birding-aus

Awaba's Masked Owls

To: Craig Williams <>, "Birding-aus (E-mail)" <>
Subject: Awaba's Masked Owls
From: Chris Sanderson <>
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 14:06:45 +0800
Hi Craig and others,

While it is unfortunately too late for the now-deceased trees of the
development and homeless owls, you haven't run out of avenues to
pursue this issue yet.  Was EPBC Act approval applied for and granted?
 If so, was it mentioned that Powerful Owl and Masked Owl were present
at the site, both trigger species for the Act (I'd imagine there were
other trigger species present as well), and obviously likely to be
impacted on by the actions of the developers.  If they don't have
approval, or if they didn't mention that these species were present in
their approval request, they may be liable for a large fine and even
jail time, especially if you can prove they knew the owls were present
but didn't mention them in an approval application.

If you would like to consult someone on this issue, try contacting the
WWF through their EPBC Act Advisory Unit:

http://www.wwf.org.au/About_WWF_Australia/How_we_work/Science_and_policy/Biodiversity/EPBC_unit/

or you could talk to the DEH directly via:

http://www.deh.gov.au/epbc/index.html

My personal preference would be to contact the WWF to get advice on
how to approach the DEH and what information to provide them, to help
streamline the process.

Regards,
Chris Sanderson
Broome, WA

On 7/30/05, Craig Williams <> wrote:
> HI Mick and birders
>
> Fantastic images of the masked owls Mick.
>
> I only wish I could have got you out to the Buttaba area - to the east
> of where you have been working on the masked owls - before clearing
> commenced on a 90 block development which removed a huge number of trees
> with hollows supporting a lively fauna community and a resident pair of
> masked owls that I had observed on a number of occasions as they roosted
> in a huge scribbly gum hollow.  This tree, even before development
> consent was given, mysteriously was blown to smithereens by unknown
> parties.  I would love to get hold of these unknown parties for a brief
> chat before taking them to the cops.
>
> The local council joyfully approved development consent in spite of all
> the indicators that this particular area is of great importance to
> nocturnal birds, AND COMPLETELY IGNORED/LIMITED/PREVENTED ALL OPPOSITION
> TO THE DEVELOPMENT.
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