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
