Land & environment

The second annual Lake Meran Festival was held last Sunday afternoon with hundreds of visitors coming along to enjoy the music, community, a great afternoon by the lake and to take a look at the star of the event, Grumpy the Turtle. Weighing in at almost one tonne, Grumpy was designed and built by Bendigo artist Moz Moresi ...

Mallee farmers are voicing frustration over changes to dingo management laws, fearing increased threats to their livestock as wild dogs seek water and food amid dry conditions ... On the other side of the debate, scientists and conservationists highlight the importance of protecting the Big Desert dingo population, known as Wilkerr to the Wotjobaluk First Nations People.

Madison Eastmond ... being carried out in the Hills and Fleurieu, Limestone Coast and Northern, and Yorke as a multi-region intuitive, the TURTLE Project is a collaborative effort of landscape boards, First Nations, citizen scientists, NGOs, councils and landholders to gather information to guide the protection of freshwater turtles across South Australia.

Sarah Herrmann. Damage at Cape Elizabeth was the single biggest driving force behind a proposed coastal access strategy for Yorke Peninsula, Northern and Yorke Landscape Board general manager Tony Fox says.

Sarah Herrmann. Community consultation is now open on the draft Yorke Peninsula Coastal Access Strategy 2025-2035, with members of the public invited to share their feedback via a survey ... Consultation sessions have already been held with local landholders and progress associations, 4WD representatives and the tourism sector.

Current flow is 1,120 ML/day with a level of exactly one metre. (It was running at 15,259 ML/day in January.) The salt level is at 309 uS/cm which is still OK for gardens. Both filtered and raw water are being sourced from the river.

The final art installations for the Men’s Sheds Biodiversity Trail have now been installed in Nandaly, Watchem, and Nullawil, completing this unique community-led project in ten towns across Buloke Shire. Featuring handcrafted avian and insect homes, the trail has been a collaborative effort between the Men’s Sheds in Birchip, Charlton, Donald, Wycheproof and Sea Lake, local artists and community members, Landcare and Buloke Shire Council.

GWMWater has received a critical planning approval which will allow work to commence in zone four of the East Grampians Rural Pipeline Project. Zone four will extend rural water supply to landholders in Willaura and Moyston.

The recent decision in the Tony Maddox case is yet another example of how Western Australia's Aboriginal heritage laws have become a legal minefield for private property owners. What was once a well-defined, albeit imperfect, piece of legislation largely aimed at the mining sector has evolved into a tool for increasingly ambiguous and arbitrary interpretations of cultural heritage.

"I focus today on energy policy, because this is a government that 97 times promised before they were elected that they would reduce power bills permanently by $275 per annum. That promise was officially broken on January 1, this year. They hate us talking about it. It was a big promise, it was a bold promise, and it is broken": Member for Mallee, Dr Anne Webster.

Southern Downs Regional Council is leading the charge towards a more sustainable future with the launch of a $350k waste recovery pilot program designed to manage excess agricultural plastic waste currently landfilled, stockpiled or buried on farms across the region.

The State Government has authorised gunmen with high powered rifles to roam 34 back roads and shoot deer during a time frame spanning almost six months. Now under the spotlight of State Parliament, a series of questions have been asked.

The safety of people, pets and livestock are key concerns of farmers affected by the State Government’s authorised ground shooting program. Reluctant to speak publicly, farmers have told The [Naracoorte] News the operation takes place at night, and it is far too close to homes, pets, sheds, yards and livestock.

Birdlife Australia is launching the Lockyer-Toowoomba Birds on Farms project and needs the help of local landholders. The project is being coordinated by Toowoomba Ornithologist Scot McPhie, who presented to a recent meeting of Cambooya Landcare.

A $2 million program is supporting councils to expand collection points for problem batteries like those found in vapes and e-scooters. The new LNP Government has announced a three-point plan to tackle battery safety risks sparked by a spike in dangerous fires.

When South Australians were trying to turn their estuary into a freshwater dam in the 1940’s, the Mulloway natural migration was devastated. Now, Australia’s only freshwater estuary hangs like a noose around the neck of the Murray Darling Basin, consuming huge volumes of freshwater to raise an artificial lake height for yachting, and an attempt to dilute the Southern Ocean, under the fundamentally flawed Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Serena Kirby. Five drowning tragedies along WA’s southern coastline this summer have again highlighted the ever-present danger our coastline presents. Two people lost their lives in waters off Esperance, two at Conspicuous Cliffs ... and one at Bremer Bay.

In a recent article in Australian Rural & Regional News, I highlighted the overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that logging does indeed increase the risk of high-severity wildfire. Mr Onfray wants evidence of this effect of logging on wildfire – and there is plenty of it.

In response to the South East Timber Association’s (SETA) critique, I want to clarify the scientific evidence and address the inaccuracies in their claims. SETA disputes the well-documented link between logging and increased fire severity, but the scientific consensus is clear: logging fundamentally alters forests in ways that make them more flammable.