NSW

Maryanne Slattery. At long last, the big lakes at Menindee are more than cracked dirt and emu prints. Flows into Menindee have subsided after the March rains in the north this year. The reflection of blue skies and thousands of ducks on the Lakes are a welcome sight for locals and all of us watching from afar.

Council has joined forces with Lismore and Kyogle councils, and the Tweed and Border Ranges-Richmond Valley Landcare groups, to launch 'The Northern Rivers is on Feral Deer Alert’ program. This community awareness campaign aims to prevent feral deer numbers growing out of control in the region, before it’s too late.

The Tweed JUNKtion tip shop regular has been able to turn his passion for restoring discarded equipment into a lucrative business. With a keen sense of what can be repaired, Adam visits the JUNKtion more than once a week looking for mowers, chainsaws and whipper snippers.

One hundred and forty people have voted unanimously to oppose Clarence Valley Council’s (CVC) plan to install a new onsite sewage management system at the Brooms Head Holiday Park. The Brooms Head Community Action Group (BHCAG) held a meeting on Sunday July 3, so concerned “residents, holiday makers and day visitors” could “hear what CVC is proposing to do to their sand dune by the beach”.

Last Thursday marked the first anniversary of the opening of Australia’s largest and most advanced correctional centre, now accommodating 1,110 inmates. Clarence Correctional Centre is designed to support a rehabilitative approach to justice by providing education, training, and employment pathways for inmates through industry, business, and education partners ... “Staff support each inmate’s individual rehabilitation and reintegration needs by offering employment in areas such as hospitality, horticulture, centre services, and industries.”

Emma Pritchard. The wet weather raced away in time and sunshine covered Grafton as the Clarence River Jockey Club (CRJC) welcomed 1300 racegoers to the 2021 Grafton Toyota South Grafton Cup Race Day meeting on July 4.

In July 2021, timber mills in NSW have or are running out of timber in the middle of an Australian and international timber shortage, where timber supply comes from the NSW State Government. People have or are about to lose their jobs. These are real people. The little people or the battlers. Not the high paid executives of multinational companies. On 2 July 2021, one of these battlers in desperation called the ABC in Tamworth. The company for whom he worked had run out of wood and could not get any from the State supplier, because it was all going to one big company, the mate of the Government. Boral.

Fire and Rescue NSW’s (FRNSW) Ignitable Liquid Detection Canines have welcomed enhanced resources and a vehicle which will allow firefighters to transport canines across the state, including remote areas, to investigate fire scenes. Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott celebrated the $100,000 NSW Government investment, which will guarantee the dogs - Xenos, Xando and Gandalf – will travel safely while also allowing the canines and their handlers to cover large areas, as they help firefighters undertake fire origin and cause analysis.

Sweetman Renewables plans to expand its sawmilling operations to meet growing demand as the Australian construction boom plays out and the Hunter Valley's only other sawmill get set to close its doors ... The sawmill operations will support and be associated with other activities, including the acquisition, processing, logistics and transport of biomass for both export to bioenergy plants in Japan, local renewable energy consumption and for the production of syngas, green hydrogen and biochar.

Since late 2020 Lismore City Council has been trialling a program to recycle mattresses and keep them out of landfill. Historically mattresses were sent to landfill, however, under the new program mattresses are sent to a dedicated resource recovery facility where the mattresses are processed into separate commodities for which there are end markets.

With Forestry Corporation gearing up to replant nearly 3,000 hectares of Bathurst State forests this year, Silviculture Supervisor Bill Klower is looking forward to seeing the start of another forestry cycle. Since 1988 Bill has worked as a planting supervisor, overseeing around three million seedlings hand-planted each year since in the Oberon and Bathurst areas.

A record four million seedling dispatch has kicked off from Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Grafton nursery, which following the site’s $1 million expansion in 2020 ... The work has meant the nursery will have the largest dispatch on record this year, said Forestry Corporation’s Nursery Manager, Kath French.

Jim McFayden. Lord Howe Island Marine Rescue is the first off-shore marine rescue unit in NSW and the 45th overall. We have been very well resourced with world class assets and training and a solid commitment to spend funds locally as a priority. The back-up and support from the Marine Rescue NSW organisation during the establishment of our unit has been nothing short of outstanding.

David Waterhouse. The diverse landscape of mountains, valleys, hills, lowlands and sea cliffs of the LHI provide an array of habitat types supporting many distinctive flora. Research Scientists Dr Andrew Denholm and Dr John Porter have been coming to Lord Howe island for many years to study its unique natural values. While it is early days yet, they see promising signs that the removal of rodents is having positive effects for the Islands plants.

David Waterhouse. Lord Howe Island is a special place and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage property in 1982 in recognition of the global significance of the Island’s beauty and biodiversity. The Island’s isolation and its varied landscape are home to many unique and endemic species. Although Islands only make up a small proportion of available landmass, 61% of recorded species extinctions since the 16th Century have occurred on Islands. The pressure of invasive species has already been linked to the extinction of at least 5 bird species, two plant species, and 13 recorded (although likely much higher) invertebrate species from Lord Howe Island.

With the benefit of recent placings under her belt, Vaporetto is poised for a successful return to the winner’s circle in the Caroma Class 1 Handicap at Port Macquarie on Saturday.

This article may trigger strong emotions. To clarify, COVID-19 as an infection does pose serious health risks to vulnerable people. That being said, I believe we must still discuss the issues affecting our nation and communities in an open and transparent manner ... We now see state-wide restrictions and lockdowns as a result of low case numbers. At the time of printing, there is one person in ICU in Australia with COVID-19 and a total of 54 in hospital, from a nation of 25,360,000 people. Yes, COVID-19 is a risk, but so are lockdowns. The trigger for these lockdowns is the numbers of positive PCR tests. What if a PCR test didn’t accurately reflect live virus but instead Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) of dead virus?

Kirstin Nicholson. A Cohuna vet has taken out the Agricultural Student of the Year award. Amy Munro received the award at a ceremony held at Parliament House in Canberra on June 17. Amy, who grew up on her family farm at Cumnock in New South Wales, is an associate veterinary surgeon at Clavin Rogers and Associates. She moved here in August last year after graduating from university.