Reading these emails I was reminded of the ACT government advisory committee (whose identity does not need to be revealed) which wrote to their minister complaining because of action he had taken,
and for not having consulting them in advance, having forgotten their letter to him two years previously which urged him to take the action they were criticising, which was their response to consultation with them.
I don’t have an opinion about this decision because the information is too incomplete. From what has been stated here so far, we do not know whether the response by the government official mentioned
COG, or bird groups. Maybe ACTGOV were taking responsibility themselves for the decision? Maybe the decision was not even mainly about birds, with ‘birds’ being used as a convenient shorthand by a running club member for any or all ‘green’ issues? And from
these emails we don’t know the complaints referred to by Sandra, nor the history of previous communications from COG to PCS and ACTGOV generally on related matters. And importantly, we don’t know about the event.
Callum Brae Woodland Nature Reserve is 1.43 sq km in area (Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve is four times bigger). So it is plausible that a large enough group of people present for 1.5 hrs throughout
such a small patch of habitat could disturb some species enough for this to be regarded as important during the breeding period (presumably the event was proposed for some time in the next few months). What would be the COG response if the day of the event
proved to be one of heavy rain, and virtually all incubating birds in the reserve, from at least one significant species, were kept off their nests for 90 minutes?
Cheers, Don Fletcher
From: sandra henderson <>
Sent: Friday, 27 July 2018 9:34 AM
To: Martin Butterfield <>
Cc: COG List <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Callum Brae
I recall there were several complaints a few years ago when a rather large running event was held in CB. Perhaps it's a matter of how to allow some and forbid others, so easier to say no all running events.
Sandra H
On Friday, 27 July 2018, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:
One of the local running clubs used to run a cross country race on the tracks in Callum Brae once a year. They have recently been told by some component of the ACT Government that this cannot be
countenanced because it would disturb the birds.
This sound s strange to me as I'd have thought having a few people run round the area for about an hour and a half would not disturb the birds as much as a Ranger driving through or a Habitat Reduction
Burn.
Has COG made any requests to stop these events or has some bureaucrat just come up with a way of saying "no" that appears to blame someone other than the ACT Government?
