Land & environment

Rainfall across NSW was above average for most of the state in 2020, a stark contrast to the extreme dryness which parched most of the land in 2019 and crippled the livelihoods of many agricultural producers and rural communities. NSW also recorded the warmest spring on record in over 100 years in 2020, with temperatures more than 2C above average. After 2020 began with record-breaking heatwaves and devastating bush fires which burned close to 25 million hectares of land ...

When Graeme Reid was out fixing fences with his son from Cameron Reid Fencing, he came across a striking burn mark on a survey tree. "I grabbed my el cheapo phone and took a photo." There were people from National Parks and Department of Primary Industries who wanted a copy of the unusual photo, Graeme said. "It hits you in the eye straight away." The photo shows the number 36 - an old survey mark. Fires last year burned a map of Australia around the chiselled mark, even including Tassie and what looks like New Zealand, Graeme said.

There's still two months of wet season to run and Weipa is out to an early lead in the rainfall stakes. The three rain gauges...

Dodging crocs and sharks, divers from Weipa will this week start work on removing 13 vessels from the waters around Seisia and the Torres...

NSW Department of Primary Industries - Lord Howe Island Marine Park News Researchers Jonathon Mitchell and Victoria Camillieri-Asch from The University of Western Australia will...

Pinetrees Lodge has just received carbon neutral certification under the Climate Active Program of the Australian Government. We're the first full-service hotel in...

On Wednesday 18 November, members of Dunoon RFS were presented with the NSW Premier's Bushfire Emergency Citation for their contribution and service to the 2019-2020 Bushfire emergency response by Zone Manager Superintendent Michael Brett. Mr Brett commended the members of the brigade for their ongoing commitment to the RFS and the protection of the community.

The last year has been an enormous learning curve for us here at Friends of the Koala. While we have had single fire events which have affected our koalas in the past, this was the first time where essentially the whole region was on fire.

Geoff Helisma At Clarence Valley Council (CVC), the lone Green (and only politically declared councillor), Greg Clancy, has regularly brought up a concept he put...

A month ago, the BoM declared a La Nina event, which means wetter than average conditions expected in the next few months. How does that work? It all depends on the Walker circulation.

Lord Howe Island Signal Lord Howe Island (LHI) resident Caitlin Woods is in the final year of her PhD and is well underway analysing and...

by Geoff Helisma (Clarence Valley Independent) As the new highway nears completion across the Lower Clarence, fears have been raised about what happens during a...

Last week we learned woody vegetation in New South Wales is being cleared at more than double the rate of the previous decade – and agriculture was responsible for more than half the destruction.