Julie
As I read your posting on birding-aus in response to my initial posting it
is clear that I should write to clear up a few matters.
1. I am not from Victoria. I am from NSW. I am the Hon Secretary of the
National Parks Association of NSW, the NPA Coordinator of a joint project on
western matters with WWF and have been involved in western conservation
issues and birding now for 25 years.
2. I am not from the city. I now live in the city and am a teacher but I
come from a property too and that property is still in the family, in its
4th generation ... like your own. I hope that we have managed that property
as well as you have done but I know we could have done better over that
time. I know that we were encouraged to clear lands we should not have done
by government tax concessions that were in place into the 1970s and that
that land should now be returned to nature. I am particularly aware of a
small valley at the back of the property that we cleared for little economic
value and for little return. I wish we had not done that. And because I know
that many of those decisions were taken by people using the best knowledge
and within the framework of the values of the time I recognise that the
costs of those mistakes should be borne by the whole community.
3. I am also aware that there has been a major change of composition of bird
species in that time in our property and on other properties. Further, I am
aware that this change is important. I am not a birdwatcher just to record
how many species I have seen and am delighted if they are rare. I am
interested in species composition, populations numbers, etc. They tell me
much about the health of our environment. Birdwatching that is not
interested in the environment of the birds is no more than a modern version
of trophy collecting and a total irrelevance to any but the collector.
4. Ironically, given that you praise David, it was he who asked me to
forward this material to birding-aus in the first place. I support his words
and the action he asks all to make. However I can not lay claim to his
precise knowledge and willingly posted that material on his behalf.
5. I would love to see your property. I love seeing well-run properties and
meeting with farmers whose interest is in the environment. There are many
such properties and I state this up front now. Indeed most of the current
damage is being done by corporations who have no long term links with the
land that they wish to clear. However I would bet that you are frustrated
that your own efforts are not always backed by the efforts of others within
the catchment. The current debate over salinity is such an example of where
we need much more than single farm responses. This is directly related to
land clearing and I know you are aware of this.
Thank you for joining the forum and I would love to meet you and see you
place at some time convenient to both.
Brian Everingham
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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