Land & environment

The 2023-24 Queensland State Budget, delivered last week, has been harshly condemned by Member for Condamine Pat Weir, who says the people of his electorate have again missed out on significant investment.

In response to a report in last week’s Corryong Courier about delays in rehabilitating the Bluff Falls tourism area, Parks Victoria has provided an update on works that have been undertaken or that are underway in the Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park following the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

Community engagement is once again in the spotlight after the North Central CMA (NCCMA), the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) pulled out of a meeting with the Central Murray Environmental Floodplain Group (CMEFG) held in Cohuna on Monday, June 19.  The meeting was being held to discuss concerns with the current reporting, management and environmental watering events, such as delivery of environmental water that commenced on June 8 in the Gunbower Forest.

Goomburra is the first community across the Region to develop a Local Emergency Action Plan. Disaster preparedness is one of the Goomburra Town Hall (GTH) Committee’s aim for the Goomburra Valley and North Branch Road as there is only one road in and out.

When Phyllis Shooter strolled along an exposed bank of Dalrymple Creek on her property in 1994, she had no idea she was about to discover, what Dr Andrew Rozefelds described as, a significant fossil find of a Palorchestes.

When two retired farmers founded the Jeparit Waterwatch Group in 1995, they wanted to track the Wimmera River’s water quality and health for the benefit of the whole community. The impact of the Millennium Drought, 2010 floods, water for the environment releases and everything in between is part of a 28-year data set that builds a fascinating picture of Victoria’s only inland waterway that doesn’t flow into the sea.

NSW Farmers has welcomed a Parliamentary Inquiry into undergrounding powerlines, calling it a win for common sense and community safety. Multiple renewable energy projects proposed or under construction in regional areas would require new power lines to connect them to the grid, Energy Transition Working Group chair Reg Kidd said, but too often landholders were being ignored by the big developers.

In the face of already numerous adversities, the Northern Rivers of NSW is grappling with yet another concern: food security. Floods, bushfires, and the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities in the region’s food system but also presented an opportunity to re-think how food is grown, distributed and consumed.

Do you want the chance to witness stunning wildflowers in bloom and learn why they are so special? Then mark your calendar for Monday, July 3, to book a spot at the Sunshine Coast Wildflower Festival, with guided walks running from Saturday, August 19, to Sunday, September 3, from Bribie Island to Noosa.

A marine park ranger involved in his first whale rescue says freeing a 10m humpback whale – first sighted entangled in ropes just north of Two Rocks – was an amazing experience. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions senior ranger Ben Leeson said the job of freeing the whale caught up in ropes from two rock lobster pots was carried out over three days.

Four MPs and seven mayors have sent a letter to the Premier Chris Minns. They are asking the State Government not to forget the Northern Rivers and to deliver the next part of the flood recovery funding for the Resilient Homes program.

Federal MP Kevin Hogan isn’t holding back in his criticism of the State Government halving the number of buybacks of Northern Rivers flooded homes. The decision to drastically cut the Northern Rivers homes buybacks was made even worse by an announcement that the Federal Government would be boosting buybacks in Queensland by an additional 300 homes, Mr Hogan said.

Tweed Shire Council and the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) have updated mapping of bushfire prone land across the Tweed Shire area ... The latest Tweed Shire mapping has been developed based on NSW RFS guidelines and is the culmination of input from Council’s bushfire, GIS and ecology technical staff, as well as external expert advice.

Fitting neatly into co-curricular studies and specifically, the Connecting to Cattana Wetlands program, year 6 students at Trinity Anglican School (TAS) White Rock campus were treated to a special presentation this week about migratory shorebirds by zoologist, microlight pilot adventurer and children’s book author, Milly Formby ... TAS’ year 6 students were captivated by Milly’s presentation which provided a practical perspective to their studies of Cattana Wetlands near Smithfield...

A new app is allowing members of the public to act as citizen scientists by reporting koala sightings and providing accurate location and population data ... The Minister also announced $520,000 in grants for six projects that support long-term koala conservation in South East Queensland.

For the third consecutive year, South Australian River Murray irrigators will start the 2023-24 financial year with 100 per cent of their water allocation. The floods have contributed to high River Murray system storages, with the major dams at 90  per cent capacity - 26  per cent above the long-term average for the end of June.

The farmers invited by Member for Mallee, Dr. Anne Webster, met with the Nationals leader David Littleproud, shadow ministers and senators, with Dr. Webster saying Mallee communities were being railroaded into accepting the $3.3 billion VNI West project. "I am deeply concerned for the region and fear Labor is railroading the community over thousands of kilometres of prime farmland and irrigation districts for a project that will have an enormous cost blow-out and detrimental consequences," Dr. Webster said.

This year, the State Government - as part of its Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP) - has set the quota for commercial shooting of kangaroos in the central region of Victoria at 65,100 grey kangaroos. The total 2023 KHP quota for the entire state is 166,750. This means that a significant percentage (around 40 per cent) of kangaroos culled in Victoria will be coming from the central region.

A new publication launched by the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) is tackling climate change head-on ... The strategy includes a plan to introduce cultural burning practices with a specific focus on restoring unhealthy sections of the landscape.