PERPETUAL POLLUTION

 A highly successful roadshow was conducted locally over the last weekend in July, focussed on the social, environmental, cultural and economic threats posed by mining.

 The events, held at Copmanhurst, Grafton, Drake and Dorrigo, were organised by the Clarence Catchment Alliance which had invited the Environmental Defenders Office to advise landowners of their rights when approached by a mining company requesting access to their properties.

 Among the many threats that are posed by mining, is the potential, particularly in mountainous landscapes in high rainfall areas, of the pollution of waterways as a result of tailings dam failure. However, a lesser-known pollution threat comes from acid mine drainage (AMD), aka acid rock drainage.

 AMD occurs naturally when sulphide minerals in the waste rock from mining react with air and water to form sulphuric acid. This acid leaches out metals in the rock, which can enter nearby waterways, or even seep into groundwater.

 In the USA it’s been described as the largest environmental problem facing the mining industry, with the international organisation, Earthworks, presenting a stark picture of the impacts, describing it as “perpetual pollution”. This is because it can continue indefinitely, long after mining has ended. They point to a literature review that concluded that “no hard rock surface mines exist today that can demonstrate that large scale acid mine drainage can be stopped once it occurs”.

 AMD also occurs across Australia, including here, in the Clarence River catchment. Drake’s Mt Carrington mine has long been known for AMD, and was responsible for polluting Sawpit Creek, a tributary of the Clarence, in the mid-1990s, and is likely still seeping into the river today, despite significant expenditure by both the mining companies responsible, and NSW taxpayers.

The NSW Derelict Mined Lands Rehabilitation Program spent $155,000 on AMD rehabilitation in the Drake area in 1996, with a further $100,000 budgeted for 1997, and ongoing expenditure ever since.

Now, following a string of failed mining ventures at Mt Carrington, Legacy Minerals, has acquired the mine, announcing yet more exploratory work.

 Can we really afford the risk?

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 6th August, 2025.

A SPECIAL PLACE

 National Parks are special places, vital for biodiversity protection.  They are also places where humans who appreciate nature can re-connect with a world that is in some ways simpler and certainly more natural than our everyday world.

The New England National Park has been my favourite for many years.

I first visited this national park over 40 years ago with my husband and two young children.  Since then I've been back many times with my kids, with friends and on several occasions with my grandchildren. 

A wonderful natural area, perched on the edge of the New England plateau, it overlooks the Bellinger Valley.  From the escarpment at Point Lookout you look east across ridge after ridge of densely vegetated land.  In the ravines and valleys, where the dense rainforests are, the vegetation is dark green.  Along the ridges, the domain of eucalypts and species that live in drier areas, the green is paler.

Sometimes you look down onto cloud which fills the valleys and gives the impression of a white sea with islands of vegetation rising from it.

I've explored many walking tracks in this park – from those meandering through the tree ferns to steep trails descending through majestic, mossy Antarctic Beech, remnants of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland. 

Some tracks follow swiftly flowing creeks plunging for a while over huge granite boulders.  Then these creeks seem to rest, turning into deep shadowed pools which look inviting but which are breath-catchingly cold even in mid-summer.

Highlights of many visits have been encounters with the Superb Lyrebird, an outstanding mimic and an extremely shy bird.  I remember one magical time many years ago when I saw a male lyrebird, tail unfurled and magnificent, practising what must have been his mating ritual.  He danced and carolled and mimicked while I watched entranced.

My visits have been less frequent in recent years but I have always anticipated seeing lyrebirds and hopefully a quoll or two, as well as undertaking some much gentler, slower walks than in my younger fitter years.

            - Leonie Blain

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent ,30th July, 2025. 

LOSING OUT TO INVASIVE SPECIES

Australia’s State of the Environment Report, 2021, tells us that the greatest threats to biodiversity are habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change, with invasive species actually responsible for most extinctions.

While foxes, cats and wild dogs have had a devastating impact on Australian’s unique fauna, invasive plants have also taken their toll, often smothering native plant species.

The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions reports that weeds in NSW cost the economy between $1.67 billion and $1.9 billion annually, admitting that the impact of weeds on biodiversity and natural environments is harder to quantify, but equally significant.

The NSW government currently spends just $50 million annually on weed control, and clearly this is nowhere close to what is needed, as weeds continue to proliferate.

Invasive weeds such as Lantana are rampant in the state’s forests and national parks, with weed control in the former seemingly restricted to road verges to reduce scratching of vehicles, while national parks receive only cosmetic weed control around the more visited locations.

National parks and reserves have Plans of Management detailing weed control policy, which generally reads along the lines of: “NPWS weed control activity is conducted in accordance with the North Coast Region Pest Management Strategy. This strategy has been developed for the region as a whole and identifies pest populations, priorities for control, and control programs”.

However, while Lantana is probably the most invasive species in lower altitude forests, and is listed as a priority weed at a state level, it’s not listed as a priority for the North Coast region.

So essentially, because funding is so limited, the official policy focuses on newly emerging pest species such as Tropical Soda Apple and Devil’s Fig, hoping to eliminate them; while placing well established weeds into the ‘too hard basket’, allowing their uncontrolled proliferation.

“Collaboration” is a major theme throughout the regional plan, and we need to acknowledge that the weed problem is way beyond any government’s ability to deal with alone, so we all need to lift our game.

 

-        John Edwards

 

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 23rd July, 2025.