Land & environment

A new project to monitor and develop a guide on the management of woody thickening through fire regimes on Cape York Peninsula will begin next month ... “There is growing evidence of marked changes in woody structure across the region, and this can affect pastoral production as well as the biodiversity of the country”: Toby Eastoe, Cape York NRM Biodiversity & Fire Programs Manager.

Patrick Goldsmith. There were cultural burns across Yorke Peninsula from Monday to Friday, June 19-23. In a bid to reinvigorate the Narungga land management practice, Narungga men and women took to four locations in Ardrossan, Point Pearce and Minlaton for just the second time in recent history to ignite shrubbery.

It is important to remember that although you don’t need a permit to burn outside the declared Bush Fire Danger Period (BFDP) you are still required to register your planned burn with the RFS and advise your neighbours at least 24 hours prior to lighting up ... on Saturday 29 April members of Dunoon RFS spent the day with a film crew from Germany ... filming a range of environmental topics around the country and our part related to how eucalypts burn across the landscape.

WIRES Northern Rivers is delighted to welcome newly appointed Emergency Response Team (ERT) member and ambulance driver Tarn Donaldson and the arrival of a dedicated native wildlife rescue ambulance. Ms Donaldson and the new fully equipped ambulance will be providing local rescue support across WIRES Northern Rivers and Clarence Valley branches and be on-call to attend critical and/ or unresolved rescues reported to WIRES 24/7 Rescue Office.

The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) and its member bodies have put forward a range of alternative projects to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) plan, with the potential to restore 1000GL or more without resorting to buybacks.

New laws designed to protect and manage Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia started on July 1 with the Cook Government saying they were modernised and improved to prevent another incident like what occurred at Juukan Gorge ... Prior to the implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 almost 30,000 people signed an e-petition calling on the government to delay the start date by a minimum of six months.

A decision to build a bushfire access track across the western side of houses between the old surf club building and Mary Lindsay Homestead is on hold while other options are considered, according to the property owners. Charmane Edwards, whose grandparents bought the home she now owns in 1947, and other owners met with the City of Wanneroo on June 27 about the proposed bushfire access track.

A project led by locals aims to raise $50million to help flooded communities. The project was born out of the frustration over the lack of funding to rebuild homes after the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation released flood maps that showed priority areas that excluded most of the damaged homes.

The gathered people were angry, frustrated and sad. Many took the mic and spoke and for some it was clearly uncomfortable to bare their sorrow as they shook and their voices broke ... Henry Luong told people to “use your rage and make it your power”.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and LHIB have partnered up to capture new high-resolution aerial imagery and terrain mapping of Lord Howe Island and Ball’s Pyramid. Aerial imagery forms the basis of the LHIB’s environmental field operations, helping us protect biodiversity, manage weeds, and implement effective biosecurity.

On 11 May 2023 a deceased beaked whale washed into shallow water at the Western end of Old Settlement Beach ... The preliminary identification is a male Blainsville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), consistent with the two large tusks in lower jaw, with stalked barnacles growing on their exposed tips.

When Lord Howe was discovered, there were sixteen land bird species breeding on the Island and early sailors, naturalists and painters documented these ... The extinct Lord Howe Island Grey Fantail was a small (length: about 15 cm) grey insectivorous bird with pale creamy-yellow underparts and a long dark-grey tail ... Over a period of a few days, I found not one but two fantails in the forest there.

The original ‘Australian Garden’ exhibit, created by Designer Phillip Johnson, Horticulturalist Wes Fleming and the Trailfinders Team, was the first Australian entry to win Gold and Best in Show at the London Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show in 2013.

Leader of the Nationals and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has called on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk  to overhaul the state government’s efforts to eradicate fire ants from the Sunshine State. Mr Littleproud’s call comes after the potentially devastating pest was recently discovered on the outskirts of Toowoomba, meaning the fire ant has made it across the Great Dividing Range for the first time.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has written to Commonwealth Water Minister Tanya Plibersek this week following a key document setting out the socio-economic criteria under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan being removed from the government’s website. VFF Water Council Chair Andrew Leahy said farmers should be concerned by the Commonwealth’s moves to walk back from the socio-economic test for recovery of the 450GL up-water target.

The NSW Government will spend an additional $80 million to protect the state from red imported fire ants, with the invasive and aggressive pest now on the march towards the NSW border. Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty said red imported fire ants cause serious social, economic and environmental harm.

Information that is relevant, accessible and trusted is critical to those farmers seeking to adapt their agricultural businesses to changes in climate according to a study which examined the results of surveys taken by the North East Catchment Management Authority (CMA) while working with approximately 1800 land managers in the region during the past four years ... A significant majority of the land managers surveyed (88%) believed the local climate and weather patterns in north east Victoria had changed.

Kwoorabup Nature School students have discovered and named a new species of parasitoid wasp while taking part in the Insect Investigators Citizen Science project. The Adelaide University run project involved 51 schools across Australia, also including Denmark Primary School.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has announced its decision on VicForests appeal of last November’s landmark court decision in Kinglake Friends of the Forest and Environment East Gippsland vs VicForests, known as “The Glider Case”. The panel of three judges upheld Justice Richards’ findings that VicForests’ actions were in breach of environment laws.The orders limiting logging in forests that are home to endangered gliders will remain.

Representatives from the farming community and food manufacturers have united to express their concerns about Commonwealth water buybacks meeting with the Victorian Water Minister in Echuca on 28 June 2023. The meeting convened by the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) with Minister Harriet Shing included representatives from Northern Victoria’s major food processors...

What makes our region’s ecosystems precious? The “big picture” answer has been revealed with the launch of a world-first mapping product for all to explore and understand the different services provided by our ecosystems.