I read that a council in Sydney is selling several nature reserves to property developers because they're not being used by the public, what a lame excuse. No mention of the fact that maybe those areas are a refuge for native wildlife in a hostile urban environment, where no consideration is ever given to providing refuges for wildlife and man's selfishness abounds.
There's a strong urge in our society that says if there's a space it must be filled. Allowing nature to simply exist is quite foreign to many people, paricularly in government.
i believe some local golf courses with significant intact native heathlands and woodlands (and the last populations of some birds) are to be requisitioned and handed over to developers, authorities citing purported lack of profitability under current land use. suggesting again that the land is seen only as a recreational resource to exploit, not for any intrinsic value.
Is nothing sacred. People just have to fight to protect. There's no other way.
Perhaps we should sell the defence force, we don't use it much either. Or at a minimum chuck the cost of a couple planes and a submarine at the environment. 4.2 billion would make a differance. I am not suggesting freedom comes for free, but neither does fresh air if we keep hacking it down.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
actually some defence force reserve no-go zones around the world are inadvertently some of the best-preserved examples of threatened ecosystems (just goes to show how beneficial simply excluding people from land can be for wildlife). e.g. the korean demilitarised zone is a haven for wildlife extinct elsewhere.
That good to hear zosterops. I'm glad its happening somewhere.
I live near and in fear of Greenbank Millitary Camp area being sold to pay for the white paper. Looking at google satellite images you can see the density of suburbs Forrest Lakes, Springfield lakes, and Boronia Heights that suround it paving the way. The Wacol Arny Barrocks have gone, bulldozed flat in a few days and woodchipped for no more than industrial prosperity.
There is a chunk of land on Johnston Rd and Stapylton Road on the southern side, that went last year and another marked out to happen very soon next to it. This is good quality dense bush going here, not some semi cleared half arsed left over from another era. But it seems more industrial is what's needed. You can't get enough trucks on the roads of the nation, and at 1lt per kilometer per truck fuel consumption, that's a great industry to expand. I worked at a (1) truck company for a bit. 35 trucks in the fleet of which 15 went to Sydney every night. The other 15 come back to Brisbane the same night. That's 30 000lt of diesel in one night, let alone damage to raods, road kill, tyres wear or litter, and whatever else. One train can pull 40 - 50 carrages, be no threat to other vehicles, and the line is desinged for it. But our fantastic politicans sold us out again for more. More service and spare parts, more industry based around a transport industry. More tree clearing for more industrial space. More jobs and immergration, more houseing required. Aren't they clever little kings.
Anyway my guess between the three cleared locations near me, somewhere around 2.5 to 3 square kiometers of bush have gone.
I hear on the news even though Qld had introduced stronger land clearing laws, land clearing has increased every year from 2014, when they were introduced. And only 1 out of 100 prosocutions for illegal clearing has been successful. It's not even worth asking why.
Anyone starting to feel like a white aboriginal. Living in a land amongst a race of people who don't make amy sense to you. No wonder drugs, alchol, violance, gambling, unwanted births or no responsibility parenting, and other low self esteem behaviour is out of control in white people. Got to wonder what is all for, because the little kings have no idea.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
That's a good point, zosterops, about the environmental benefits of excluding humans. The Murray Bridge Army Range in SA where Malle Fowl & a species of endangered Emu-wren (I forget which one) are present, is another case in point. Yet another is the area around Chernobyl where radioactivity has precluded human activity to the benefit of a host of wildlife species & their attendant habitat, I understand, although what this means for the chromosomal integrity of these species I'm not sure.
Not only do humans need to be excluded from large areas but also their stock. The benefits of this can be seen on my own property where native grasses, forbs, herbs, bulbs, mosses & lichens are increasingly becoming part of the plant community since horses were removed over 30 years ago. In fact, non-disturbance of any form is one of the important principles of bushcare.
Jason, you have a good understanding of the connection between the environment & biodiversity on the one hand & societal ills on the other. As you imply, few politicians have. Or if they have they're fearful of voicing their understanding for fear of being labelled nutters & losing their seats, I sense.
I sure feel like a nutter somedays. Anyway I see the white paper needs 3 consecutive terms of government to become the full deal. Not sure I I feel like voting for either of the two major parties, they keep changing who the people vote for when it gets rough for the beloved party. And if you vote Green well that is bacically Labour these days with the bedroom deals. Can't see much enthuiasm from this Australian, and not to say I don't care. By christ I care.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
It seems to me we've reached a stage in the development of our society where the leaders in our so-called democracy have become so dysfunctional that the voters have lost hope that those leaders will be able to change things for the better. A slowly increasing number of folk are alert to this & are looking to act locally. Jason, your deciding to help with a local bushcare group & focus on developing habitat in your own backyard is a classic illustration of this point. While our politicians dither people of goodwill are acting within the scope of their own situations.
I hope there is more change coming through as well woko. The last two weekends we have taken the kids bushwalking. We have been joined by one family on the first, and three on the other. We walked them a kilometer or two up a good hill then down a slope, or down a slippery slop and a rocky gully. Hit the creek then swam them through the rushes, over the slippery rocks and submerged logs. Slid down rocks into pools, jumped off waterfalls and sat in the white water under them. Walked logs, bathed in the sun, listened to the wind in the trees, and watched the birds chase insects All with the tadploes, dragon flies, spiders, eels, yabbies, frogs, occasional snake, water dragons, and whatever else we didn't see. And not one tear or much whinging. Well not completely true, stinging netles got a few of the kids. For some of these kids it's a normal day out, for the others it was all new. The newbies take to it easily if the other kids see it as normal, and their parents have not poluted their young minds with yuk or dangerous statements.
I have seen plenty of kids who don't like the dark, hate sand, and kill anything that crawls. Nature is still there to be conqured it seems. But I ask my son when we are out would you rather be doing this or playing Xbox, and he always answers this.
To find 10 girls from grade 7 to 11 doing a Duke of Ed course in there as well. Plus half a dozen young couples looking for a quite day, or teen boys looking for adventure, and a couple other families with young kids is very encouraging. That maybe some of these kids will break out of the shell society wants them to live in, and like a newly hatched turtle sprinting for the sea, make it through the space of attacking others and opportunsts, to the open water where they can make a positive differance in and to the world they live in.
In the words of the late John Lennon. I might be just a dreamer...but I'm not the only one.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Very nice, Jason. With people like that enjoying the bush we need to get stuck into protecting & restoring more of it lest it become overwhelmed with human numbers escaping the boredom of our materialist society.
Yes it brings us back to a discussion we have already have. Usage, who and what for, size of National Parks, and how many. We have ellections comming up in Brisvegas very soon. All the talk that I have heard is on how Brisbane will grow by another million in 10 years, and how the people will move around the place. Even offers of free transport days to attract the punters to the sale. Not quite $900 but along the same lines. Nothing about saving more bush, expanding it, or making it healthier.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Most Defence facilities are very much places where wildlife thrives. Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area is one such place that's noted for its environmental credentials (quite ironic). The area used to be a cattle farm and was bought out by Defence for military exercises, which raised the ire of environmental groups. There was a major push to close down Shoalwater Bay and restore it to what it was and even Peter Garrett took on the cause.
It was only after a visit by him and others that they realised that Defence had in fact cleared the land of noxious weeds etc and begun a full restoration of the land to what it was before farming. After that visit, there was a 180 degree turnaround and all the environmental groups declared that Defence should retain Shoalwater Bay.
While numerous military fire power exercises area conducted there each year, they have minimal impact on the wildlife and, after every exercise, the land is fully checked and maintenance conducted. No organisation in Australia is as anal about maintaining the environment as Defence. I know, as I did a number of environmental surveys of Shoalwater Bay and other areas years ago.
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjKn4Px2sPLAhXk46YKHR8-AwEQFgg6MAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.org%2Fcs%2Fgroups%2Fwebcontent%2F%40web%2F%40australia%2Fdocuments%2Fdocument%2Fprd_062385.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGQjNX1ecEMHd0J5wyBVRw2rwNPjA&bvm=bv.116636494,d.dGY
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Thoughts, Musings, Ideas and Images from South Gippsland
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They have the money to do it of course ie invest in conservation works.
Not so, but they are always under the microscope because of people's incorrect perceptions, so they have to be significantly more attentive over everything. Defence often has far less discretionary money to spend on such things than most Commonwealth organisations, so they manage the available funds carefully.
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Thoughts, Musings, Ideas and Images from South Gippsland
http://australianimage.com.au/wordpress/
The expertise gained by our defense forces in protecting the natural environment at Shoalwater Bay Training Area is, no doubt, invaluable. The invasion of our natural areas by housing estates, mines, fracking, rubbish dumping, trail biking & other activities which wreck our natural environment warrants a vigorous response so there are plenty of opportunities for Defense to put this expertise into operation if only for training purposes in a variety of theatres.
I'm not sure how I would go about comparing the anality of Defense with that of environmental organisations such as Bush Heritage Australia but it's great to learn that Defense has a sensitivity to the natural environment far outweighing that of most organisations in Australia.
Nothing infuriates me more than the stupid and careless people that venture into the bush. I’ve been going bush for 40+ years and it’s just sad how poorly so many treat the environment. When we go out, more often than not, we leave our camp spots in better condition than when we arrived. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case with many others and there’s little that can be done when it comes to human nature.
As I’ve pointed out before, there needs to be a balance when it comes to the environment and being able to support a growing population. We have curbed industrial pollution over the last 30+ years, such that it’s not the issue that it once was in Australia, or most of the world. Debates about mining and the like become very heated and it’s either black or white in most cases. Nothing is ever simply Black or white.
I have some fairly pointed views about national parks and parks management, given my years of venturing into the Victorian High Country, but that’s probably not the ideal thing to discuss via a key board.
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Thoughts, Musings, Ideas and Images from South Gippsland
http://australianimage.com.au/wordpress/