GUARDING THE CLARENCE RIVER

 For many years Clarence River health has been a concern for people living in its very extensive catchment.  Past health threats including plans to divert major flows to the west or the north have been met with very strong community opposition which led to these plans being dropped. 

More recently the threat posed by the uptake of mining leases in the search for critical minerals has alarmed the river’s protectors. The Clarence Catchment Alliance (CCA) has been alerting the community and local councils to how damaging mining pollution of the Clarence would be to the drinking water of over 100,000 urban dwellers as well as important local industries including fishing, agriculture and tourism.  Its recent public meetings in Grafton, Copmanhurst, Drake and Dorrigo were the precursors for a deputation to Sydney several weeks ago.  The CCA, along with many in the local community, want the State Government to ban mineral mining in our catchment and this was the case they took to the State Government.  If the Government fails to act as it should, the campaign will continue.

Clarence River health and the need to protect it in the long term is the focus of another group which has been gathering community support in recent months.  The Clarence River Guardians, launched early this year, has a range of members including representatives from organisations including First Nations people, the CCA, Canegrowers, Clarence Council, environment groups, Landcare, and local High Schools.

The River Guardians have developed a citizen science project in partnership with Southern Cross University.  This project will help establish parameters and scientific information that will assist in protecting and understanding the Clarence and its catchment.

The first part of the project is a baseline study of river sediments where volunteers, in collaboration with First Nations Custodians, will collect 100 or more river sediment samples from key locations across the catchment on October 18-19.  Samples will be analysed for over 50 elements including heavy metals with the data being stored as a community resource. 

For more information or to volunteer, check  https://www.clarenceriverguardians.net

-        Leonie Blain

  Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 27th  August, 2025.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK

 National Parks Association of NSW

Media Release

The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) welcomes the NSW Government’s announcement of the declaration of the Great Koala National Park.

 ‘This is an incredible moment for Australia’s National Parks’, stated NPA NSW President Liz Jeremy, ‘the culmination of more than a decade of determined advocacy for the future of koalas by local communities and conservationists’. 

‘We congratulate the NSW Government on finally making the Great Koala National Park a reality.  The road between NPA’s original 2015 report to the NSW Government and today’s decision has been a long and often frustrating one, but emphatically worth it’. 

Dr Douglas of NPA Coffs Coast Branch, stated ‘What has been achieved is much more than the permanent protection of 176,000 hectares of forest and koala habitat.  NPA’s vision for the Great Koala National Park was always about more than a change of land title, it was about connecting existing reserves with vulnerable habitats to secure a forest estate of international conservation significance.  A forest estate large enough to connect escarpment to coast, safeguard entire catchments and give our threatened forest fauna and flora the best possible chance of survival’.

‘While celebrating the new park we must also acknowledge that it won’t be enough to guarantee the survival of koalas in NSW.  The decade since the 2015 report proposal has provided a much better understanding of the distribution of koalas across existing reserves, State Forests and plantations.  The next step is to identify areas outside the park that will need to be managed in ways that allow for the movement and persistence of koalas’ Ms Jeremy noted. 

Liz Jeremy noted ‘We should all recognise the impact of the decision on the forestry industry and the families who rely upon forestry jobs.  NPA fully supports the Government’s proposed transition package, especially measures to increase investment in the establishment of plantations on degraded agricultural lands’.

NPA acknowledges the support it has gained from other conservation organisations on the north coast including the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association, Bellingen Environment Centre, Clarence Valley Environment Centre, North-east Forest alliance and North Coast Environment Centre.  We also thank the Nature Conservation Council of NSW and World Wide Fund for Nature for their ongoing support.

RICHMOND RIVER KOALA PARKS PROPOSAL

Conservation and community groups are calling for 56,000 hectares of State Forests in the southern Richmond River Valley and along the Richmond Range to be protected.

The aim of this proposal is to:

• Ø   Safeguard a nationally important Koala population, genetically distinct from those in the Great Koala National Park.

• Ø    Protect the habitat of more than 130 threatened species.

• Ø    Improve the health of the Richmond River.

• Ø    Create a regionally significant wildlife corridor linking Bundjalung National Park on the coast to the Border Ranges National Park.

• Ø    Advance NSW’s target of 30% land protection by 2030 in one of Australia’s richest biodiversity hotspots.

As part of the campaign Ballina MP Tamara Smith has arranged an information session about the new national park proposal in the Macquarie Room at Parliament House on Wednesday 17 September from 6-7 pm.   

Speakers will be Dailan Pugh OAM from NEFA and koala expert Dr Steve Phillips.

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.

KOALA PROTECTION IN LIMBO IN NSW

 More than two years have passed since the Minns’ Government won office in NSW.  One of its election promises – the creation of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) – appears to be in limbo.  While there have been various committees meeting and discussing the proposed national park, the time line for actually creating it keeps extending.

Those concerned with protection of koalas and other threatened species in the area of the proposed new park are watching its ecological viability being continually damaged because the Government is allowing Forestry Corporation NSW to industrially log in the State Forests which are being considered for inclusion in the park.

The proposed park will include about 1760 sq km of State Forests and 1400 sq km of existing National Parks in five local government areas from Kempsey to the Clarence.  It will provide a network of protected koala habitat on public lands which would protect approximately twenty per-cent of NSW’s remaining wild koalas.

Many conservationists and community members are wondering just what will be left for biodiversity if the important habitat in these publicly-owned State Forests continues to be trashed by logging.

They have reason for concern because Koalas are listed as an Endangered Species in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.  In 2020 a NSW Legislative Council Inquiry found that koalas will become extinct in NSW by 2050 if urgent action is not taken to protect their habitat.  Sadly, urgent action on protecting koala habitat is obviously not on the NSW Government agenda.

This was quite apparent to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW  when it pointed out that in the recent state budget there was no new funding for the GKNP, no plan to transition timber workers, and no pathway to protect the native forests our threatened species call home.

While the Government has no sense of urgency to protect Koalas and other important species and continues its delaying tactics on creating the GKNP, there are many community members who are doing what they can to delay or halt destructive logging in our State Forests.

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 2 July, 2025.

WHERE'S THE POT OF GOLD?

Much has been written about the current rush to find critical minerals in the Clarence Valley, and with demand rocketing, the state government is hoping to collect billions of dollars in royalties. As a result, exploration approvals are being fast-tracked with little regard for the resultant social upheaval or potential environmental destruction.

The Clarence Valley has a history of mining starting with the 1800s gold rushes, followed by the mining of copper, silver, cobalt, antimony and a host of other minerals which, by the 1950s, were mostly exhausted. 

So, is there any as-yet-undiscovered mother lode waiting to be uncovered? Events over the past 50 years suggest not, and it’s significant that most of these modern-day explorers have focussed their activities on those earlier mine sites, producing glossy prospectuses, and hinting that modern technology will succeed where previous methods had failed. 

The Dalmorton gold field is a classic example where, in 1980, 40 years after serious mining had ceased, the Little River Goldfields company spent almost a decade exploring, using aero magnetics, geochemistry, gradient array IP and magnetics.

In all, they drilled over 120 holes and then, clearly having found nothing, packed up and left, recently to be replaced by another explorer, Revolution Metals. However, following a flurry of announcements in 2017, including about the completion of deep ground-penetrating radar surveys, these announcements ceased and their website was shut down.

Dalmorton is not alone, White Rock Minerals’ partner company at Mt Carrington, Thomson Resources, split following exploratory drilling in 2022. Castillo Copper came, drilled for 3 years at Cangai, and also left. Corazon Mining’s Mt Gilmore operations have seemingly stalled, despite receiving state and federal government grants, and drilling to almost 800m without finding anything. Likewise, Anchor, after bouncing around and drilling on the Dorrigo Plateau for 11 years, has gone, only to be replaced by Trigg Minerals, bent on repeating the cycle once again. 

As I see it, the government has nothing to lose, while Clarence Valley residents have everything to gain by having the catchment declared off-limits to mining.

  

-            John Edwards

 

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent 25 June, 2025.

 

Local Business Delegation Supports Creation of Great Koala National Park

 Liz Jeremy, NSW  National Parks Association President and local Mid North Coast resident,  welcomed NSW Premier Chris Minns' positive response to a delegation representing local businesses and recreational groups calling for the declaration of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP).

 Ms Jeremy said, "More than a hundred businesses and recreational groups from the Coffs Harbour region have signed an open letter telling the NSW Government that the Great Koala National Park is not just good for Koalas, it will be a drawcard for regional tourism and a boon for local business." 

"Tourism is so important for our region, and the more than a hundred businesses who signed onto the open letter are saying that the Great Koala National Park is the natural and cultural wonder that will put us on the national stage along with the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru." 

The open letter highlights the urgency of permanently protecting 176,000 hectares of State Forest as part of the new national park. The open letter states "Every day the decision to create the Great Koala National Park is delayed, we lose more koalas, and the tremendous potential for tourism and conservation slips away.”

The proposed park, which was promised by NSW Labor before it won the March 2023 state election, will include areas of publicly-owned State Forests as well as the existing National Parks in five local government areas from Kempsey to the Clarence.  It will provide a network of protected koala habitat on public lands which would protect approximately 20% of NSW's remaining wild koalas.

The delay in creating the promised park has been of increasing concern to local conservationists and community members.  They are watching important habitat in the proposed park area continuing to be industrially logged by the NSW Forestry Corporation.  Many of them are wondering just what will be left of biodiversity if the important habitat in these publicly-owned State Forests continues to be trashed by logging.