Re: Mallee Trip Report, May 2007

Greeting birders, 

I have just returned from a birding
trip around the Mallee National Parks around Ouyen.

On the well publicised Nowingi
Track, i spotted some of the specialities of the area;  a
pair of  Two-headed Mallee Emu Wrens, a Glowing Grasswren
sat up a top some spinifex providing excellent views.  
A couple of Uranium-Breasted Quail Thrush hoovered across
the road in front of me. 

I also stumbled apon a Mallee Fowl
mound made entirely of Cadmium Batteries. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*sigh* 

Obviously the above is fictional, but
Steve Bracks, Victoria's premier, has gone and done it again and announced
the site of the proposed Toxic Waste dump at Nowingi, right in the heart
of Victoria's three largest Mallee National Parks. 

The mention of Nowingi and toxic dump
will terrify all birders who have ever been Mallee Emu wren searching in
the Victoria Mallee.  A search through the archives on 'Nowingi' will
outline to all birding aus members, how significant the vegetation is around
this area to birdlife.

Lets hope the environmental assessments
wont allow this to go ahead, but make your birding voice known about these
concerns.



FROM  http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8339
"Mr Bracks said the Nowingi site had not originally
been considered because in 1989 the Land Conservation Council recommended
it be classified as state forest.
"
...............

"Mr Bracks said Crown land had always been included
in the search for a site, as long as it did not have environmental value."

"A full environmental assessment of the Nowingi site would now be undertaken and the government was confident it would be approved within about 12 months, he said."


For more information, here's a couple of links:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1111472.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1111857.htm