school – primary school, and receive some education – where many small children can tell them how to make the world better, rather than making it horrible. It is never too late to change.
• There are many, many good people in Government and Industry who want to make the world a better place…. whilst compromise is  an essential part of  negotiation, things such as rapidly disappearing wetlands, native wildlife, socio-economic well being, environmentally sustainable practices dictate that a whole new game be presented to this uneven playing field. A playing field called  - Leda and the Kings Forest series of ridiculously stupid mistakes.

And now, back to the original article……………(

(This posting was originally commenced in 2009)

The extended public submissions for the Kings Forest Project in Tweed Shire, near Kingscliff, were  accepted until 2nd March 2009.

Proposed and gazetted State Significant Sites : NSW Department of Planning (I updated this above link on 26th October 2009)

The Proposal Information can be found at:- http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au.

and more information can be found in the links below.

• **Kings Forest, Kingscliffe, Tweed : 06_0318 Residential Community – Preparing Response. This is the page you can view to find out the specific details for your submission/response to the Kings Forest (coastal area subdivision) Development by Leda, on the NE Coast of NSW, near Kingscliffe.   “Subdivision to create new lots for future development; Construction of the entrance road to the site and associated intersection works on Tweed Coast Road; Subdivision and associated infrastructure works for the first stage of urban development; Bulk earthworks and planting for the proposed future golf course; and a service station and fast food outlet.” (Project application description at NSW Department of Planning)
• According to the Tweed Border Mail, the **Tweed Shire Council has raised concerns about threats to wildlife, and stormwater, sewerage and roads provisions proposed for the almost 10,000 homes that will be included in this, the Kings Forest Project, and the nearby Cobaki Lakes development, that is also being proposed by the developers.

• The development is by Bob Ells’ Leda group.
• Sydney Morning Herald Feb 8th 2003 ”The Trick in the Tweed : take a good look at the Lie of the land” – some interesting history about the Kings Forest site 1970′s-2003
• Gold Coast City Council – 9th Nov 2007 “ Leda ordered to remediate illegally cleared land” - “Gold Coast City Council yesterday secured orders in the Planning and Environment Court compelling companies owned by Gold Coast billionaire developer Bob Ell to revegetate land that had been illegally cleared in November and December last year.City Planning Chair, Cr Ted Shepherd, said the Court had judged that Leda Developments Pty Ltd and Leda Developments No. 2 had cleared major portions of a holding of about 100 hectares at Pimpama without the relevant development permits from the Council.” view article to read more

• **  If you follow the links below, you will get to the Planning Documents for Kings Forest (Residential Community Development 06 0318 ) :- START HERE : NSW Department of Planning Home » Development Assessments » Major Project Assessments »THEN click on Major Projects Part 3A then,  Coastal Areas » Subdivisions  . You should find the Kings Forest Documents by this time.  Good luck!!!! Failing that, just click HERE : **Kings Forest, Kingscliffe, Tweed
• Environmental Assessment Exhibition – Major Project – Kings Forest (MP06_0308) Residential Community Development – Council Submission – this link now gone or moved
• Kings Forest – on Google Maps –
• Kings Forest and Development –  North Coast, New South Wales, Australia aerial photos at airviewonline.com.au
  
• The   Caldera Environment Centre in NE NSW, Australia shows insights,  in their submission to the NSW Government and objection to the planned Kings Forest and Cobakai Lakes Development , summing up  the King’s Forest Project situation very clearly. You should have a read of this Submission HERE. Well, the submission and position statement of the Caldera Environment Centre WAS there, but now, well, it is gone or moved.
• Northern River Guardians
• Big Scrub Environment Centre – Kings Forest - (http://www.bigscrub.org.au/newsletters/e-journal4.html#kings) – link gone
• Total Environment Centre – Kings Forest
• Tweed Shire Echo - has some articles relating to the Kings Forest Development

• Bluecray SEARCH results : Regional Environmental News – Mt Warning Caldera Region – Kings Forest NSW Planning
• Kings Forest and the NSW State Government **State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Projects) 2005 – Kings Forest as viewed by the NSW Government currently, under planning policy
• **Koala Priority Actions : NSW Department of  Environment & Climate Change
• Koala fact sheet NSW Government
• Development project threatens second largest Koala Colony in Tweed Shire - candobetter.net ** this is a good article to help you understand this development, with contact details for the project and some great Koala info
• 6 Threatened Flora species and 21 threatened FAUNA species have been identified at the Kings Forest SITE. Summaries and conclusions from the Threatened Species Management Plan for Kings Forest conclude that these threatened species will continue to persist on the site following this future development. Read this document (to be found here)
• Kings Forest Development threatenes 21 Threatened Species of Fauna . This article includes a list of some of the Threatened species that are at risk from Bob Ell’s Leda development at Kings Forest, (including the Koala -Phascolarctos cinereus ), with links to find out more about some of them.

• Convention on Biological Diversity – Treaty signed and ratified by Australia for Convention on Biological Diversity :-
• **”Conservation of biological diversity is the subject of Chapter 15 of Agenda 21, which was adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro. At the same Conference, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which has subsequently entered into force, was opened for signature”   (United Nations – Division for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs)
• **Tweed Shire Council Flora and Fauna Management ( there appears to be a typo on this page – it says “flora and flora” management… but I guess they mean flora and fauna!!!!) There is plenty in here to show that Kings Forest is indeed both regionally important, and important to Australia and the world, given the pressures of development on and within the region.  Koalas are only one feature of this regional importance that Kings Forest holds…. there is much much more – have a good look!!!!
• Submission on the Proposed Biodiversity Banking Scheme February 2008 – Environmental Defender’s Office and Total Environment Centre submission:-“Our concerns regarding the variation process are outlined in a letter to DECC, which can be found at: www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/policy.php. In summary, our main concerns are:………………………………………………………..As a result of widespread development throughout the Tweed Coast in the last decade, many species have had their ranges significantly reduced. Kings Forest is a regional stronghold for many species such as the Long-nosed potaroo and the planigale. This area contains the only viable areas of native vegetation faunal communities across the Tweed Coast. Large parts of this area have been flagged for development in the Far North Coast Regional Strategy because of lobbying by the development industry.”

• Tweed Development and Employment – with particular reference to the Leda Development at Kings Forest – ( Hansard Transcript – NSW Parliament 18th october 2006)
• Tweed Daily News – “Developer’s Plans Open to Public” – 16th December 2008   “ BILLIONAIRE property developer Bob Ell’s company, Leda, has lodged formal applications with the NSW Government for Tweed’s biggest yet residential developments — Cobaki Lakes on the Queensland border and Kings Forest inland of Casuarina Beach…….”  read rest of article
• Tweed Daily News 17th February 2009 “Developments Uncertain” by Peter Caton

• Biolink Ecological Consultants – they did   Kings Forest Koala  Plan of Management for Leda Devlopments
• Revised Koala Management Plan – by Ecoindig Resources – Frank Carrick superceding the above report – (Development Footprint and Native Vegetation Clearing Assessment google HTML DOC) – sorry, couldn’t find the actual report – this planning document retrieval is a nightmare!!!! but highly educational
• Landpartners – Threatened Species Management Plan Kings Forest couldn’t get their web page to work, but Google HTML doc about Landpartners is here
• Everick Heritage Consultants Pty Ltd – they did the Cultural Heritage Assessment for Kings Forest Development 2008
• Planning Workshop Australia – Kings Forest and some other State Significant Sites’ work for developers.
• Geolink Environmental Management and Design- Strategic Planning Project Planning – Kings Forest
• **jbaplanning.com.au – JBA Urban Planning Consultants : On Exhibition – Kings Forest Environmental Assessment
• Assessment of Off-Site Impacts Associated with Development inAccordance with theKings Forest Concept Plan – jbaplanning.com.au
• Threatened Species and Ecological Communities – Australian Government
• Biodiversity Assessment NE NSW – Mammals
• Bats – Australian Museum - what threatens them, photos and more
• Little Bentwing Bat (Miniopteris australis) – Little Bentwing Bat profile at NSW Threatened Species website
• The Importance of  Tree Hollows estimated 50-100 years for Hollows to occur in vegetation communities
• Little Bentwing-bat – Northern Rivers: Distribution and vegetation associations in the Northern Rivers – Threatened Species NSW
• The Little Bent-wing Bat Miniopteris australis roosting in a tree hollow -  ”location of M. australis in a tree hollow indicates that timber harvesting and land clearance may also affect roost sites at certain times of the year.“

• Phantom Koala and the Roadworks at  Bluecray Blog “A Balance of Faeries”
• A Balance of Faeries – a story about the effects of clearing vegetation in a stressed landscape bluecray.org

Little Bat finds NE NSW Coast Lifestyle, near Kings Forest to much to survive in

This little Bat in the above photo is a consequence of development – dead on the doorstep of a duplex in the housing development west of Pottsville. With 21 threatened fauna species threatened even more by Leda and the development proposed, what will be the costs, if all that stands between them, and survival, is documents written, verbal provisions made and “intentions”  outlined, when the bulldozers and engineering machinery move into Kings Forest and further develop this area?

NSW Native Vegetation Map .

“A preliminary investigation of the distribution of koalas and their potential habitat in the Tweed Shire, and implications for management”  by Judy Faulks .  I can no longer find this article/ reference to it on the internet, but you may have more luck by looking for it. I originally found it  at – Australian Zoologist, June 1991 Vol. 27(1 & 2). You may find it here at the Royal Zoological Society of NSW in the Journals. Alternatively, try this google search : australian zoologist June 1991 Vol. 27(1 & 2)

• search for  Aboriginal  (Indigenous peoples) research literature for the North Coast of NSW at the Libraries Australia Search
• “A Balance of Faeries” – 1989 by al at bluecray.org : a story about Koala Habitat clearing and the consequences

Environmental Advocacy within the Mt Warning Caldera Region on East Coast of Australia tells a story as old as human settlement itself. Currently, development pressures, lack of understanding of local habitat issues, a long history of land clearing, catchment flow alteration, aquifer non-management, unsustainable farming methods and human settlement consequences, within the Mt Warning Caldera Region, have compounded the need for widespread Environmental Advocacy.

The subsequent loss of biodiverse habitats, increasing threatened flora and fauna species and water quality issues have resulted in many community efforts to advocate for the unique ecological components of the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

Advocacy for the Environment has become a popularised issue for many people in recent times. However, there are still ill-informed land management practices occurring within the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

One major issue facing the Mt Warning Caldera Region is that, besides the Australian Federal Government, two State Governments (New South Wales & Queensland) hold legal custodianship, concerning Environmental Legislation, Policy Direction and Development Practices.

There are also a number of different Local Government Councils operating within the Region as well.

Environmental Advocacy Groups and Individuals have played an important role in preserving and enhancing the Mt Warning Caldera Region. Global Agreements, Federal and State Government Policies and Legislations from the last few decades of the 20th century have reflected the call for assistance by past and present Environmental Advocates. The Mt Warning Caldera Region has many Reserves, National Parks, environmental strategies and regional plans attached to it. Some of these Parks and Reserves have existed for many decades and others more recent. New species of flora and fauna are still being found in the Region. And development is still a contentious issue in many local areas of the Mt Warning Caldera.

It is also hoped that the legal issues that surround the Mt Warning Caldera Region may be better understood, by reading and studying some of the links below.

Environmental Advocacy can be done at many levels, from helping your neighbour create wildlife corridors, finding a recycling depot and letting others know about it, to writing to your local member or simply learning to respect the inherent values of biodiversity that remain within the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

“Burn out” is a common phrase found amongst certain Environmental Advocates. Often too much is done by too few. This form of Environmental Advocacy has been essential to bring the Region into the 21st century. Now it is up to each and every one of us to work out how we may play our part in Environmental Advocacy within the Mt Warning Caldera Region. No matter how simple or great our efforts are, we all play a part.

We all live here, breath the air, drink the water, share the spaces. Working together, and respecting one another, and listening to our different views, no matter how much we may disagree is part of the process.

One of the simplest Environmental Advocacy methods is to “do it in your own back yard”. So, have a go, create the vision and make a difference.

Advocacy Links