Hi all,
I have watched with interest the debate over the
clearing of the willow species along the Molonglo River.
Generally I am quite happy for this to happen but will be interested to see
what species are used to replant the cleared areas. However there two far more
serious issues going on in at least some parts of Canberra that no-one seems to
be concerned about; firstly the almost complete removal of all large Acacia
species and the pruning of Eucalypts and other “native” species to
within an inch of their life along the road verges. This I assume is a
so-called response to the potential for a future bushfire wiping out Canberra after the 2003
fires. Over the last six months or so I have watched as trees along Ginninderra Drive
have either been totally removed or severely pruned. In Kaleen and Giralang
along Baldwin Drive
ALL
Acacias have been removed and all the lower branches and most double trunks on
the Eucalypts and Casuarinas have been cut off to at least about 2 metres from
the ground. Certainly there was a need to clear some of the larger dead Acacias.
Many of these Acacias provided food for Superb Parrots (especially A. baileyana
which is classed as an invasive species) and many smaller species such as the
thornbills, particularly species like the Yellow Thornbill. All the material pruned
from these trees is mulched and all over the parts of northern Canberra that I regularly travel through are
dotted piles of this mulch – some of these piles have been in situ for more than two years. If the
government is serious about fire control measures then we may as well totally clear
Mounts Ainslie and Majura, Black
Mountain, Red Hill and
all the other hills with any sort of vegetation on them. This current exercise is
a total knee jerk reaction from someone who has no idea what they are doing.
The second issue is the total destruction of plants
in many areas so that we can build ever more housing locally – what I
assume is called the “in-fill policy”. Some of the latest examples
is the block of units being built along (I think) Totterdell Street near the Belconnen Mall.
This whole area several years ago was a well wooded park and Regent Honeyeaters
have been recorded in the general vicinity. There is also the expansion of Radford College
into the natural bush in Bruce as well as the hospice opposite Calvary Hospital along Hayden Drive. Every time I drive around the
city I see more and more destruction of small patches of bush. I am sure most
long-term Canberra
residents remember the small weather station surrounded by trees that was
opposite the ANU between Barry
Drive and Boulderwood Street in Turner. It now has
town houses planted on it. I have often wondered if I would be allowed to
tender for the wood-chipping rights to all these area as I would by now be a
very wealthy person!!!
It is all well and good to say Canberra has a good network of reserves (it
doesn’t!!!) but if birds can’t move between these reserves we will
soon loose our biodiversity. I think everyone is aware that the ACT Government
recently announced a moratorium on developing parts of the central Molonglo Valley
and that a study was being undertaken on the Brown Treecreeper population in
the “Kama” block at West Belconnen.
I am assisting Chris Davey with this study but personally believe that this
population will disappear sooner rather than later. Look at what has happened
to the Brown Treecreeper in both Mulligan’s Flat NR and the lower slopes
of the Mount Ainslie/Campbell park areas – they have gone and both these
areas have access to huge areas of potentially suitable habitat for the species
to move through. I have lived in Canberra
for over 50 years, arriving here as a small child in the early 1950s, and have
watched as the city grows and we loose more and more bird species and general
natural history. Brown Treecreepers, Southern Whitefaces, Hooded Robins, Jacky
Winters, Varied Sittellas etc, etc were common breeding species where we now
have Fern Hill “Technology” Park when I lived in O’Connor –
I doubt if any of these species are still present along O’Connor Ridge.
Canberra is
very rapidly in danger of loosing its title of the Bush Capital. I don’t
think this current ACT Government has the faintest idea about the local
environment, despite the best efforts of COG. Are we as a group going to sit
back and watch all this happen before our eyes or is there more that COG can
do?
I look forward to people’s comments and
opinions.
Mark
