Land & environment

A pilot program in Mapoon has implemented climate-resilient drinking water technology. The council has partnered with Source Global to deliver a resilient, sustainable, and off-grid drinking water solution for locals. Ten hydropanels were installed behind the new cultural centre to make clean, safe drinking water.

Tiny solar-powered, satellite backpacks are tracking one of Australia’s rarest bird species after they were released for only the second time ever in NSW as part of a conservation effort between the NSW, SA and Victorian Governments. Fifteen critically endangered Plains-wanderers have been released into Oolambeyan National Park in the NSW Riverina, which was protected in perpetuity in 2002 due to its high conservation value in protecting critical habitat for the Plains-wanderer.

‘The NSW Coalition and the Shooters Fishers Farmers Party have condemned the Darling/Baaka to longer periods of dry riverbed with stagnant slimy pools. This decline in river health started when floodplain harvesting exploded upstream during the 1990’s. The NSW Government has rewarded decades of unsustainable and unregulated water use with new licences while conducting no assessment of the downstream impacts on Darling/Baaka communities, native fish populations, groundwater recharge and important wetland areas’: Brian Stevens, spokesperson for Inland Rivers Network.

New fishery management arrangements for Spanish mackerel will be introduced from October this year, helping to restore depleted stocks and protect good jobs in the fishing industry for generations to come. The changes will mean two three-week closed seasons in waters off the state’s north starting in October 2022, and two three-week closed seasons in southern waters starting in February 2023.

Health leaders gathered on 16 September for an emergency health summit in Lismore to urge the State and Federal Governments to immediately support healthcare services in the region ... “It’s been more than six months since the floods devastated the region and many healthcare service providers have yet to recover”: AMA President, Professor Steve Robson.

Botanists have stumbled across a new and unexplored field of carnivorous plants along with multiple new species of the animal-eating flora at the remote Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley. The new site, aptly named Sundew Spring, was discovered by Curtin University PhD candidate and botanist Thilo Krueger, his academic co-supervisor Dr Andreas Fleischmann and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) Wildlife Ecologist Dr Tom Sayers while conducting research at the AWC managed sanctuary.  

Logging contractors in Central and West Gippsland with virtually no work, a large mill in Orbost running out of log supply, while a new poll shows Victorians overwhelmingly support home grown timber for housing. Welcome to the paradox and crisis facing Victoria’s forest industry; the native forest sector, largely based in Gippsland, is at a virtual standstill due to legal action by environmentalists and decisions by the Supreme Court, as demand for native hardwood because of its beauty, strength and durability remains high.

An entrancing, informative book filled with answers to many of the common questions we ask about birds and their lives. For thousands of years birds have fascinated us. We've observed what they do - their behaviours, their characteristics, their survival skills, the food they eat and their habitats - and wondered why they do it.

Kate Foran. How many people get to say “I tickled the toes of an echidna at work today”? Local neighbouring households recently observed an echidna burrowing around their back yards ... Echidnas are tricky creatures to pick up, digging their spikes into the surrounding dirt and anchoring themselves solidly to the ground, to protect their soft underbelly.

Darling Downs residents are being warned not to “wing it” when it comes to sick or injured bats after a confirmed case of Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV) in Kingsthorpe. The injured bat was found in a back yard in August with residents alerting appropriate authorities.

The Department of Planning and Environment has had more than 100 interactions with First Nations people on environmental water, including Wiradjuri elder Michael Lyons, of Narrandera. Mr Lyons said one per cent of water in the Murrumbidgee River was allocated to Aboriginal people for cultural or environmental use and there needed to be improved communication about where that allocated water ended up.

Narrandera's treetop residents will take centre stage at the inaugural Koala Festival at the Narrandera Showground on Saturday ... It is being held to promote Narrandera’s free-ranging koala colony ... the colony is Narrandera’s tourism trump card and one of the shire’s greatest natural assets.

John O'Donnell considers a recent US report on fire and land management, "Wildland Urban Interface: A Look at Issues and Resolutions", and finds that it holds valuable lessons that could be adapted for Australian land and bushfire management.

Farmers and regional communities are bracing for yet another soaking with the Bureau of Meteorology confirming another summer of La Nina ... “People are trying to rebuild and get back on top of things, but another huge rain would just be devastating for us”: Northern Rivers farmer Neil Baker.

After six months of silence, steam from the sugar mill chimneys punches into a clear sky before quietly dissolving into the blue. It is a welcome and familiar sight for residents of the small riverside village. Finally, cane is being crushed again and its back to work at Sunshine Sugar in Broadwater.

Samuel Davis. The legacy of one of Cape York’s most controversial figures is being revisited following a major land handback to traditional owners. Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk returned more than 362,000 hectares to the Gudang/Yadhaykenu, Atambaya and Angkamuthi (Seven Rivers) peoples at Injinoo last week. As part of the agreement, Jardine River National Park has been renamed Apudthama National Park.

Rising input costs combined with fears of a foot and mouth disease incursion have weighed heavily on optimism in Australia’s farm sector in the latest quarter, according to the Rabobank Rural Confidence survey. Despite extraordinary strength in farm balance sheets and the overall health of the sector following more than two years of high rainfall and exceptional commodity prices, more farmers now believe conditions are set to worsen over the year ahead rather than improve.

The latest issue of Australian Zoologist is titled “Out of the ashes: Lessons learned from bushfires and how we can better manage our fauna”. But the editorial wrap-up suggests we’ve learnt nothing. It seems our fauna will continue to suffer from mismanagement under a Lock It Up and Let It Burn conservation’ paradigm. The abstract mentions monitoring, mapping and research, but the only reference to management is “use of supplementary resources such as nest boxes and artificial roosts to replace those lost in fires”.

The most ambitious rewilding project in Australia is achieving incredible results, with 10 locally extinct species now thriving after being reintroduced to three feral-free areas in NSW national parks ... “It’s incredible to see that in such a short period of time, we’re on track to remove at least 10 animals from the NSW extinct list – the first time this will have happened anywhere in the world”: NSW Minister for Environment James Griffin.

"These new nature reserves provide an important ecological link to other reserves in the area supporting our native species. Through the upcoming release of the draft Forest Management Plan 2024-2033, the community will get the chance to have their say in caring for the health of our forests" : WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby.