So what's the big deal about a bit of land clearing and erosion? It
gets rid of the vermin doesn't it?
A lot of you wouldn't understand the threat to us Amytornis caused by a
rampaging mound building Mallee Fowl on heat. And have you ever tried
to sleep when a Western Whipbird is tryin to get it off?
Grand pappy still remembers the late 70's campaign when Mr. Brinkworth's
duel wheeled articulated Steiger Tractors came through dragging huge
steel balls with massive chains and cleared 1 million acres of useless
mallee from the SE of South Australia, turning it into what the Govt.
calls it
"the Green Triangle".
Grand pappy remembers when the whole family had to hide in a rabbit
burrow to avoid the dozer blades and yet he says we were lucky. If it
didn't happen then, we'd be in bigger trouble now because the virus
killed the rabbits and we'd have nowhere to hide when the Queenslanders
move in. The Mallee Fowl were always a danger and he says "the land
clearing was nuthin compared to the last ice age anyway"!
But he says we should look at the benefits this brought! Such as?
Well Mr. Brinkworth even got the major SA conservation gong "for
draining swamps and turning the low spots into duck shooter protected
dams".
So you see another major benefit from land clearing and erosion is that
it enhances the political process too!
The Amytornis
Joyce Harding wrote:
>
> "Julie Lynn McLaren" wrote
> "is basically to stop erosion. From our personal experience of having
> pulled scrub about 10 years ago to stop this erosion"
>
> This seems to be an acceptable action on areas of original grass plains
> where scrub has invaded. Invasions of scrub and the shading of loose soils,
> preventing the growth of native grasses, which are deep rooted, would result
> in erosian with heavy rains. Grass plains are part of the natural ecosystem
> just as are woodlands and are vital for many birds. This is where local
> knowledge and long term vision is necessary. We too easily forget that
> outback Australia is not what it was 200 years ago. Changes have been
> happening for all of that time. We need to know what those changes have been
> before correct and lasting decisions are made.
>
> J.Harding
>
> Birding-Aus is on the Web at
> www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
> "unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
> to
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
