Land & environment

The days of high level water restrictions should be over soon for Vale View residents as their water is connected to the Toowoomba Bulk Water Supply ... the $1.5 million Vale View Pipeline connection program is an investment as Council continues to plan and deliver critical water infrastructure to support the future needs of townships across our region.

The NSW Government is getting on the front foot ahead of bushfire season with helicopter inspections underway on fire trails across the state to prioritise maintenance work ... Helicopter-based inspections are considered more efficient than ground patrols by vehicles, particularly in remote and less-accessible areas, and reduce check times from months to weeks.

... it’s disturbing to read in a recently released EPA document that South32 propose to follow Woodside's example and ‘sterilise’ over 4,000 hectares of freehold land—good farmland—as a means of appeasing the environmental gods ... This is the same mad formula Woodside is following: take freehold cleared farmland and ease their guilt by planting trees that will never be harvested, with the land lost to agricultural production, including tree farming, forever.

"The decision is a massive win for common sense and community voices ... Narrow-minded sectional groups will still claim these dogs are dingoes but for people who have seen them up close they know the truth. The order talks about dingoes but as most already know this order allows dog men to control wild dogs – hybrid killing machines, dingo and domestic crossbreds – on the edge of farmland": Member for Benambra, Bill Tilley.

Hugh Schuitemaker. The Riverland’s state MP is among political figures calling for the State Government to support local wine grape growers who have experienced severe crop damage from frost ... Barker MP Tony Pasin said increased support was needed to ensure primary producers could sustain through ongoing weather challenges.

Hugh Schuitemaker. Riverland grape growers have been left devastated by last week’s frost damage, which has been described by some as the worst they can remember. Ongoing low temperatures, which saw -2.2C recorded in Renmark ... caused extensive damage to vines across the region ... 919 Wines director and winemaker Eric Semmler said approximately 98 per cent of his Glossop vineyard was lost.

Tony Mahar is a seriously good operator, widely respected across the ag sector, but one suspects the government is hoping he’ll morph into their Lord Hee-Haw—a smooth-talking apologist who can help them roll out their 40 turbines a month, and thousands of kilometres of power lines across picturesque rural farmland   by 2030 ... The government must be worried as the bush is in revolt and the government's secret polling must have them worried.   Hence the roll out of the conservative version of Henry Kissinger to calm the locals.

Marian Haddrick. VicGrid CEO Alistair Parker met with a hundred concerned locals from Birchip and the surrounding area last Thursday at the Birchip Leisure Centre. Birchip is in the Regional Energy Zone (REZ) that is connecting supporting transmission infrastructure from Victoria’s west in Horsham to the north of the state in Red Hills.

From major flooding and storm response to countless emergency calls and bushfire support, the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) Broken Hill Unit is celebrating 40 years of saving lives and creating safer communities. Formed in 1984, the NSW SES Broken Hill Unit has a proud history of protecting the people of Far West NSW during floods, storms, and other emergencies.

Lismore City Council has delivered a $7 million wastewater project, unlocking development opportunity for up to 600 new housing lots in Goonellabah. Completed in partnership with BASEC Engineering, DGP Water and Ledonne Constructions, the Pineapple Road Sewerage Scheme involved the installation of a new pump station and over four kilometres of pipeline, creating 30 local jobs.

In a mission to develop a long-term sustainability program for the Rubus Berry industry, Hort Innovation and Lifecycles are embarking on a Life cycle assessment (LCA) project aimed at generating comprehensive information and metrics about the environmental performance of raspberry and blackberry production in Australia.

During floods and fires not being able to communicate is scary and dangerous ... A new fleet of technology from the State Government will help communities be more prepared for disasters and better able to respond to bushfires, floods and other severe weather events.

Demersal fishing is back on in the West Coast bioregion with fishing for species like WA dhufish and pink snapper permitted from September 16 to October 14. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said from Augusta through to Kalbarri, demersal fishing from boats is allowed in three open seasons throughout the year as part of a management strategy...

Cattle Australia (CA) has launched its Land Management Commitment (LMC) strategic policy, which emphasises the primacy of agricultural land and includes definitions of deforestation and forest in the Australian context, along with four recommendations for implementation.

Gavin Butcher. Forest sustainability has taken on different meanings in Western Australia – changing depending on the audience. In one corner the Minister for Forestry, Jackie Jarvis, has repeatedly claimed the closure of the native forest industry was necessary because it was unsustainable. In the other corner is Stuart West, the General Manager of the Minister’s agency, the Forest Products Commission, overseeing harvesting operations in the jarrah and karri forests which have been independently certified as being sustainable.

The Miles Government is investing $8.7 million to restore crucial habitat and address a key disease threat to the iconic koala. Two organisations - Queensland Trust for Nature and Healthy Land & Water - will share in $8.5 million for habitat restoration while Queensland University of Technology and the University of the Sunshine Coast will share in $200,000 for research into koala chlamydia.

In its latest update, Snowy Hydro has advised that a new tunnel boring machine (TBM) will be deployed to help keep the Snowy 2.0 project on its delivery timeline. New ground testing techniques have provided a better understanding of the full extent of a complex fault zone on the route of the 17km tunnel that will connect Snowy 2.0’s upper reservoir to its underground power station.