Land & environment

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.

What do you look for in a tourist attraction? An exciting new project is in the planning phase that will tell a story of a community, showcase our history and add the local region to the insanely popular silo art trail. Plans are afoot to turn the Barham water tower into a 20m high billboard that will attract tourists for an overnight stop to experience everything our towns have to offer.

NSW Independent MP for Murray Helen Dalton has introduced a bill into Parliament that will prevent Northern Basin floodplain harvesting licence holders from seeking financial compensation from taxpayers for their licences... “This unregulated practice known as floodplain harvesting devastates Lower Darling communities and reduces water allocations for Southern Basin irrigators : Helen Dalton

Delegates at the River reflections annual water conference today heard about the impacts of the massive sand slug in the Barmah-Millewa reach of the Murray River and the consequences to water users, the environment and local community if no action is taken to address it.

David Bruce, Natural Hazards Research Australia. Fire and Climate 2022 (Pullman Melbourne, Albert Park, Monday 6 to Friday 10 June 2022) is an International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) conference on Fuels and Fire Behaviour, Human Dimensions and Safety Summit, in the tradition of past IAWF conferences.

Rodney Stevens. Residents of the 2464 postcode have sent a strong message to council through a petition calling for a moratorium  on land filling and further developments until a West Yamba Masterplan is developed. Launched  by environmental watchdog Valley Watch, the petition, which has garnered more than 1550 signatures from Yamba, Wooloweyah and Angourie, was presented to Clarence Valley Council Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy at Sunday's Yamba Markets.

The Victorian Government has confirmed it intends to slaughter hundreds of wild brumbies in the Alpine National Park and Barmah Forest, and has issued a tender document specifying the carcases will be hacked up and left to rot ... “It’s brutal,” Beverly McArthur, Member for Western Victoria said. “It means 400 broken up carcasses in the Barmah, alone. Worse still, little real effort seems to have gone into the alternative – rehoming the animals – as promised by Parks Victoria."

Loved for both their great taste and awesome sport fishing, the yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) is one of Australia’s most economically important fish species. Despite their importance, little is known about the species’ large-scale movements, fine-scale population structure or behaviours ... Project Kingfish aims to deploy satellite transmitters on mature-sized kingfish across the NSW east coast and key offshore habitats such as the Lord Howe Island Marine Park to gain further insights ...

Dr Jennifer Lavers. Since 2007, the Adrift Lab research team based in Tasmania has been fortunate to visit Lord Howe Island in Apr/May to study plastics ingested by two mutton-bird species, Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters. The database contains a wealth of information on the origin of items (e.g., bottle caps, balloon clips) and amount consumed by each bird species. Over time, it’s become one of the longest-running plastic monitoring programs in the world (certainly in the Southern Hemisphere).

Australia’s oldest organic beef company – OBE Organic – is putting sustainability in the spotlight ahead of World Environment Day this coming Sunday, June 5 with the release of a new report that details industry-leading practices in sustainable agriculture, supply chain management and human resources.

Australia’s iconic Greater Bilby is bouncing and digging around Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary near Alice Springs thanks to a national collaboration with Taronga Conservation Society Australia which has seen an important reintroduction of the species to a 9,450-hectare feral predator free area at the sanctuary. Thirty-two founders (18 males and 14 females) were specially selected from Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo.

Ongoing inflationary pressures, a weaker global economic outlook and the prospect of a wet winter across many production regions of Australia is causing volatility for the agriculture sector... NAB Senior Agribusiness Economist, Phin Ziebell, said Australian agriculture was facing a number of opportunities and risks as a result of current global conditions.