I also think about the arboretum, that I probably would not have suggested (or even thought of) that option for land use, if I was in charge. The idea is at
least imaginative, rather than folly. And good on those people who work or volunteer to support a nice facility. A better local conservation option could have been making that area into housing, dull and predictable as that option would be, given that to do
so may result in not destroying existing habitat elsewhere (at least not for many years), which is of value to those species Mark mentions.
Then again as a world citizen, it is not so bad for Canberra, as the national capital, to host this conservation facility and maybe raise awareness of conservation
in a different context. There is nothing wrong with broadening the scope of our thoughts. Zoos do the same for many animals and whilst that was not the original aim of zoos (and some parts of the world are way behind Australia on this), to some extent that
matters, zoos are doing some good conservation work (sometimes too late to be very useful).
As for
planting Casuarinas to attract Glossy Black-Cockatoos, Mark may be right or not – time
will tell - but given that there is this arboretum established, doing a little experiment that just might be of some little value, even tokenism in some small way is at least an admirable extra sweetener for the project.
Philip
From: Mark Clayton [
Sent: Monday, 16 January, 2017 7:18 PM
To: 'Alan Ford';
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] What are they for?
Once again Alan, well said. I am concerned about what is happening to the habitat for the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater, The Endangered Swift Parrot
and the Threatened Superb Parrot locally. I suggest if people are really concerned about these three species, plus may others that are rapidly declining locally, then they should go and look at what the ACT Government has done to the area between Mulligan’s
Flat and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserves, critical Box Gum Woodland habitat that these three and other species rely on, then go and look at the Arboretum. I know which I would prefer to have saved.
As for planting casuarinas to attract Glossy Black-Cockatoos, dream on people. This species rarely travels over urban areas to get to food sources. They have
known for generations where these food trees are. The cockatoos have not found the casuarina species in the ANBG so what makes people think they will find those in the Arbortum? By the time the casuarinas in the Arboretum are fully grown, the whole surrounding
area will be filled with houses.
Funnily enough the majority of emails that have been sent to me are supporting my view that the Arboretum is a waste of space and would have better been used
to make the ACT Government a lot of money selling the land for exclusive housing
a la O’Malley. I thought that I would be inundated by people critical of my views. People are however entitled to their view as we live in a supposed democracy.
Mark
