Ok - here is the message I started off to send tonight before I got sidetracked
with Crakes etc.
The Geelong Advertiser today carried a full page "advertising feature" called
"duckshooting" (p.31). There is an article called "Saving Wetlands" which
outlines some of the things Geelong Field and Game members are doing to
promote wetlands and wetland species. I won't send the entire article, but
here are some sections. Some birding-aus readers might like to take up some of
these comments via a letter to the Editor
or look for more info on the City of Greater Geelong's Draft Biodiversity
Management Strategy at www.geelongaustralia.com.au
I can't credit the author as no writer was acknowledged.
"Field and Game is a leader in wetland conservation. Public awareness is
growing of the group's hands-on and financial contributions to wetland projects
throughout Australia."
Some details follow of levee and spillway construction, water level control
mechanisms, carp control, nest box provision, and monitoring of nests by club
members during ther breeding season.
"Geelong Field and Game is preparing a wetland study of Lake Murtnaghurt, a
part of Connewarre State Game Reserve, adjacent to the 13th Beach golf course,
near Barwon Heads. It is envisaged this will involve the contruction,
installation and monitoring of next boxes, planting stands of indigenous trees
or vegetation, and the destruction of feral animals and noxious weeds. But
it's not just about game birds. The organisation has made progress with swamp
parrots and other birds."
... more about planting for nest hollows
"Education programs are teaching children the value of wetlands, with schools
using materials prepared by Geelong Field and Game to illustrate and explain
wetland flora and fauna."
====================
OK - does anyone know what information these school materials contain? I'm no
wetland expert, so I don't know what effect levees, spillways and other water
control mehcanisms have on wetland environments. Maybe it's all as good and
rosy as this article suggests? Others on this list might be aware of good work
done by Field and Game around the country - I'm not necesssarily knocking them
- it's just that I'm concerned about what message schools might be getting
about wetland management from teh pro-hunting lobby.
My next message might raise a few hackles as well.
Cheers
Russell Woodford
Geelong Vic
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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