The following article was first published in the Blue Mountains Gazette newspaper 20060122:

.Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains

[Source: AK Bushwalks, ^http://mywebdots.com/bushwalks/?page_id=26]

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A tall moist open forest dominated by Blue Gum (Eucalyptus deanii) characterises the famous ‘Blue Gum Forest’ at the junction of the Grose River and Govetts Creek in the Grose Wilderness.

But there would be no Blue Gum Forest if it were not for the efforts of a dedicated band of very fit bushwalkers seventy odd years ago.  In 1931, under the leadership of Myles Dunphy, the ‘save Blue Gum Forest’ campaign was ignited by the threat by a leaseholder on the Grose River/Govetts Creek junction wanting to clear the icon stand of tall blue gums for cattle grazing.  Consisting of members of the Wildlife Preservation Society, the Sydney Bush Walkers and the Mountain Trails Club, they formed the Blue Gum Forest Committee.  Hard campaigning secured purchase of the forest for £130, which they handed back to the Crown and on 2^nd September 1932 was proclaimed a recreation reserve.  They unknowingly in their bold defence of the Blue Gum Forest, established what has become known as Australia’s ‘cradle of conservation‘.

It took another 27 years of wilderness campaigning for The Blue Mountains National Park to be proclaimed in 1959 and the Blue Gum Forest incorporated two years later.

Despite deserved World Heritage listing in 2000, the Grose has again come under threat. This time last year, tonnes of caramel sediment from highway upgrade stockpiling at Leura started choking Govett’s Creek.  Seems the RTA simply underestimated Mountains weather.

To the credit of Leura residents, grassroots leadership has again emerged to defend the Grose and to hold the RTA accountable.  A year hence, council has responded with a working party to develop remedial actions, although ‘in-creek’ action remains wanting. Abundant photographic evidence and a moral obligation warrant the RTA fund ecological remediation.

Caramel-coloured construction sediment from the RTA’s Trucking Expressway

Leura, Blue Mountains 2006

(click photo to enlarge, the click again to enlarge again)

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But where was the custodial manager of the Grose while the damage was being reported?  The Department of Environment and Conservation (National Parks) and the environmental enforcer (the EPA) have been conspicuously muted to environmental breaches caused by their sister government agency.

RTA sediment from the upstream Trucking Expressway development

polluting Govetts Creek inside the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

Photo of Editor in Govetts Creek, Leura, Blue Mountains 2006

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This article was initially published by Tigerquoll 20090622 onCanDoBetter.net under the article title ‘Rees’ ‘red hot go’ hunting in our National Parks‘.  It has been modified somewhat.

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New South Wales Premier Rees is set to pass into law a ‘Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009‘ to permit recreational hunters shooting everything and anything in protected National Parks across NSW, including native wildlife.

Controlling feral animals is a science, not a sport. Rees’ passion for sport is compromised by influential cronies and naivety. Problem is: Rees has no knowledge, experience in or aptitude for science. His inaugural “red hot go” says it all and threatens to be his legacy.

Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata)

(a native species not protected)

©Photo by Ákos Lumnitzer (with permission), ^http://www.amatteroflight.com/

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Be clear, the Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009, Schedule 3, Part 2 lists the following Australian native fauna as free ‘game‘, including:

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Native Ducks:

Australian Shelduck (or Mountain Duck) (Tadorna tadornoides)
Australian Wood Duck (or Maned Duck) (Chenonetta jubata)
Black Duck (or Pacific Black Duck) (Anas superciliosa)
Blue-winged Shoveler (or Australasian Shoveler) (Anas rhynchotis)
Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)
Grass Duck (or Plumed Whistling Duck) (Dendrocygna eytoni)
Grey Teal (Anas gibberifrons)
Hardhead Duck (or White-eyed Duck) (Aythya australia)
Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus)
Water Whistling Duck (or Wandering Whistling Duck, Whistling or Wandering Tree Duck) (Dendrocygna arcuata)

Native Quails:

Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
Stubble Quail (Coturnix pectoralis)

Native Birds:

Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca)
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Common Bronzewing Pigeon (Phaps chalcoptera)
Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea)
Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris)
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
Straw Necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis)
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Topknot Pigeon (Lopholaimus antarcticus)

Kangaroos:

Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)
Euro (Macropus robustus)
Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus)
Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)

Bennetts Wallaby (Red-Necked Wallaby) (Macropus rufogriseus)

is native to Tasmania, but is not protected

(© Photo Burrard-Lucas)  ^http://www.burrard-lucas.com/

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If the proposed legislation is genuinely and solely to control feral animals, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as delegated custodian of National Parks in New South Wales, must first answer these questions:

1. Why are native animals included amongst the ferals?
2. What action in fact has the NPWS undertaken over the last 20 years to control ferals in National Parks across NSW?
3. Which measures have been successful at dealing with the target species and which have not?
4. Which measures have caused a detrimental impact on non-target species?
5. What interstate or overseas model/case study does NPWS rely upon to justify why shooting is the preferred method of control?
6. What standard of identification test is imposed on would be feral shooters?
7. What standard of marksmanship is required and what NPWS-approval system would be in place?
8. What monitoring is to be conducted of these shooters and by whom?
9. What happens to the carcasses to prevent disease?

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If NPWS was serious about controlling feral animals in National Parks, it would have a permanent programme to specifically deal with the key threatening processes that involve ferals, namely to target:

• Competition and grazing by the feral European rabbit
• Competition and habitat degradation by feral goats
• Environmental degradation caused by feral deer
• Predation by feral cats
• Predation by the European Red Fox
• Predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs.

SOURCE: DEC, ^http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/pas_ktp.aspx

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These feral species need to be the primary target of eradication. Professional contract shooting may be an option, but it is not for ‘weekend warrriors‘.  The solution must be science-based not sport-based.

According to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy:

“Australia has the worst mammal extinction record in the world – 27 mammals have become extinct in the last 200 years. No other country or continent has such a tragic record of mammal extinctions.”

 

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In June 2009 the Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill was introduced into the NSW Upper House by Shooters Party MP Robert Brown, that would pave the way for hunting in national parks, private game reserves, the hunting of native species and the growth of recreational shooting on public and private lands (Sydney Morning Herald, page 6, 12 June 2009). Lee called on the Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt to reject outright a new bill from the Shooters Party.

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The NSW Government has withdrawn its support for the bill, but it is still before the NSW Parliament!

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[Source:  Australian Greens Party Senator Lee Rhiannon, ^http://archive.leerhiannon.org.au/portfolios/firearms/firearms/atct_topic_view?b_start:int=10&-C=]

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Overview of the Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009:

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The object of this Bill is to amend the Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 (the Act) as follows:

• To enable the Minister responsible for national park estate land to make that land available for the hunting of game animals by licensed game hunters
• To expand the list of game animals that may be hunted in accordance with the Act and, in the case of any native game animals that are listed, to impose special requirements in relation to the hunting of those animals by licensed game hunters
• To provide for the operation of private game reserves under the authority of a licence granted by the (NSW) Game Council
• To make it an offence to approach persons who are lawfully hunting on declared public hunting land or to interfere with persons lawfully hunting game animals
• To make a number of other amendments of an administrative, minor or consequential nature..

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[Source:  ^http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/1d4800a7a88cc2abca256e9800121f01/6dce0470707e4f4bca2575b4001bd3f1/$FILE/b2009-031-d10-House.pdf]

 

Support from the Coalition of Law Abiding Sporting Shooters Inc (CLASS):

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‘For too long large areas of bushland has been locked away (aka protected from exploitation) as National Parks, State Forests etc. In many of those parks and forests invasive plants, such as blackberries, bracken, lantana, etc have grown unchecked, resulting in a great unbalance among local flora leading to reduced biodiversity among fauna. Permitting conservation hunting in those areas will help restore the balance, while permitting controlled harvesting of native and introduced species for food, trophies or fur/leather….the Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009 will go a long way to utilising the inherent value of sustainable resources which would otherwise be wasted.’

[Source:  ^http://www.c-l-a-s-s.net/game-bill.htm]

According to CLASS, wildlife in National Parks are wasted resources

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Selected background articles at the time:

‘Government deal to open national parks to shooters’

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[Source: Erik Jensen, 20091021, Sydney Morning Herald ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/government-deal-to-open-national-parks-to-shooters-20091020-h6yt.html]

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Hunters will be allowed to shoot animals in national parks for the first time under a deal offered to the Shooters’ Party by the NSW Government.  The Herald understands the deal would modify a private member’s bill introduced by a member of the Shooters’ Party, Robert Brown, to allow hunting in 13 national parks if the Shooters’ Party removed demands for enclosed game reserves or safari parks from its draft legislation.

”We have had discussions with senior Labor people,” Mr Brown said. ”I’m not going to confirm or deny that we’re any closer to a resolution … My bottom line is the whole bill must be passed or we continue to withdraw our support for the Government.”

The Shooters’ Party has been holding the Government to ransom since introducing the bill in June and yesterday voted against the Government on all legislation in the upper house.  Negotiations on the bill had broken down with the Premier’s chief of staff, Graeme Wedderburn – who Mr Brown described as ”tits on a bull” – but resumed in September, less than a week after John Robertson took over the environment portfolio. The Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal, one of Mr Robertson’s factional allies, took part in negotiations.

According to Mr Brown, the pair offered a memorandum of understanding that would allow hunting in national parks along the Queensland and South Australian borders. But he said the proposed parks were too far away.

”The closest one to Sydney was 10 hours’ drive,” he said. ”That [offer] was there to f— us, as far as I’m concerned.”

The Greens’ spokeswoman on animal welfare, Lee Rhiannon, said the deal was intended to allow free passage of Government legislation through the upper house but may cost Labor seats at the next election – including that of the former environment minister Carmel Tebbutt.

”We’re about to come into the busiest legislation time of the year. They’re going to have to pass 30 bills in a week,” she said. ”If they don’t have the Shooters’ on side, they’ll actually have to talk to other people. [But] as well as being ethically wrong and environmentally damaging, they will be inflicting enormous pain and damage to their own party … For Tebbutt and [Verity] Firth, they could well be putting an expiry date on their political careers.”

The acting executive officer of the National Parks Association of NSW, Bev Smiles, said her office had received an overwhelming amount of correspondence criticising the bill.

”We were hoping the Shooters were having some other face-saving deals with 12-year-olds and airguns,” Ms Smiles said, with reference to another bill the party is introducing.

”[But] with a new Minister for the Environment having an upper house position rather than an electorate, it’s all political. This particular deal has probably created more response from a broader cross-section of the community than any other issue I’ve been involved in.”

Neither Mr Robertson nor Ms Tebbutt would comment on the deal. Mr Brown said he would continue to frustrate government policy until his bill was passed in its entirety.

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‘Greens oppose recreational hunting in national parks’

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[Source: Marian Wilkinson, Environment Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, 20090612, ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/greens-oppose-recreational-hunting-in-national-parks-20090611-c508.html]

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A new bill that would open the state’s national parks and reserves to recreational hunters who could be licensed to shoot native animals and birds has been condemned by the NSW Greens, the Liberal Party and environmental groups.

The NSW Shooters Party has introduced the private members bill to Parliament. It allows for private game reserves to be set up for professional safari hunters, overturning NSW laws that prevent the enclosing of animals on land solely for hunting purposes.  A Shooters Party MP, Robert Brown, said the bill would not allow the hunting of threatened species and, in the case of native waterfowl, licensed game hunters would be required to pass an official identification test of the ducks.

But the Opposition’s environment spokeswoman, Catherine Cusack, attacked the bill, saying key elements were unacceptable. “We totally reject the idea of shooting in national parks and the concept of shooting native animals in national parks is repugnant to almost anyone.”

Among the birds and animals that could be hunted are the Australian wood duck, the chestnut teal and grey teal ducks, galahs, corellas and eastern grey, western grey and red kangaroos.  The Shooters Party hopes to gain the Government’s support for the bill but the Environment Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, is already signalling she will oppose key provisions in it, including allowing recreational hunters into national parks and the hunting of native animals.  Her spokeswoman said the Government would consider the bill’s merits but it did not support “the hunting of native animals or hunting in national parks“.

Mr Brown said the bill drew on many of the recommendations of a government-backed review of existing laws undertaken with staff from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and the Game Council.

He said that under his bill, the environment minister would be responsible for declaring any national park or reserve open to hunters.  He told the Herald that opening national parks to recreational hunters to shoot feral animals would save the Government significant amounts of money and the hunting of native animals and birds in parks would require ministerial approval.

The Greens leader, Lee Rhiannon, called on Ms Tebbutt to reject the entire bill, not only the provisions concerning national parks. “Opposing shooting in national parks may well be a tactic Labor is using to divert attention from the fact it will support other equally regressive changes being pushed by the Shooters Party,” Ms Rhiannon said.

The Greens are also concerned about provisions in the bill that would make it an offence to approach anyone or interfere with anyone “lawfully hunting game animals” on any land that had been declared public hunting land.

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‘Shooting in national parks dead: Macdonald’

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[Source: AAP, 20090729, ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/shooting-in-national-parks-dead-macdonald-20090729-e1an.html]

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A deal with the Shooters’ Party that would allow hunting in national parks is unlikely, the NSW Government says.  The Government withdrew its support for the proposal last month, prompting the Shooters to retract their support for legislation to privatise NSW Lotteries management.  Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said today the national parks proposal was all but dead in the water.

“The Government has been considering these issues for some time and has taken a policy position that they don’t want that type of shooting activity in national parks,” Mr Macdonald told reporters in Sydney.

“I wouldn’t say it is likely to change, but there again, there’s nothing in life that’s immutable.”

Kangaroos illegally shot through SE Forests National Park

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Game and Feral Animal Control Repeal Bill 2010 – lapsed

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On 23rd June 2010, then NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon introduced a private members bill to the NSW Parliament,  ‘Game and Feral Animal Control Repeal Bill 2010’, designed to repeal the Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 and its regulations, to abolish the Game Council and to prohibit hunting for sporting or recreational purposes on national park estate land, Crown land and State forests.  However although the Repeal Bill reached a second reading stage, the then Labor Premier Kristine Keneally suspended (proroged (suspended) the sitting of the NSW Parliament ahead of an election, and the Bill lapsed on 2nd September 201o.

It needs to be reinstated forthwith!

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Overview of Bill

The objects of this Bill are as follows:

• To repeal the Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 and the regulations made under that Act
• To expressly abolish the Game Council and provide for the transfer of its assets, rights and liabilities to the Crown
• To prohibit hunting for sporting or recreational purposes on national park estate land, Crown land and State forests

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‘Greens’ Bill abolishes Game Council, ends hunting in State Forests, NP‘

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[Source:  The Australian Greens, 20100624, ^http://greens.org.au/content/greens-bill-abolishes-game-council-ends-hunting-state-forests-np]

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Greens MP Lee Rhiannon was last night given urgent leave by the NSW Upper House to introduce her private members bill to abolish the NSW Game Council and prohibit recreational hunting in national parks, state forests and public land.

The Game and Feral Animal Control Repeal Bill 2010 is now available.

“Feral animals are a significant environmental problem in Australia but the Games Council, set up as a favour by the Labor Party to the Shooters Party to shore up their vote, is a bankrupt vehicle for managing invasive species,” Ms Rhiannon said.  “The more than $11 million in public funding and millions in loans spent propping up the Gaming Council since 2002 would be better spent developing an evidenced based, strategic plan using professionals to tackle invasive species.

“The Game Council was set up to be self funding, yet the Auditor General has noted its ongoing financial difficulties, with the government being forced to prop it up with loans and additional recurrent funding to manage ongoing debt problems.

 

“Former Premier Bob Carr’s establishment of the Game Council in 2002 was an act of unashamed capitulation to the gun and hunting lobbies, legitimising recreational animal cruelty while risking an increase in feral animal populations.

 

“The Greens Bill also prohibits recreational hunting in state forests, national parks and Crown Land.

 

“As part of the deal making between Labor and the Shooters Party, NSW’s state forests have been lately opened up to recreational shooters, risking public safety.  “There is still currently a Shooters Party private members bill before parliament which if passed would broaden where recreational shooters can hunt to include national parks.

 

“The NSW government has agreed to various demands by the Shooters Party for changes to gun ownership laws in recent years and there is no guarantee that shooting in national parks will not be next on the list.  “In the interests of the environment and good government NSW Labor should support the Greens’ bill to abolish the Game Council and ensure the professional and scientific management of invasive species in NSW,” Ms Rhiannon said.

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It’s 2011 and we’re still killing Tigers!

[‘Police Seize Firearms Used by Wildlife Officials to Fight Off Poachers‘ by Sarah Pappin, Bushwarriors, 20100716,

^http://bushwarriors.wordpress.com/tag/south-china-tiger/]

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In only the last eight years, the Bengal Tiger population has decreased by over 61% and is now frighteningly close to extinction with only 1,400 of the cats left.  Habitat loss and poaching are to blame for their decline.  Nagarhole Tiger Reserve is home to the highest density of these tigers in all of India, attracting a heavy and constant flow of poachers.  Forest officers tasked with protecting the National Park’s tiger population (and other wildlife) from the poachers are now impeded by a devastating combination of muddy monsoon conditions and a complete lack of defense.

Comments:

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Arvind Telkar (20100717):  “Poaching is one of the heinous crimes, which must be dealt with a very severe punishment. The law should be changed in such a manner, that he must think hundred times before aiming any wild animal.”

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Franklin Joel (20100717):   “Thank you very much for sharing,I am sharing this on my wall. Please do something to Stop Poaching, My eyes are wet seeing these pictures..The Hon. court should pronounce the highest punishment to these people….”

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Anne Maher (20100719):     “Absolute tragedy. Decisions made by idiots. They must be in on the corrupt poaching activities to leave the Wildlife rangers and the Tigers so unprotected.  Spare us from brainless individuals.”

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Amay (20100903):    “What cruel people they are the biggest criminals i hav ever seen in my life how badly these people hav cut the tigers they truly deserve a capital punishment.”

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Zachary  (20101118):    “What the hell is wrong with these people?! why don’t they do something to stop this? I don’t give a damn if they think that certain parts have special healing or good luck charms, this is wrong!  This is just digusting.”

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An effective tool against poachers

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An effective but under-resourced force against poachers

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A New South Wales mining company has committed to pay $1.45 million after causing damage to a nationally threatened ecological community.

An investigation by the federal environment department found that the long wall coal mining operations of Centennial Coal on the Newnes Plateau, near Lithgow, New South Wales, had caused a significant impact on the endangered Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone ecological community.

The mining activities caused a loss of ecosystem function shown by loss of peat, erosion, vegetation dieback and weed invasion in three swamps.

They also caused the formation of a large slump hole, several metres wide and more than one metre deep, at the East Wolgan Swamp.

These changes mean the swamps can no longer serve their important hydrological role of acting as water filters and releasing water slowly to downstream watercourses.

Centennial Coal will pay $1.45 million towards a research program to be administered by the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University.

This research program will be of great conservation benefit for these protected swamps and inform better understanding of the impacts of land use change.

The program will map the distribution and extent of the swamps, explore their functions, water dynamics, ecology and history, and look at human impacts on the swamps.  It will provide valuable knowledge to protect Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone and to promote land management practices that minimise impacts on these swamps.

The payment will be made as an ‘enforceable undertaking’ under national environment law—the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

This is an effective way to hold companies accountable for environmental damage without going through lengthy and costly legal proceedings.

This outcome shows the Australian Government takes environmental protection seriously, and will not tolerate companies causing needless damage to the environment.
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[Source:  ‘Mining company to pay for environmental damage’, 20111021, by Justin McKee, ‘Gardens of Stone’ Campaigner, Blue Mountains Conservation Society]

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Editor:  If the New South Wales (NSW) Government agency responsible and accountable for environmental protection of threatened species cannot do its job and it takes the federal government agency to do its job for it , then the NSW agency is redundant and should be dissolved and responsibility handed to the federal government.

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Swamp on Newnes Plateau, Blue Mountains region

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‘Blue Mountains Swamps are a biologically diverse plant community that occurs nowhere else in the world. The vegetation in these swamps range from low buttongrass clumps to large shrubs such as Hakea and Grevillea species. The swamps provide essential habitat to several Threatened Species, such as the Blue Mountains Water Skink (Eulamprus leuraensis) and the Giant Dragonfly (Petalura gigantea).

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Blue Mountains swamps play a vital part in maintaining the water flows in the areas creeks and waterfalls, by storing water and slowly releasing it over time. Swamps also act as filters, purifying water prior to the release into creeks. Other threatened species such as Epacris hamiltonii and Microstrobos fitzgeraldii rely on the continued seepage from hanging swamps for survival in their specialized habitats.

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There are less than 3,000 ha of Blue Mountains Swamp in existence. As they predominantly comprise many small areas, they are very susceptible to edge effects.’.[Source: Blue Mountains Council,  ^http://www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/sustainableliving/environmentalinformation/livingcatchments/swampsandswampcare]

 

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Swamps on Newnes Plateau provide critical habitat for the endangered Blue Mountains Water Skink

‘The Blue Mountains Water Skink (Eulamprus leuraensis) is a medium sized semi- aquatic lizard. It is one of Australia’s rarest lizards, and has only been found in 30 locations in the middle and upper Blue Mountains in New South Wales. Surveys suggest that the Blue Mountains Water Skink is restricted to an isolated, highly fragmented habitat of sedge and shrub swamps that occur between Newnes in the north and west and Hazelbrook in the south and east. Potential habitat to the south and northwest of known sites may extend the range of this species, however further survey work is required to determine whether the species utilises these areas.

The small number and apparent isolation of known populations, in conjunction with the limited geographic distribution of the Blue Mountains Water Skink make it vulnerable to the operation of threatening processes. Clearing for urban development and associated disturbance to habitat has resulted in the reduction of the area of known and potential habitat and the apparent extinction from areas where this species previously occurred. The small size of some swamps increases the risk of loss of one or more of the populations, and recolonisation of disjunct areas appears unlikely (LeBreton 1994c).

Possible threats include urban development (some locations are almost completely surrounded by houses and other locations have land zoned for further development adjacent to them), pollution and sedimentation (including stormwater run-off), alterations to hydrological regimes (through construction of roads, tracks, plantations and mining subsidence), weed invasion, visitor disturbance (trail bikes, 4WD) and predation by cats.

This recovery plan describes our current understanding of the Blue Mountains Water Skink and documents the research and management actions undertaken to date. The plan also identifies the parties responsible for the management actions required to ensure the ongoing viability of the species in the wild.

Known distribution of the Endangered Blue Mountains Water Skink

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‘The species has been listed as Endangered for the following reasons. It is an ecological specialist and is restricted to a highly fragmented montane swamp habitat. Many populations appear isolated and the small size of some swamps makes them vulnerable to ‘edge effects’ and increases the risk of loss of one or more populations through chance events. The ability of the Blue Mountains Water Skink to recolonise an area in the event of a local extinction may be low as a result of the discontinuity of the habitat and the apparently limited scope for dispersal (LeBreton 1996). These factors in conjunction with the limited geographic distribution of the Blue Mountains Water Skink make it particularly vulnerable to the operation of threatening processes.

A substantial number of known sites are located wholly or partially in national park (17 locations). The most significant threat facing these populations may be further urbanisation of adjacent areas as several of the sites occur in close proximity to residential areas or areas zoned for residential development. Other threats may include disturbance by visitors, invasion by weeds, inappropriate fire regimes and predation by cats.

Eight populations are recorded at Newnes Plateau on land managed by SFNSW. These populations may also face threats from weed invasion, inappropriate fire regimes and predation by cats. They could also face threats associated with timber harvesting activities and mining subsidence.’
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[Source: The Recovery Plan for the Blue Mountains Water Skink (Eulamprus leuraensis), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 200106, ISBN 0 7313 6283 7, ^http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/recovery/blue-mtns-water-skink/index.html]

 

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Longwall Mining declared a ‘Key Threatening Process’ since 2005…hello!

.In 2005, the Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list Alteration of habitat following subsidence due to longwall mining as a KEY THREATENING PROCESS in Schedule 3 of the Act. Listing of key threatening processes is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.The Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Longwall mining occurs in the Northern, Southern and Western Coalfields of NSW. The Northern Coalfields are centred on the Newcastle-Hunter region. The Southern Coalfield lies principally beneath the Woronora, Nepean and Georges River catchments approximately 80-120 km SSW of Sydney. Coalmines in the Western Coalfield occur along the western margin of the Sydney Basin. Virtually all coal mining in the Southern and Western Coalfields is underground mining.

2. Longwall mining involves removing a panel of coal by working a face of up to 300 m in width and up to two km long. Longwall panels are laid side by side with coal pillars, referred to as “chain pillars” separating the adjacent panels. Chain pillars generally vary in width from 20-50 m wide (Holla and Barclay 2000). The roof of the working face is temporarily held up by supports that are repositioned as the mine face advances (Karaman et al. 2001). The roof immediately above the coal seam then collapses into the void (also known as the goaf) and a collapse zone is formed above the extracted area. This zone is highly fractured and permeable and normally extends above the seam to a height of five times the extracted seam thickness (typical extracted seam thickness is approximately 2-3.5 m) (ACARP 2002). Above the collapse zone is a fractured zone where the permeability is increased to a lesser extent than in the collapse zone. The fractured zone extends to a height above the seam of approximately 20 times the seam thickness, though in weaker strata this can be as high as 30 times the seam thickness (ACARP 2002). Above this level, the surface strata will crack as a result of bending strains, with the cracks varying in size according to the level of strain, thickness of the overlying rock stratum and frequency of natural joints or planes of weakness in the strata (Holla and Barclay 2000).

3. The principal surface impact of underground coal mining is subsidence (lowering of the surface above areas that are mined) (Booth et al. 1998, Holla and Barclay 2000). The total subsidence of a surface point consists of two components, active and residual. Active subsidence, which forms 90 to 95% of the total subsidence in most cases, follows the advance of the working face and usually occurs immediately. Residual subsidence is time-dependent and is due to readjustment and compaction within the goaf (Holla and Barclay 2000). Trough-shaped subsidence profiles associated with longwall mining develop tilt between adjacent points that have subsided different amounts. Maximum ground tilts are developed above the edges of the area of extraction and may be cumulative if more than one seam is worked up to a common boundary. The surface area affected by ground movement is greater than the area worked in the seam (Bell et al. 2000). In the NSW Southern Coalfield, horizontal displacements can extend for more than one kilometre from mine workings (and in extreme cases in excess of three km) (ACARP 2002, 2003), although at these distances, the horizontal movements have little associated tilt or strain. Subsidence at a surface point is due not only to mining in the panel directly below the point, but also to mining in the adjacent panels. It is not uncommon for mining in each panel to take a year or so and therefore a point on the surface may continue to experience residual subsidence for several years (Holla and Barclay 2000).

4. The degree of subsidence resulting from a particular mining activity depends on a number of site specific factors. Factors that affect subsidence include the design of the mine, the thickness of the coal seam being extracted, the width of the chain pillars, the ratio of the depth of overburden to the longwall panel width and the nature of the overlying strata; sandstones are known to subside less than other substrates such as shales. Subsidence is also dependent on topography, being more evident in hilly terrain than in flat or gently undulating areas (Elsworth and Liu 1995, Holla 1997, Holla and Barclay 2000, ACARP 2001). The extent and width of surface cracking over and within the vicinity of the mined goaf will also decrease with an increased depth of mining (Elsworth and Liu 1995).

5. Longwall mining can accelerate the natural process of ‘valley bulging’ (ACARP 2001, 2002). This phenomenon is indicated by an irregular upward spike in an otherwise smooth subsidence profile, generally co-inciding with the base of the valley. The spike represents a reduced amount of subsidence, known as ‘upsidence’, in the base and sides of the valley and is generally coupled with the horizontal closure of the valley sides (ACARP 2001, 2002). In most cases, the upsidence effects extend outside the valley and include the immediate cliff lines and ground beyond them (ACARP 2002).

6. Mining subsidence is frequently associated with cracking of valley floors and creeklines and with subsequent effects on surface and groundwater hydrology (Booth et al. 1998, Holla and Barclay 2000, ACARP 2001, 2002, 2003). Subsidence-induced cracks occurring beneath a stream or other surface water body may result in the loss of water to near-surface groundwater flows. If the water body is located in an area where the coal seam is less than approximately 100-120 m below the surface, longwall mining can cause the water body to lose flow permanently. If the coal seam is deeper than approximately 150 m, the water loss may be temporary unless the area is affected by severe geological disturbances such as strong faulting. In the majority of cases, surface waters lost to the sub-surface re-emerge downstream. The ability of the water body to recover is dependent on the width of the crack, the surface gradient, the substrate composition and the presence of organic matter. An already-reduced flow rate due to drought conditions or an upstream dam or weir will increase the impact of water loss through cracking. The potential for closure of surface cracks is improved at sites with a low surface gradient although even temporary cracking, leading to loss of flow, may have long-term effects on ecological function in localised areas. The steeper the gradient, the more likely that any solids transported by water flow will be moved downstream allowing the void to remain open and the potential loss of flows to the subsurface to continue. A lack of thick alluvium in the streambed may also prolong stream dewatering (by at least 13 years, in one case study in West Virginia, Gill 2000). Impacts on the flows of ephemeral creeks are likely to be greater than those on permanent creeks (Holla and Barclay 2000). Cracking and subsequent water loss can result in permanent changes to riparian community structure and composition.

Longwall Mining Consequences

 

Total Environment Centre,   ^http://www.tec.org.au/component/docman/doc_view/201-longwall-rep07

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7. Subsidence can also cause decreased stability of slopes and escarpments, contamination of groundwater by acid drainage, increased sedimentation, bank instability and loss, creation or alteration of riffle and pool sequences, changes to flood behaviour, increased rates of erosion with associated turbidity impacts, and deterioration of water quality due to a reduction in dissolved oxygen and to increased salinity, iron oxides, manganese, and electrical conductivity (Booth et al. 1998, Booth and Bertsch 1999, Sidle et al. 2000, DLWC 2001, Gill 2000, Stout 2003). Displacement of flows may occur where water from mine workings is discharged at a point or seepage zone remote from the stream, and in some cases, into a completely different catchment. Where subsidence cracks allow surface water to mix with subsurface water, the resulting mixture may have altered chemical properties. The occurrence of iron precipitate and iron-oxidising bacteria is particularly evident in rivers where surface cracking has occurred. These bacteria commonly occur in Hawkesbury Sandstone areas, where seepage through the rock is often rich in iron compounds (Jones and Clark 1991) and are able to grow in water lacking dissolved oxygen. Where the bacteria grow as thick mats they reduce interstitial habitat, clog streams and reduce available food (DIPNR 2003). Loss of native plants and animals may occur directly via iron toxicity, or indirectly via smothering. Long-term studies in the United States indicate that reductions in diversity and abundance of aquatic invertebrates occur in streams in the vicinity of longwall mining and these effects may still be evident 12 years after mining (Stout 2003, 2004).8. The extraction of coal and the subsequent cracking of strata surrounding the goaf may liberate methane, carbon dioxide and other gases. Most of the gas is removed by the ventilation system of the mine but some gas remains within the goaf areas. Gases tend to diffuse upwards through any cracks occurring in the strata and be emitted from the surface (ACARP 2001). Gas emissions can result in localised plant death as anaerobic conditions are created within the soil (Everett et al. 1998).

9. Subsidence due to longwall mining can destabilise cliff-lines and increase the probability of localised rockfalls and cliff collapse (Holla and Barclay 2000, ACARP 2001, 2002). This has occurred in the Western Coalfield and in some areas of the Southern Coalfield (ACARP 2001). These rockfalls have generally occurred within months of the cliffline being undermined but in some cases up to 18 years after surface cracking first became visible following mining (ACARP 2001). Changes to cliff-line topography may result in an alteration to the environment of overhangs and blowouts. These changes may result in the loss of roosts for bats and nest sites for cliff-nesting birds.

10. Damage to some creek systems in the Hunter Valley has been associated with subsidence due to longwall mining. Affected creeks include Eui Creek, Wambo Creek, Bowmans Creek, Fishery Creek and Black Creek (Dept of Sustainable Natural Resources 2003, in lit.). Damage has occurred as a result of loss of stability, with consequent release of sediment into the downstream environment, loss of stream flow, death of fringing vegetation, and release of iron rich and occasionally highly acidic leachate. In the Southern Coalfields substantial surface cracking has occurred in watercourses within the Upper Nepean, Avon, Cordeaux, Cataract, Bargo, Georges and Woronora catchments, including Flying Fox Creek, Wongawilli Creek, Native Dog Creek and Waratah Rivulet. The usual sequence of events has been subsidence-induced cracking within the streambed, followed by significant dewatering of permanent pools and in some cases complete absence of surface flow.

11. The most widely publicised subsidence event in the Southern Coalfields was the cracking of the Cataract riverbed downstream of the Broughtons Pass Weir to the confluence of the Nepean River. Mining in the vicinity began in 1988 with five longwall panels having faces of 110 m that were widened in 1992 to 155 m. In 1994, the river downstream of the longwall mining operations dried up (ACARP 2001, 2002). Water that re-emerged downstream was notably deoxygenated and heavily contaminated with iron deposits; no aquatic life was found in these areas (Everett et al. 1998). In 1998, a Mining Wardens Court Hearing concluded that 80% of the drying of the Cataract River was due to longwall mining operations, with the balance attributed to reduced flows regulated by Sydney Water. Reduction of the surface river flow was accompanied by release of gas, fish kills, iron bacteria mats, and deterioration of water quality and instream habitat. Periodic drying of the river has continued, with cessation of flow recorded on over 20 occasions between June 1999 and October 2002 (DIPNR 2003). At one site, the ‘Bubble Pool”, localised water loss up to 4 ML/day has been recorded (DIPNR 2003). Piezometers indicated that there was an unusually high permeability in the sandstone, indicating widespread bedrock fracturing (DIPNR 2003). High gas emissions within and around areas of dead vegetation on the banks of the river have been observed and it is likely that this dieback is related to the generation of anoxic conditions in the soil as the migrating gas is oxidised (Everett et al. 1998). An attempt to rectify the cracking by grouting of the most severe crack in 1999 was only partially successful (AWT 2000). In 2001, water in the Cataract River was still highly coloured, flammable gas was still being released and flow losses of about 50% (3-3.5 ML/day) still occurring (DLWC 2001). Environmental flow releases of 1.75 ML/day in the Cataract River released from Broughtons Pass Weir were not considered enough to keep the river flowing or to maintain acceptable water quality (DIPNR 2003).

12. Subsidence associated with longwall mining has contributed to adverse effects (see below) on upland swamps. These effects have been examined in most detail on the Woronora Plateau (e.g. Young 1982, Gibbins 2003, Sydney Catchment Authority, in lit.), although functionally similar swamps exist in the Blue Mountains and on Newnes Plateau and are likely to be affected by the same processes. These swamps occur in the headwaters of the Woronora River and O’Hares Creek, both major tributaries of the Georges River, as well as major tributaries of the Nepean River, including the Cataract and Cordeaux Rivers. The swamps are exceptionally species rich with up to 70 plant species in 15 m2 (Keith and Myerscough 1993) and are habitats of particular conservation significance for their biota. The swamps occur on sandstone in valleys with slopes usually less than ten degrees in areas of shallow, impervious substrate formed by either the bedrock or clay horizons (Young and Young 1988). The low gradient, low discharge streams cannot effectively flush sediment so they lack continuous open channels and water is held in a perched water table. The swamps act as water filters, releasing water slowly to downstream creek systems thus acting to regulate water quality and flows from the upper catchment areas (Young and Young 1988).

13. Upland swamps on the Woronora Plateau are characterised by ti-tree thicket, cyperoid heath, sedgeland, restioid heath and Banksia thicket with the primary floristic variation being related to soil moisture and fertility (Young 1986, Keith and Myerscough 1993). Related swamp systems occur in the upper Blue Mountains including the Blue Mountains Sedge Swamps (also known as hanging swamps) which occur on steep valley sides below an outcropping claystone substratum and the Newnes Plateau Shrub Swamps and Coxs River Swamps which are also hydrologically dependent on the continuance of specific topographic and geological conditions (Keith and Benson 1988, Benson and Keith 1990). The swamps are subject to recurring drying and wetting, fires, erosion and partial flushing of the sediments (Young 1982, Keith 1991). The conversion of perched water table flows into subsurface flows through voids, as a result of mining-induced subsidence may significantly affect the water balance of upland swamps (eg Young and Wray 2000). The scale of this impact is currently unknown, however, changes in vegetation may not occur immediately. Over time, areas of altered hydrological regime may experience a modification to the vegetation community present, with species being favoured that prefer the new conditions. The timeframe of these changes is likely to be long-term. While subsidence may be detected and monitored within months of a mining operation, displacement of susceptible species by those suited to altered conditions is likely to extend over years to decades as the vegetation equilibrates to the new hydrological regime (Keith 1991, NPWS 2001). These impacts will be exacerbated in periods of low flow. Mine subsidence may be followed by severe and rapid erosion where warping of the swamp surface results in altered flows and surface cracking creates nick-points (Young 1982). Fire regimes may also be altered, as dried peaty soils become oxidised and potentially flammable (Sydney Catchment Authority, in lit.) (Kodela et al. 2001).

14. The upland swamps of the Woronora Plateau and the hanging swamps of the Blue Mountains provide habitat for a range of fauna including birds, reptiles and frogs. Reliance of fauna on the swamps increases during low rainfall periods. A range of threatened fauna including the Blue Mountains Water Skink, Eulamprus leuraensis, the Giant Dragonfly, Petalura gigantea, the Giant Burrowing Frog, Heleioporus australiacus, the Red-crowned Toadlet, Pseudophryne australis, the Stuttering Frog Mixophyes balbus and Littlejohn’s Tree Frog, Litoria littlejohni, are known to use the swamps as habitat. Of these species, the frogs are likely to suffer the greatest impacts as a result of hydrological change in the swamps because of their reliance on the water within these areas either as foraging or breeding habitat. Plant species such as Persoonia acerosa, Pultenaea glabra, P. aristata and Acacia baueri ssp. aspera are often recorded in close proximity to the swamps. Cliffline species such as Epacris hamiltonii and Apatophyllum constablei that rely on surface or subsurface water may also be affected by hydrological impacts on upland swamps, as well as accelerated cliff collapse associated with longwall mining.

15. Flora and fauna may also be affected by activities associated with longwall mining in addition to the direct impacts of subsidence. These activities include clearing of native vegetation and removal of bush rock for surface facilities such as roads and coal wash emplacement and discharge of mine water into swamps and streams. Weed invasion, erosion and siltation may occur following vegetation clearing or enrichment by mine water. Clearing of native vegetation, Bushrock removal, Invasion of native plant communities by exotic perennial grasses and Alteration to the natural flow regimes of rivers and streams and their floodplains and wetlands are listed as Key Threatening Processes under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995).

The following threatened species and ecological communities are known to occur in areas affected by subsidence due to longwall mining and their habitats are likely to be altered by subsidence and mining-associated activities:

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Endangered Species

• Epacris hamiltonii    a shrub
• Eulamprus leuraensis    Blue Mountains Water Skink
• Hoplocephalus bungaroides    Broad-headed Snake
• Isoodon obesulus    Southern Brown Bandicoot
• Petalura gigantea    Giant Dragonfly
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Vulnerable species

• Acacia baueri subsp. aspera
• Apatophyllum constablei
• Boronia deanei
• Cercartetus nanus    Eastern Pygmy Possum
• Epacris purpurascens var. purpurascens
• Grevillea longifolia
• Heleioporus australiacus    Giant Burrowing Frog
• Ixobrychus flavicollis    Black Bittern
• Leucopogon exolasius
• Litoria littlejohni    Littlejohn’s Tree Frog
• Melaleuca deanei
• Mixophyes balbus    Stuttering Frog
• Myotis adversus    Large-footed Myotis
• Persoonia acerosa
• Potorous tridactylus    Long-nosed Potoroo
• Pseudophryne australis    Red-crowned Toadlet
• Pteropus poliocephalus    Grey-headed Flying Fox
• Pterostylis pulchella
• Pultenaea aristata
• Pultenaea glabra
• Tetratheca juncea
• Varanus rosenbergi    Rosenberg’s Goanna

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Endangered Ecological Communities

• Genowlan Point Allocasuarina nana Heathland
• Newnes Plateau Shrub Swamp in the Sydney Basin Bioregion
• O’Hares Creek Shale Forest
• Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest

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Species and populations of species not currently listed as threatened but that may become so as a result of habitat alteration following subsidence due to longwall mining include:

• Acacia ptychoclada
• Almaleea incurvata
• Darwinia grandiflora
• Dillwynia stipulifera
• Epacris coricea
• Grevillea acanthifolia subsp. acanthifolia
• Hydromys chrysogaster    Water rat
• Lomandra fluviatilis
• Olearia quercifolia
• Pseudanthus pimelioides

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16. Mitigation measures to repair cracking creek beds have had only limited success and are still considered experimental (ACARP 2002). Cracks less than 10 mm wide may eventually reseal without active intervention provided there is a clay fraction in the soil and at least some water flow is maintained. Cracks 10-50 mm wide may be sealed with a grouting compound or bentonite. Cracks wider than 50 mm require concrete (ACARP 2002). Pattern grouting in the vicinity of Marhnyes Hole in the Georges River has been successful at restoring surface flows and reducing pool drainage following fracturing of the riverbed (International Environmental Consultants 2004). Grouting of cracks also appears to have been relatively effective in Wambo Creek in the Hunter Valley. Installation of a grout curtain in the Cataract River, however, has been only partially successful and it was concluded in 2002, after rehabilitation measures had taken place, that the environment flows released from Broughtons Pass Weir by the Sydney Catchment Authority were insufficient to keep the Cataract River flowing or to maintain acceptable water quality (DIPNR 2003). Mitigation measures themselves may have additional environmental impacts due to disturbance from access tracks, the siting of drilling rigs, removal of riparian vegetation, and unintended release of the grouting material into the water. Furthermore, even measures that are successful in terms of restoring flows involve temporary rerouting of surface flows while mitigation is carried out (generally for 2-3 weeks at each grouting site). Planning for remediation measures may also be hampered by the lack of predictability of some impacts, and difficulties gaining access to remote areas where remedial works are needed. The long-term success of mitigation measures such as grouting is not yet known. It is possible that any ongoing subsidence after grouting may reopen cracks or create new ones. Further, it is not yet known whether the clay substance bentonite, which is often added to the cement in the grouting mix, is sufficiently stable to prevent shrinkage. Grouting under upland and hanging swamps that have no definite channel is probably not feasible.17. Empirical methods have been developed from large data sets to predict conventional subsidence effects (ACARP 2001, 2002, 2003). In general, these models have proved more accurate when predicting the potential degree of subsidence in flat or gently undulating terrain than in steep topography (ACARP 2003). A major issue identified in the ACARP (2001, 2002) reports was the lack of knowledge about horizontal stresses in geological strata, particularly those associated with river valleys. These horizontal stresses appear to play a major role in the magnitude and extent of surface subsidence impacts. The cumulative impacts of multiple panels also appear to have been poorly monitored. The general trend in the mining industry in recent years toward increased panel widths (from 200 up to 300 m), which allows greater economies in the overall costs of extraction, means that future impacts will tend to be greater than those in the past (ACARP 2001, 2002).18. In view of the above the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that Alteration of habitat following subsidence due to longwall mining adversely affects two or more threatened species, populations or ecological communities, or could cause species, populations or ecological communities that are not threatened to become threatened.’

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by Dr Lesley Hughes, Chairperson, Scientific Committee, Proposed Gazettal date: 15/07/05
[Source:  ^http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/LongwallMiningKtp.htm]

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Further Reading:

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[1] Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd ^http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/Gardens_of_Stone/GoS2_Swamp_monitoring.htm

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[2]    ‘NPWS confirms long wall mining is a key threatening process‘,  ^http://archive.lee.greens.org.au/index.php/content/view/1345/65/

 

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[3]    ‘Impacts of Longwall Coal Mining on the Environment in New South Wales‘ report, Total Environment Centre ^http://www.tec.org.au/component/docman/doc_view/201-longwall-rep07 [Read Report]

 

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[4]   The BushDoctor Pty Ltd,  ^http://www.bushdoctor.com.au/experience_blueMountains.htm

 

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[5]   The Scientific Committee of NSW, Determination on Longwall Mining, 20050715, ^http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/LongwallMiningKtp.htm]

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[6]   ‘Blue Mountains Water Skink Recovery Plan‘, National Parks and Wildlife Service 2001, [Read Plan]

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Every year after summer and upon the onset of winter, the outdoor pool at Katoomba Sports and Aquatic Centre, situated in Central Blue Mountains, is drained.  Its contents including the chlorine (likely sodium hypochlorite) is emptied.  The adjacent old plumbing between the pool and the dam, as well as repeated conductivity tests by the editor over multiple years under the Sydney Catchment Authority Streamwatch Programme point to the drainage being into the adjacent dam and into the Kedumba River; not into the sewer..

Reports of extreme water conductivity (off the scale… 500+ micro Siemens/cm) in the dam immediately following the draining the pool scale were sent to the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) , but nothing was ever done about it by the SCA.

This means every year, thousands of litres of chlorinated pool water flushes over Katoomba Falls and along the Kedumba River through the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

It is therefore no surprise then that the Kedumba River looks clean – Blue Mountains Council ensures it is sterile of  macro-invertebrates and river life.

Katoomba Sports & Aquatic Centre

Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

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The Outdoor Pool of  the Aquatic Centre…drained every winter

(Photo by Editor 20110516, free in public domain)

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The Aquatic Centre was constructed conveniently adjacent to the Catalina Dam

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Catalina  Dam, which in the late 1940s was glorified as a ‘lake’ by developer Horace Gates

 

 

 

(designed with a flotation levelling system interconnected to adjacent Katoomba Falls Creek)

 

 

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Upper Kedumba Creek downstream of Catalina Dam

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Upper Kedumba Creek downstream of Catalina Dam – close up

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Katoomba Falls Creek naturally flows over Katoomba Falls

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Katoomba Falls flows down the Blue Mountains escarpment into the Kedumba River

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The Kedumba River flows through the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Blue Mountains Gazette newspaper on page 12 of 10th August 2011, written by Rose and Brett Everingham of Lapstone, Blue Mountains, Australia.

‘Native Wildlife Alert’

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‘On the evening of Tuesday July 29 a beautiful Echidna was unfortunately hit by a car outside our house.

We would like to publicly thank the three lovely young gentlemen who stopped to assist us as we moved it off the road, and then rang WIRES.

It was a particularly upsetting experience, no one wants to see any creature hit by a car, especially our native wildlife.  The young gentleman who hit the Echidna was understandably distressed, as it is not something you would usually expect to see, and we reassured him that it was simply an accident.

It is a timely reminder though to take care when driving at night, particularly on Governors Drive which is often used as a race track for some drivers. Unfortunately the Echidna could not be saved.  Once again a thanks to the young gentleman who stayed with my husband and son whilst they buried it.

Whilst a sad experience, it brought relief to know that Lapstone still has such beautiful native wildlife existing amongst us in the bush.’
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Editor’s Comments:

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1. The killing of a native echidna by a driver of a car is an horrific tragedy for the echidna and its likely dependent mate and offspring, which were not mentioned.  Each killing of adult native wildlife harms the viability of the local population of that species in the area.

2. Rose and Brett are right to have done what they did and it is valuable to the local community that Rose has taken the trouble to share this tragic event via her letter in the local paper.

3. The cause of the Echidna’s death was that the car driver was driving too fast to prevent killing it on the road.  Most drivers drive too fast and are not competently trained to drive for the conditions.

It could have been a child killed while running on to the road. I am sure the local paper would have had more than allowing Rose’s letter, which reflects our culture that human life holds selfishly somehow higher values than wildlife.  One may call this ‘speciesism’, a term few are aware.

4. Echidna habitat was there many thousands of years before European colonists destroyed its environment and selfishly carved a road through its habitat, with no care for any native wildlife values.

5. Such roads as Governors Drive, whether constructed by local Blue Mountains Council or larger ones by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), not only destroy native vegetation and wildlife habitat in their construction, as well as allowing sediment pollution of downhill watercourses; no respect is paid to the inevitable road death consequences caused by vehicles using the road.  The underlying reason is that human values for wildlife are so low across the community that there is hardly any call for wildlife protection from the threats of road making and its consequential traffic menace. Worse is that perverted attitudes toward wildlife and deviant behaviour prevail to the extent that the killing of wildlife on our roads is disparagingly dismissed as ‘roadkill’.  If the same term were applied to pedestrian deaths on our roads, there would be an uproar by extreme humanists.

6. No attempt is made by road builders (local council or the RTA) to facilitate separation of ground dwelling native wildlife from the inevitable risk of death from introduced road traffic.  Some roads across Australia have wildlife fencing to prevent native animals such as wallabies, wombat and Echidnas from accessing the road.  Others factor wildlife corridors into the design of roads that destroy wildlife habitat.  It is an indictment on both the Blue Mountains Council and the RTA that there are no wildlife fences or wildlife corridors throughout the Blue Mountains.

7. That Rose wrote “it is not something you would usually expect to see” is a sad indictment on the demise of wildlife populations across the Blue Mountains since colonial conquest, such that now people living in the Blue Mountains do not expect to see wildlife any longer.  Villages like Lapstone have become so urbanised that they are all but outer suburbs of Sydney.  The natural bush environment has been lost to a sterile parkland to suit the needs of humans.  The values of native wildlife and their habitat continue to be ignored by humans who live and drive through the Blue Mountains and by custodial government authorities – Blue Mountains Council, NSW Department of Environment (etc), Australian Department of Environment (etc).

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Yet, despite the arrogant disregard for wildlife values across the Blue Mountains, especially at the human interface, other regions take a more proactive view, such as in Sydney’s Northern Beaches region.

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Uncontrolled speeding on Australian roads

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Related Articles:

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‘Wallaby becomes roadkill after fence holed’

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by Brenton Cherry, 20110112, Many Daily, ^http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/wallaby-becomes-roadkill-after-fence-holed/

Eira Battaglia, Mandy Beaumont, Niamh Kenny,

Cassie Thompson and Elvira Lanham at the damaged fence.

(Photo by Virginia Young)

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‘A hole has been cut in the wildlife-proof fence along Wakehurst Parkway at Oxford Falls, leading to at least one wallaby being killed.  The death – discovered by Jacqui Marlow from the Northern Beaches Roadkill Prevention Group – was the first along the stretch of road since the fence was installed.

“Why would anyone cut a hole in the fence?” she said.  “I found the hole after seeing a dead wallaby in the fence area.

“It’s the first one killed in the fence area since it was installed, which shows that it works.”

Ms Marlow said she had become disenchanted by the actions of some people.

“At the moment my opinion of humans is not very good, especially when it comes to their attitude to nature,” she said.  “I’m really tired of dealing with it, the deaths are starting to get me down.”

Fellow group member Eira Battaglia said now more than ever motorists had to be aware of wildlife on our roads.

“Wallabies are around after the recent burn-off,” she said.

“Eight have been killed in the past week so please drive carefully, especially at dusk when the wallabies may be out searching for food.”

A spokesman for the RTA said a maintenance crew would permanently fix the hole as soon as possible.  “A temporary repair has already been carried out,” he said.

RTA representatives yesterday met with the roadkill prevention group for a tour of local hot spots and potential sites for additional fauna fencing.’

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‘Peering down the corridor’

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Source: ^http://www.coolmelbourne.org/articles/2009/07/peering-down-the-corridor/

Wildlife Corridors do exist and are effective where human communities

care enough to insist on them.

But don’t expect road designers and engineers in Australia to suggest the concept.

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‘Conservationists have long recognised the value of using wildlife corridors to connect wilderness areas, and there is mounting evidence to show that these corridors help many species, from the big to the small to the airborne to the aquatic.

But now ‘megacorridors’ are taking the wildlife corridor concept to a whole new level. Australia’s Great Eastern Ranges Initiative (GERI) is Australia’s answer to the megacorridor.

Aiming to create a 2800km wilderness megacorridor from North Queensland to Victoria, the initiative is about halfway towards completion of the first and most critical stage.saving-wilderness-geri-map-new-scientist.jpg

It is an extremely important move in the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity: after more than 200 years of development, the landscape of eastern Australia has changed significantly.

Fences, roads, dams, industrial and agricultural lands, powerlines, towns and cities cut across the country, isolating natural areas which have become ‘islands’ on which plants and animals have become isolated.

This means that many ecosystems have been fragmented, that the landscape’s capacity to maintain our unique plants, animals and Aboriginal cultural heritage has been reduced. It also means that remaining ecosystems are finding it harder to filter and clean our air, maintain the health of our soils, and produce unpolluted fresh water for the 93% of the Australian population that lives along Australia’s eastern seaboard.

This is no quick fix project however: climate change and the migration of human populations means it could take as long as 100 years before the project’s success can be measured.’

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‘Wildlife corridor from far south to far north’

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by Mat Churchill, 20100716, ^ http://www.tourismportdouglas.com.au/Wildlife-corridor-from-far-south-to-far.4317.0.html

The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, a proposed 2,800km long conservation corridor

Patches of state and national parks around the country just aren’t sufficient to protect Australia’s native plants and animals.

According to a report commissioned by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, a wildlife corridor 2,800km long stretching from Melbourne to the Atherton Tablelands would allow species to migrate when their habitat changes due to climate change.

”One of the impacts of climate change is that species will have to move around to find suitable habitat resources. We need to make the whole landscape more biodiversity friendly.” said Brendan Mackey, an environmental scientist who wrote the report.

Dubbed the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, the corridor would be made up of public and privately owned land.

Ian Pulsford, from the Department of Climate Change and Water, said areas earmarked to become part of the corridor would see a person acting as a broker visit the private landholder to discuss the program.

”The corridor is voluntary but there has been a good response from private landholders, and there are incentives to make your land part of the conservation area,” said Mr Pulsford.

The corridor concept is a new way of thinking when it comes to conservation. And a change in the way we do things in Australia is clearly needed when nearly half of the world’s mammal extinctions in the last 200 years have happened here, along with 61 species of flowering plants among others. The world’s current extinction rate is 1,000 higher than nature intended.

”The conventional thinking is wait until things are really bad and then desperately try to save things at the last minute,” said Professor Mackey.

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Further Reading:

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[1]   ^http://www.coolmelbourne.org/our-environment/wildlife/

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– end of article –

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The Habitat Advocate’s raison d’être

 

Habitat Campaigning best starts close to home.   If everyone took this approach then the natural environment would be far more intact, the wildlife habitat more viable to sustain local wildlife, and the risk of species extinction far lower than where current trends are heading.

The Habitat Advocate established as a volunteer conservation group back in 2001 on the edge of a small steep creek valley within what we term The Gully Water Catchment based at The Habitat Advocate founder’s residential home on the bushland fringe of the regional township of Katoomba, situated in the central Upper Blue Mountains of New South Wales in Australia. 

The reference to this creek valley as ‘The Gully‘ is the historical affection name for the valley by former resident tenants.

Our raison d’être (purpose in forming) initiated on one Saturday morning within a few weeks of the founder, Steven, moving into his recently acquired house and suddenly being impacted by the roar of racing Mini Cooper cars down in the creek valley less than 100 metres away.  Having had all due diligence in conveyancing previously undertaken ahead of purchasing the property and the previous tenant advising how quite the area was, no mention had been made of the deafening motor racing circuit!  Local Blue Mountains [city} Council (local council) maps had labelled the small surrounding valley as ‘Katoomba Falls Creek Valley‘, with the northern portion near our house named by Council as ‘Frank Walford Park‘, but NOT as ‘Catalina Park‘ motor racing circuit.

So that was it, the battle to end the motor racing commenced. 

Steven soon learned about a local grassroots activist group of residents living around the edge of this creek valley, which had formed back in 1989 initially and primarily to end the car racing use of the valley and also to respect and rehabilitate the creek valley’s natural ecology.  Steven joined them in 2002 – ‘The Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley Inc.‘ (‘The Friends’), led by the now late Neil Stuart [1937-2016]. 

Between 2002 and 2007, Steven volunteered in The Friends working group’s activities – lobbying local council to end the racing, participating in community meetings about the valley, meeting with former residents of ‘The Gully’ (mostly Aboriginal), writing letters in the local Blue Mountains Gazette newspaper, undertaking bushcare weeding and rubbish clean ups in the valley, and generally monitoring and reporting unsavoury goings such as illegal squatting by transient outsiders.

During those early years, The Friends learned about the tragic history of the creek valley’s 1957 forced eviction of former tenants by Council and its bulldozing of their homes so that the racetrack could be constructed.  The former tenants had referred to the creek valley as The Gully – mainly the northern portion of what Council had named Frank Walford Park after one of its mayors of the 1950s who had approved the racetrack usurpation* of the land previously known by former residents as The Gully.  A number of members of The Friends were indeed former residents of the valley – Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal, as well as intermixed local families.

[Ed: *Usurpation is the act of taking somebody’s position and/or power without having the right to do this.  Land Usurpation is the appropriation of land from the previous or lawful owner].

 

In 1995, local council had renamed ‘Katoomba Falls Creek Valley‘ to being ‘Upper Kedumba River Valley‘.  In around 2007, The Gully Traditional Owners decided to rename The Gully as ‘Gungaree’ in Gundungurra aboriginal language acccording to historical doctoral research undertaken by Wentworth Falls historian Jim Smith, Ph.D.

Around the time from 2000 to 2002, as chance would have it, there occurred an environmentalist momentum in the area, followed by a local social momentum that firstly had the Blue Mountains region internationally recognised as a natural World Heritage area on Thursday 30th November 2000.  Secondly, portions of the valley became recognised and declared by the New South Wales Government as an Aboriginal Place under its National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 on 18th May 2002.  That declaration resulted in local council terminating the car racing in the valley. 

So job done!  It was certainly a changeable time, and Steven just happened to have arrived from Sydney, originally Melbourne.

By 2007, despite tirelsss efforts of The Friends since forming back in 1989 to persuade local council (as the legal owner of the valley) to end the racing and to consult with interested local residents around the valley and about managing a natural rehabilitation process for the valley, that was not to be. 

Instead, council bureaucracy over the years systematically thwarted all attempts by The Friends, and The Friends’ allied collaborated group The Gully Guardians (2004-2006) from having any say in joint community consultation and rehabilitation management of the valley.  In fact, due to the years of  The Friends demands upon local council to consult in rehabilitate the valley and The Friends’ relentless and strident criticism of local council (whilst valid in this author’s view), local council went further. 

By 2007, local council had completely ostracised The Friends from all community consultation concerning the valley and had bureaucratically driven a by-law wedge between The Friends and the local Aboriginal people who had been former residents of the valley before 1957. 

By 2007, local council had chosen to side solely with the newly formed Gundungurra Aboriginal group, The Gully Traditional Owners, in an exclusive management partnership for the valley.   From local council’s bureacuratic standpoint The Friends had effectively become personae non gratae. 

It wass in this year, that Steven sadly decided to resign from The Friends and focus his environmentaliost attention upon building the website of the Habitat Advocate. 

All the while and since then, Steven has continued to maintain close good friendship and communication with members of The Friends. 

 

The Gully Water Catchment?

 

In the upper Blue Mountains, a creek and series of wetlands following the upper reaches of the Upper Kedumba River above Katoomba Falls form an elongated upland valley covering an area of more than 100 hectares.  This creek valley has been known for many decades by its former residents and their descendants affectionately as ‘The Gully’.  Over more than a century since the 1870s, this natural valley was steadily deforested and around the fringes subdivided for housing so that the remnant natural area has been reduced to under 70 hectares..

Situated next to the township of Katoomba, The Gully has long been surrounded by housing development above it atop its steep valley embankments.  Yet, The Gully held  important ancestral cultural values to traditional Aboriginal peoples of the Gundungurra, Darug, Wanaruah, Wiradjuri, Darkinjung and Tharawal of the greater Blue Mountains region and adjoining lands.  These values contimue to be held by formre residents of the Gully and current generations. 

The Gully has been a ceremonial meeting place for traditional peoples of the Blue Mountains for perhaps thousands of years.  Since colonial settlement at Katoomba in the 1870s, The Gully has provided a secure haven for poor people both black and white, who although living in basic squat conditions in the extremes of Mountains weather, lived together as a close knit community; the Congregational ‘Mission’ Church for many years having played a key uniting role for Gully folk and as an informal umbrella protecting authority to stave off designs on the place by selfish others.

Jimmy War Sing, Chinese market gardener and fruiterer on his sulky in The Gully; the poor horse not well fed.

His ‘Chinese Garden’ was situated in a natural gully with a small watercourse running through it behind Loftus and Neale Streets (McRae’s Paddock).

(Photo circa 1903), supplied by Colin Slade in Pict. Memories Blue Mountains, John Low 2002)^http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue_mountains_library_-_local_studies/2669879647/  .

Two particular historic events have adversely impacted upon The Gully’s ecological integrity and its human community.  The first event was the bulldozing of the natural swamp of frogs hollow in the 1940s by developer Horace Gates to construct a dam as an artificial lake as part of his theme park scheme for the Gully.  A few years later a Catalina flying boat was floated in the dam (lake) as a tourism draw card.  At some time in the late 19th Century a local by the name of McRae, decided to bulldoze and infill the wetland in the mid part of the valley so that he could graze his horse stock.

The second event was the bulldozing of the entire top valley including the homes of several families in 1957 by the Blue Mountains Council in collaboration with a local fraternity car racing drivers and local businessmen to make way for a motor racing circuit – ‘Catalina Raceway’.  Those families were forcibly evicted from their homes, extricated from The Gully and one woman died of a heart attack during the raid.

Catalina Raceway was used for motor racing through the 1960s, by the 1970s the racing circuit had steadily fallen into disrepair. This was due to a number of factors – repeated foggy weather at many racing events, the inability of the racing association to repay its construction debt to the Blue Mountains Council, new competition from circuits nearer to Sydney (Oran Park and Amaroo Park), and due to the prohibitive cost of increasing motor racing safety standards, prompted by the death of two racing drivers on separate occasions at ‘Craven A Corner’.

The track became overgrown and weeds spread throughout the valley.  Blue Mountains Council named the valley ‘Catalina Park‘, and later named the top northern part of the valley as ‘Frank Walford Park’ after the namesake of a previous councillor who had been a key decision maker in approving the racetrack be built.  Car racing at Catalina, culminating in the formation of the Blue Mountains Tourist Association.

Catalina Raceway was a form of early Blue Mountains tourism and became very popular with car racing enthusiasts during the 1960s and 1970s.

 

In 1989, local nearby residents concerned about the poor state of the valley and with a desire to stop the car racing and protect the natural values of the valley, formed The Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley, Inc. (‘The Friends’). 

This grassroots local community group of local Katoomba residents established as one of the first bushcare groups in the Blue Mountains and since then their volunteers have regularly engaged in bush regeneration throughout the valley. 

 

The Friends also galvanised local community support to stop the racing and to rehabilitate the valley back to its natural condition, holding street stalls to raise funds and to raise community awareness over the plight of the long neglected valley.   The Friends lobbied Blue Mountains Council over nearly three decades to have the car racing banned, to have the weeds removed and to restore the valley to its pre-1957 natural state. 

The Friends’ became instrumental in having plans prepared for the rehabilitation for the valley, most notably the 1993 Bell Report prepared by environmental consultant Fred Bell, the only one done so in consultation with the local community.  To date, none of the several plans drafted has been put into effect by local council, so the Gully remains neglected and the race track long abandoned, yet the natural bush vegetation is steadily recovering.

In 2000, local Darug elder, Aunty Dawn Colless, was instrumental in achieving proper recognition for The Gully as an official Aboriginal Place under the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Act. On 18th May 2002, regrettably after Dawn’s passing, The Gully became protected under Sections 84, 85 and 90 from development and all racing formally banned.

 

 

 

Concerned local residents around The Gully back in 1988 began to realise that this natural creek valley immediately upstream and feeding Katoomba Falls and Kedumba River with fresh drinking water, was becoming increasingly under threat of destruction from various external vested interests.  So in 1989 a mob of them formed a local community environmental conservation bushcare and activist group , The Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley Inc. 

This committed volunteer community group ran for some 27 years under the leadership and inspiration of local social worker and teacher, Neil Stuart.  Most members of ‘The Friends’ initially lived within the water catchment of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley – a natural amphitheatre of multiple watercourses on the western side of the Blue Mountains township of Katoomba, which covered about 600 hectares.

So yes they were NIMBYS proudly, defending their beautiful natural place from selfish invaders threatening to ruin and exploit the Nature and its natural amenity.

Without the concerted efforts and activism of this committed community group, it is most likely that The Gully would now no longer exist, but be a valley of housing and recreational development.

The purpose of this webpage is to offer a perpetual factual account of the truth about The Gully, its recent history, its stories, its plethora of threats to undermine its integrity, values and spirit over many decades, and the stories of the ongoing abuse, neglect, battles, egos, bias – warts and all.

In 2004, the Blue Mountains {city} Council finally released it 2002 draft Plan of Management for The Gully, however,  after seven years is yet to be funded and implemented; council preferring to fund multi-million urban developments such as nearby Katoomba Cultural (Shopping) Centre.  In that same year,  past Aboriginal residents and descendants of The Gully collaborated with local council management to have an archaeological survey conducted at key traditional cultural sites throughout The Gully.

In early  2006, a collaborative coalition of various community members including traditional Gundungurra and Darug and The Friends and formed ‘The Gully Guardians’, although this was short-lived due to undermining tactics by political interests within Blue Mountains Council causing hostilities.   This was superseded by the establishment of the ‘Gully Traditional Owners’ in June 2006 by representatives of the Aboriginal people that had inhabited the Gully over many generations.  The Gully Traditional Owners has since that time collaborated with Blue Mountains {city} Council to achieve New South Wales grant funding for restoration works, including a planned interpretative walking track through the Gully.

 

‘The Gully Cause’

 

The Gully Cause (i.e. saving it from ongoing abuse and neglect) is an humanitarian one as it is an ecological one. 

This creek valley is the site of some of the Blue Mountains most divisive conservation battles that persist – citing the forced evictions by Council, the notorious 1957 bulldozing for a car racetrack, the bulldozing for Katoomba golf course, massive subdivision for housing, council profiteering from land sales for incremental housing development, deforestation for mass tourism, arson, a sports centre development by council,  the creek diverted into a dam as part of one of two wacky theme park developments, etc, etc.

The values, history, stories, threats, abuse and neglect remain ongoing.  The Habitat Advocate was established in 2006 as a conservation activist organisation based in The Gully water catchment situated in inner west Katoomba.  

Since the events of 1957, when council acquired the majority of what was then known as Katoomba Falls Creek Valley upstream of Katoomba Falls to the highway, most of the land has been deemed Council Community Land, so it is largely public open space, except for the many sections sold off for development – both housing subdivision and mass tourism.

The editor of The Habitat Advocate has lived within The Gully water catchment since 2001 and has contributed an active community voluntary role to protect the natural values of The Gully and assist local residents and former residents of The Gully and their descendants in a constructive way.   This includes years of Bushcare weeding, SCA Streamwatch drinking water quality monitoring winning five awards from the Sydney Catchment Authority, as well as community activism as a member of the former local Katoomba community group Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley Inc. (affectionately termed ‘The Friends’ by its members), which spanned some 26 years (1989 – 2016) protecting and the defending this natural valley from all sort of development threats. 

In addition, our editor was a member of the former Gully Guardians (a joint informal coalition of both local Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal locals and former residents of The Gully and their descendants).   I have enjoyed ongoing co-operation with The Gully Traditional Owners.

The Habitat Advocate grew out of its editor’s five year membership of local Katoomba protest action group The Friends from 2002 to 2006.  The Habitat Advocate is intimately aware of The Gully’s values, cultural sensitivities, histories, issues and threats that continue to affect this special place.

  

The Gully Collection

 

This Habitat Advocate webpage is dedicated to the conservation values of The Gully and remains a work-in-progress, collating various records, documents, images and accounts on The Gully so that locals, past, present and emerging of all persuasions may learn more about the important conservation values of this special place, thus continuing in the conservation spirit of The Friends. 

We have amassed a considerable library of knowledge on The Gully spanning a century.

An early photo of The Gully’s landscape (circa. 1920), taken looking from from the rear of the Balmoral Guesthouse (then 196 Main Street, since renamed Bathurst Road)  in Katoomba perhaps by the renowned Blue Mountains photographer Harry Phillips (1873-1944)

 

The following hyperlinks below are to pages and posts internally on this website that over time will form a reference library of material on The Gully restricted to what is in the public interest – ‘The Gully Collection‘ (created by The Habitat Advocate from 2016):

 

>Go To The Gully Collection

 

(click to enlarge photo)

‘There is a proposal by (Queensland-based) Coalpac Pty Ltd to mine coal, using high wall and open cut mining techniques.  This activity would occur within the Ben Bullen State Forest, this forest adjoins the Gardens of Stone, an amazing area containing rock formations called pagodas.

If this destructive mine is approved, at least 1088 ha of old growth forest will be destroyed, with its iconic, rare flora and fauna.  We have an unenviable record of species extinctions, locally and nationally.

Lyrebirds use the sides of the pagodas to nest and raise their young.  The area is home to tiger quolls, powerfull owls and more than 30 native animals, five of which are listed as endangered.

Local residents will not suffer from dust in the air, but they, and others further afield, will have their water supply contaminated.

Please write to Mrs Roza Sage (Liberal Party Member for Blue Mountains electorate) to express your concern about this irreplaceable environment at risk frominappropriatre and unnecessary mining development.’

Anne Dillon, Blackheath.

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[Source: Blue Mountains Gazette, ‘Threat to forest’, 20110713, page 12, Blue Mountains, New South Wales Australia]

 

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Further reading:

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[1]  ^http://fatcanyoners.org/2011/05/14/gardens-of-stone-protest/

One by one, roadside vegetation, roadside communities, and villages through the Blue Mountains are capitulating to the New South Wales Government’s agency, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA).  One diesel-driven programme to convert a regional highway into a dangerously fast heavy trucking expressway.

The RTA is an ‘authority’ alright – a testament to when absolute authority is allowed to overrule local values at any cost.

Leura, Blue Mountains, Australia,  22nd  Dec 2006)

 

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RTA rainfall retention gross failure, Leura 30th June 2005

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Trees hacked to make way for the RTA expressway, 4th February 2007

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RTA construction sediment down the drain and into Blue Mountains World Heritage creeks, 16th January 2006

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