Mike, Would you mind if I forwarded your email to our Minister for Tourism,
Adam Giles and a few others?
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 71
Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
043 8650 835
PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia
Nominated by Earthfoot for Condé Nast’s International Ecotourism Award, 2004.
With every introduction of a plant or animal that goes feral this continent
becomes a little less unique, a little less Australian.
On 19 Mar 2015, at 10:02 am, Mark Carter <> wrote:
> Hi All,
> Bad news folks. Many of you will know the classic "Tyre-in-the-pole"
> Rufous-crowned Emu-wren site on the Santa Teresa Rd south of Alice Springs.
> The eastern half of the site was burnt out in a huge wildfire in 2011, and
> sadly I can report that the western half of the site now appears to be on the
> route for a new stretch of road that is being constructed. I was on the site
> on Monday as part of my normal bird tour route and witnessed an excavator
> clearing old-growth spinifex and demolishing the rocky ridges pretty much in
> the centre of the resident Emu-wren's home range. As the vegetation is dry
> and temperatures are high I wouldn't be surprised if a spark from a excavator
> blade didn't start a fire in the remaining spinifex. Work is already
> progressed so the time to influence the route has long gone. We local birders
> are all flat out with our own projects, jobs and lives (!) and somehow missed
> the plans to re-route the Santa Teresa Rd right through this important
> birding location. The Emu-wren occurs at many other locations in the region,
> I have some good alternative sites to take birders for this species but it
> breaks my heart to think that I won't see the sun rise from that hill while
> Emu-wrens and Grasswrens frolic at our feet ever again. Should the spinifex
> stands to the west escape being burnt or cleared during this construction, in
> time the site will be usable again for birding but I think in the meantime
> its effectively finished.
> The moral of the story is if you have a place you love birding never assume
> its safe- we have to do what we can to safeguard these places both for the
> birds and ourselves or we'll be left with nothing.
>
> Regards
>
> Mark Carter
>
> Birding and Wildlife.com
> T ++61 (0) 447358045
>
> http://www.birdingandwildlife.com
> ABN 31234450010
>
>
>
>
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