Land & environment

The Rous County Council decision to remove the proposed Dunoon Dam from our region's water security options has again sparked controversy, as you will see from some of the articles and letters to the editor in this edition. It is perhaps unfortunate that we may have lost an opportunity for many social, environmental and community benefits that could have been developed alongside the dam project. It is quite possible to ‘do dams well’, with a vision for 21st-century water security that mitigates or compensates for any losses experienced.

Close to 300km of old barbed-wire fencing along Diamantina National Park has been removed to protect native animals including the rare night parrot ... The fencing was installed by farmers to manage livestock before the park was purchased by the Queensland Government in 1992. “It’s been close to 30 years since the land was transformed into 507,000 hectare national park, and in that time we’ve seen many resident and migratory bird species return to the local wetlands, which act as a haven in an otherwise arid region,” Minister Scanlon said.

A koala joey has been given a second chance after being rescued from the side of the road with his blind mother. The koala mother was rescued with her pouch joey on May 28 after being found disorientated on the ground by a member of the public in Woodenbong in northern New South Wales. The koalas were taken to the Friends of the Koala hospital in East Lismore where the International Fund for Animal Welfare sponsored vet team conducted thorough health checks on both koalas.

Locals are being urged to share any information with the Limestone Coast Landscape Board about how almost a dozen feral pigs came to be roaming in the region. Investigation by the board indicated the pigs were likely to have been illegally released in the Reedy Creek area south-east of Kingston.

Climate change has already cost every farm across Australia $30,000 each year in profit over the past two decades, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, and profits could slashed in half by 2050 due to ongoing environmental changes.

The mighty Murray is experiencing high flows from a rain event further up the catchment. On Wednesday, the river had 17,200 megalitres per day flowing past Koondrook Barham at a height of 4.748m. Alarmingly the riverbanks compromised under the last nine years of river regulation, Murray–Darling Basin Authority management, are falling away before our eyes.

In a legal first, Environmental Defenders Office is heading to the Federal Court to challenge a New South Wales Regional Forest Agreement ... On behalf of client the North East Forest Alliance, EDO will argue that when the North East RFA was renewed, the Commonwealth did not have regard to endangered species, the state of old growth forests or the impacts of climate change, as the EDO will argue it was required to do.

Government and industry representatives, businesses, agribusinesses, community members, advocates and anyone with an interest in this field are invited to attend the Activating the Low Carbon Economy in Regional Australia forum online on Thursday 19 August 2021 to learn more about embracing this developing industry and the opportunities it offers.

Australia’s leading rural charity, Rural Aid, has closed applications for its $1 million mouse plague fund, with 1000 farmers set to benefit from the support. Rural Aid opened the fund in June for farmers from many parts of the country whose livelihoods and incomes had been affected by the devastating mouse plague.

The $7 million Tweed Organics Processing Facility will turn organic material, collected in green kerbside bins from across the Tweed, into useful compost. Up to 25,000 tonnes of food and garden organics can be processed annually on site – with the compost soon to be made available to households, farmers and businesses as well as being used on Council-maintained parks and gardens.

WA Water Minister Dave Kelly has announced the official completion of the Albany to Denmark pipeline, securing Denmark's long-term water supply in the face of climate change.

Geoff Helisma. Tenterfield Shire Council voted unanimously at its June meeting that it “does not support” Clarence Valley Council’s (CVC) decision “to oppose mining in the Clarence River catchment”. The Tenterfield council was responding to CVC’s correspondence, which was sent to “adjoining councils that have responsibility for areas draining into the Clarence River catchment, requesting that they support council’s stand and … oppose mining in areas affecting the Clarence River catchment”.

The latest ABARES Water Market Outlook report indicates water allocation prices in the southern Murray-Darling Basin are likely to remain low in 2021–22.

Soil carbon farming has been mooted as one of the key strategies for offsetting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, with the ancillary benefit of improving soil health and farm productivity. This new Occasional Paper by Professors Robert E White, Brian Davidson and Richard Eckard from the University of Melbourne, explains in simple terms the procedures for a landholder to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund.

The Clifton community is at the receiving end of some positive news with recent quality testing of the town’s Great Artesian Basin (GAB) bore returning good results.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Adam Marshall today announced the completion of a state-of-the-art weather radar at Hillston in western NSW, delivering the second of three Doppler radars as a key election commitment for regional NSW.

Dr David Lindley’s long anticipated history of the Northern Snowy Mountains was launched by the Mayor of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council, Abb McAlister on 24 June to a packed crowd at Gundagai Library. The book is in two volumes, with Volume 1 covering the exploration of the mountains from Long Plain to Goobarragandra with a comprehensive description of the many gold mines and gold mining ventures in the region. Volume 2 examines grazing, timber-milling, eucalyptus oil distillation, fishing and other recreational activities.

Two serious bushfires in the Shire of Gingin earlier this year were due to accidental causes, according to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. In Gingin on April 28 a bushfire ignited near the intersection of Jones St and Roe St while the Red Gully bushfire started on January 2 near the intersection of Mogumber Rd West and Brand Hwy.

Crocodile populations in Queensland continue to recover after the reptiles were almost hunted to extinction before being protected in the 1970s, a new state government survey shows ... “The population recovery has been relatively slow and highly variable across the ranges of species since the unregulated hunting of estuarine crocodiles for their skins was banned,” says Dr Matt Brien.