Land & environment

Why do we have sacred topics? Ideas, theories or policies that appear to be off limits ... Three sacred topics of late have been Covid-19, climate and carbon. What happens when ‘misinformation’ actually is proven correct?

Roger Underwood. There was an unusual event in Dryandra Forest in Western Australia in November 2023: a commemoration of 100 years of forestry management. At a large gathering in the forest, beneath the shade of a 100-year-old brown mallet plantation, speeches were made, a plaque unveiled, and this book on the history of the forest was launched.

A fire broke out on Tuesday evening at approximately 5 o’clock ... it started on the Western Highway opposite the Nhill Racecourse and burned approximately 90 acres of wheat crop. CFA Captain Rob Schneider said, "The fire burnt up to the back of the houses in Leahy Street...

Summer 2023/4 has proven to be volatile for Queensland growers ... Growcom, the project delivery arm of the Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers (QFVG), in conjunction with the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA), will host a webinar this coming Friday, 19 January to help primary producers recover from these events.

Michelle Daw. A southern Yorke Peninsula fisher is worried sharks are becoming more aggressive around boats — and believes shark tourism is partly to blame ... Mr Bishop fishes in Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf and said he’s seen more sharks come close to his boat recently than at any other time in his 21-year career.

John O'Donnell. The NSW Rural Fire Service 2022/2023 Annual Report shows that, areas of annual hazard reduction burning and mechanical reduction in NSW are both at very low rates and vary by year ... Considering the extent of chronic eucalypt decline and thick understories in many NSW forests, strategies and actions to address these major issues across NSW landscapes and reduce intense bushfire risks are opportune but overdue, using low intensity maintenance burning and mechanical treatment of forests.

Greater Shepparton City Council is warning the public to avoid direct contact with water in Kialla Lakes after detecting high levels of blue-green algae in the first lake ... They contain toxins that are harmful to humans and animals.

One simple idea and a whole lot of passion has created a legacy that’s removed more than  250,000 pieces of litter from Sunshine Coast beaches at a critical time during turtle nesting season ... The community is invited to come together to tidy up their local beach as part of the 10th anniversary of the annual Clean Up For The Hatchlings event...

Firefighters are battling three bushfires in the north-eastern outskirts of the metropolitan area – with residents needing to be aware warning areas have moved further into Yanchep and Yeal ... A map above accessible on Emergency WA website ... shows the warning areas associated with the three bushfires...

The Department of Communities has set up an evacuation centre at the Bendigo Centre Recreation Grounds on Weld St in Gingin for people affected by the Bindoon-Chittering bushfire, which has burnt 2600ha ... Register with Register.Find.Reunite to let your family and loved ones know you’re okay via https://redcross.org.au from any computer or mobile device, or at an evacuation centre.

The 2023 JS Collings Trophy for excellence in maintaining major water management infrastructure on the River Murray has been awarded to Mildura Weir by the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) ... "Mildura Weir comprises 24 steel trestles, each weighing approximately 11 tonnes, that can be winched from the river to allow maintenance, or to allow the safe passage of flood waters": MDBA’s Executive Director River Management, Andrew Reynolds.

Wine and grape growers need to break with tradition in production methods as new studies identify yield and quality improvements can be achieved through changes which focus on soil health ... “It’s like a dead zone when you create that space of exposed bare earth between rows of vines,” says AgTech  specialist and Bactivate  CEO Mark Gabsch.

The draft legislation amends the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001 and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to introduce standardised, internationally-aligned reporting requirements for businesses, to ensure they are making high quality climate-related financial disclosures ... Consultation for the draft legislation released today [12 January 2024] is now open and submissions will close 9 February 2024.

Jointly funded disaster assistance has been activated for communities impacted by the Victorian Floods and Storms that commenced on 24 December 2023, under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

For an organisation that invests a considerable portion of their half a billion dollar budget predicting what’s going to happen in 100 years’ time, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has fallen short on the all-important, short term forecasts ... Farmers want less climate change lecturing on the doomsday predictions of global warming, and more lectures on the complexity of the dynamic system that actually influences the day to day, week to week, and month to month rain and temperature that impacts their annual production.

When ministers drop media statements in the days leading up to Christmas, it’s usually a sign that they want to wash the decks of bad news. One such release was by WA Water Minister, Simone McGurk, who issued a carefully worded statement that ‘water priorities reset to focus on practical measures.’

Margrit Beemster. Research has been conducted in the Yallakool Creek and upper Wakool River near Deniliquin to find an easier way to detect adult freshwater mussels and to better understand why mussels are no longer as plentiful as they once were.

Predictions of the nation’s weather holds tremendous weight. In September, the BOM’s El Nino predictions and the subsequent media hysteria saw cattle and sheep markets collapse as growers responded to the best available computer modelling ... the monthly rainfall predictions took until January 3 to predict a wetter than average month.

The CFA is calling on Victorians to become ‘citizen scientists’ to help contribute critical information about the state’s fire risk. The 2023-24 fire season is expected to be hotter and drier than recent years and grassland curing observers play a vital role in collecting ground information.

On New Years Eve storm cells built up between Clifton and Allora with the most damage happening in Allora. On the corner of Forde and Warwick Streets two huge old gumtrees were torn out of the ground, roots and all.