Land & environment

On the evening of 8 June 2022, the Great Koala Protected Area Bill 2021 was debated in the New South Wales Upper House. The debate demonstrates the complexities and many of the fundamental points of disagreement relating to the protection of koalas in New South Wales.

Delegates at the  River reflections  annual water conference heard about the challenges we all face due to climate change and how we must work together to make the Murray–Darling Basin ready for a more variable, drier and hotter future. In his address,  The future of the Murray–Darling Basin,  Murray–Darling Basin Authority Chair Sir Angus Houston said we must adjust our approach based on what we have learnt and continue in partnership with experts, communities and First Nations People.

Kendall Jennings. District residents met on a chilly Wednesday evening at the Koroop Hall to raise concerns for the Gannawarra Shire Council Planning Application P21147 to use and develop land for a rotational outdoor pig farm. The farm, located at 127 and 191 Orrs Road and 1399 Cohuna-Koondrook Road, Gannawarra, will have up to 5,000 pigs.

What has caused this estimated 20 million cubic metres of sand in the riverbed between Yarrawonga and Picnic Point to be such a problem now? .... Why did gold mining centuries ago only raise a problem now? How did the sand from the upper reaches get through the settling pond of Lake Mulwala constructed in 1939? And even more alarming, where have the beaches gone around Cobram and surrounds in the last 12 years?

The Liberal Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell says an elected Matthew Guy Coalition Government will immediately cease the shooting of brumbies in both the Barmah and Alpine national parks. Ms Lovell has been a strong advocate against the shooting of the brumbies, particularly in the Barmah Forest, on many occasions calling on the Andrews Labor Government to stop the culling and focus on trapping the horses for rehoming.

Rodney Stevens. As the son of a professional fisherman growing up during the 1970s in Maclean, Peter Pryor never dreamed of seeing tropical species including Barramundi and Red Emperor caught in the Clarence River. The president of the Clarence River chapter of Oz Fish said until the early 2000s, local waters were never warm enough to accommodate  fish previously only caught in tropical Northern Australia.

Today, on World Oceans Day, the Minister for Fisheries joined representatives from the Western Australia Fishing Industries Council and the Marine Stewardship Council to award Rare Foods Australia (RFA) internationally recognised status as a Wild Sustainable Fishery. This achievement by RFA, which operates the world's first abalone ranch near Augusta, becomes another of WA's sustainable fisheries success stories.

John O'Donnell. After a walk along the Wilson River and Leycester Creek near their junction at Lismore, I called into the Winsome Hotel, thinking there might be a drink on hand, as it was close to lunchtime and there was no signage on the hotel indicating any changes in management.   No luck with any drinks, but I met Mieke Bell and she generously donated her time showing my wife and I what was happening on the ground floor after the floods.

The need for a new model for emergency management was clear after the floods in late February-March. And Richmond Valley Council hasn’t pulled any punches in its 18-page submission to the NSW Flood Inquiry. Richmond Valley has endured eight natural disasters in three years including fire, flood and drought.

The observatory at Mallanganee Lookout will be built out of metal and concrete and will be semi-enclosed, providing the perfect vantage to the views across the Richmond Ranges to the Border Ranges and Wollumbin during the day and the stars overhead at night ... will be positioned on the precise latitude where the centre of the Milky Way crosses directly overhead every day.

Minister for Environment James Griffin said the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) has entered into a partnership with Telstra in what will be the first of many agreements between landholders, the private sector and philanthropists to conserve land ... The BCT offers conservation agreements to landholders, which permanently protect existing native landscapes on private land in NSW.

Robert Onfray introduces a powerful 2015 speech by Roger Underwood, retired forester, firefighter and bushfire specialist in karri country ... "We have given warning after warning, until we sound like a broken record. We have met with Premiers, Ministers and senior bureaucrats, and written dozens of letters and submissions. We have said “get your bushfire management sorted out, or you will lose everything”, but instead of getting better, things on the ground just kept getting worse." Has anything changed?

National Farmers’ Federation President Fiona Simson has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of Senator Murray Watt as Australia’s new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry ... ARR.News has a question for NFF.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has delivered 25,000 koala food tree seedlings to the Friends of the Koala’s Lismore nursery to support north coast koala conservation groups’ efforts to establish habitat on private land. With wet weather rife across the region, all involved were relieved that the nursery site remained dry enough to receive the bulk seedling delivery in support of Friends of the Koala’s and Bangalow Koalas’ planting programs.

“Protecting and restoring habitat is crucial in order for Queensland’s native species to thrive – it’s why we’re investing $1.4 billion in the environment to expand and maintain our protected areas, for wildlife care and ongoing research,” Minister Scanlon said. “This is the most ambitious koala project this region has ever seen. And it adds to a swathe of initiatives aimed at protecting species like koalas, including the addition of more than 1.2 million hectares in Queensland to our protected area estate since 2015." ... ARR.News asked some questions of the Minister and was given a considered response by a departmental spokesperson.

Evidence of an important koala population in Kosciuszko National Park has been revealed by new surveys ... conducted in November 2021 and February 2022 that recorded male koalas at 14 sites within the park’s Byadbo Wilderness Area. “This is good news because until these recent surveys, there had only been 16 recorded sightings of koalas in Kosciuszko in more than 80 years,” Mr Griffin said ... ARR.News asks some questions of the Minister.

The region’s landscape board is hoping to minimise the feral deer population with the help of a cash injection from the Federal Government. The Limestone Coast Landscape Board (LCLB) has received $344,000 to build on its existing deer control initiatives through the Supporting Communities Manage Pests and Weeds program.

Reclaim the Void: weaving country whole is a collaboration between Vivienne Robertson and the Leonora-based Ngalia Heritage Research Council (Aboriginal Corporation) ... Vivienne ... asked: "What is your deepest pain?" One of the Aunties replied: ”Those gaping mining holes left all over our country”.

Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) commissioners will start to flood Gunbower Forest with 74,000 megalitres after ecologists raised concerns of declining health of red gums after four years without a flood ... Audrey Dickins, local landholder, passionate environmental advocate and member of the Central Murray Floodplains Environment Group, believes the problems with the Gunbower Forest are more complex than the ‘just add water’ approach.