Land & environment

These plantings are held each autumn and assist in bushfire recovery, bank stabilisation and improved water quality for us all. This year, the collective action in the Upper Murray by volunteers from around the state has led to the planting of 3,200 trees along the Nariel and Thowgla Creeks over four days.

The Towong Shire Council will hold a community celebration to recognise the vital role it has played in the recovery from the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires. After three and a half years, the funding to support the hub’s operations will cease on June and the facility will close.

Last week, local farmers, investors and Western Murray Land Improvement Group (WMLIG) celebrated the next step in their Murray Inland Delta Landscape Impact Project. With the financial world falling over themselves to get a piece of the carbon trading arena, an ambitious project has been initiated to ensure that meaningful, tangible environmental benefits can be achieved while delivering financial benefits to landholders.

The spectre of water buybacks, plus the absence of a targeted support package for Riverland grape growers, risk turning local communities into "economic wastelands", a local MP has warned. Liberal Barker MP Tony Pasin has labelled a $3.5 million federal funding package as "too little, too late" and accused both Labor governments of ignoring the crisis confronting inland wine regions like the Riverland.

Naomi Shine. Beautiful old homes, made from incredibly sturdy Big Scrub timbers, are being boarded up across the flood zone in Lismore and left to moulder. People needing shelter are moving in, and NSW Reconstruction Authority doesn’t know how to deal with the situation.

The Northern Regional Planning Panel have refused a proposal for a controversial $53 million 284 lot subdivision at Miles Street, Yamba, in a split decision 3 votes to one ... The NRPP gave ... reasons for refusing the application relating to filling of the site, the flood risk and evacuation, community concerns about flooding, and the management of Acid Sulphate Soils ...

Joanne Tucker. One of Australia’s worst invasive weeds has been identified in 31 new locations in the Northern and Yorke region, including Moonta ... “The roadside infestations have just jumped the fenceline into the adjoining properties, so we will work with those landowners to control the buffel on their properties”: David Hughes, Northern and Yorke Landscape Board team leader.

Almost 300 people will converge in Albury next week to discuss the future of water management in the Murray–Darling Basin at the 2024 River Reflections Conference on June 19 and 20. This year’s conference features a diverse range of speakers from government, First Nations and farming communities, with a program aimed at fostering collaboration in water management across the Basin.

Jack Bradshaw. Having killed off the native forest timber industry by edict, the WA government is now taking the next step to cement its hypocrisy in legislation. Reece Whitby, the Minister for the Environment has recently introduced an amendment to the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 (WA) to “lock in this Labor government’s historic decision to stop the unsustainable practice of commercial native logging”.

The Toowoomba Region Koala Habitat Project has put the call out for local landholders interested in bringing koalas back to their properties. Project ecologist Shannon Michael said the project supports landholders right across the Toowoomba Region who want to plant koala trees to restore original habitat on their properties.

Secure supply of quality water is an important piece of infrastructure for any town and Cambooya, Greenmount and Nobby are set to benefit from construction of the Toowoomba to Warwick Water pipeline due for completion in 2027.

Thousands of firefighters will be better protected on the frontline with a new foam fitout on all of CFA’s ultralight vehicles. The agency has commenced the new $3.19 million retro-fit program which includes 246 existing ultralights plus $4.95 million for the purchase of 33 new ultralights with crew protection.

The vision for bushfire management in Victoria for the next 10 years has been set out in the recently released Bushfire Management Strategy. Severe bushfires earlier this year once again highlighted the devastating impacts bushfires can have on our communities, economy and natural environment.

The Albanese Government's legislation change to allow additional water buybacks shocked farming communities that rely on this precious resource ... To add insult to injury, the recent $12 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign used fake computer-generated images of death and destruction in the basin, along with emotive language that only fuels misunderstanding through the misinformation campaign.

Mixed seasonal conditions across the country – coupled with economic pressures – have seen the nation’s farm sector confidence take a U-turn in the latest quarter, declining after a resurgence in optimism at the start of the year. he quarter two Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey ... found sentiment among the country’s agricultural producers had dipped into ‘negative territory’ – with fewer farmers expecting a better year ahead than those holding a negative outlook.

For the first time in decades, koalas have been spotted on a historic sheep-grazing property in Victoria which had thousands of trees planted on it to bring the species back. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is teaming up with Koala Clancy Foundation on June 15 and 16 to plant more than 8,100 trees on the property, which sits along the Moorabool River in Victoria.

Bradley Law et al. Population trends are lacking for most threatened species, especially those that are cryptic and difficult to survey. Recent developments in passive acoustics and semi-automated call recognition provide a cost-effective option to systematically monitor populations of vocal species. We assessed recent trends for the koala  Phascolarctos cinereus, an iconic marsupial, based on 7 years of acoustic monitoring across 224 forested sites.

Many portable devices today are powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. These types of batteries pose a higher risk of fire than others. Lithium-ion batteries are popular because they are lightweight and long lasting compared to other rechargeable batteries.

Member for Murray Helen Dalton has thrown her support behind the “Protect Rural and Remote Communities from Commonwealth Water Buybacks” petition lodged with the NSW Legislative Assembly. The origin of the petition is unknown, and is attributed by Ms Dalton to a ‘constituent’ and the independent member says buybacks will harm country towns.  

Just three weeks after public hearings about Lower Clarence developments before the Portfolio No 7 committee of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the Planning system and the impacts of Climate Change on the Environment and Communities were scrapped, they have been resurrected, delighting community groups ... But last Friday afternoon, Yamba CAN Inc. was informed by the committee that a hearing concerning Lower Clarence developments will be held next week.

Marathon paddlers from around the nation converged on the Murray River last weekend for South Australia’s premier long-distance event, the Riverland Paddling Marathon (RPM). Run by the Marathon Canoe over the June long weekend each year, the RPM has become a staple of the marathon calendar since its inception in 1988.