Judie Peet wrote:
> "Further broad-acre clearance of native vegetation in the core of the
> NSW SWB is indefensible and should halt forthwith ........... Without
> an effective halt to further clearance, the prognosis for Threatened
> and Declining birds in the SWB, serious already, can only become more
> acute."
Personally I believe that broad-acre clearance anywhere within Australia
is now completely indefensible, and should halt forthwith. Though it's
quite clear that further clearance will endanger what we have left, in
some areas the clearance undertaken 40-50 years ago is just now starting
to present us with observable effects (declines, local extinctions).
In a paper I hope to publish later this year, I've documented the local
extinction of about a dozen bird species (some of which would be
regarded as 'common' in some areas), and the decline to extreme
vulnerability of a dozen more species, in a landscape remnant that is
relatively large (1000 ha), and which was completely isolated from
surrounding areas only in the last 3-4 decades. We can no longer be
complacent about any woodland bird populations in fragmented
ecosystems. The extinction debts are being repaid as we speak.
--
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LAWRIE CONOLE
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