UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS OF UNCONTROLLED FIRES

While the title, UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS, is a true reflection of what happens when an uncontrolled fire needs to be extinguished, most out-of-control bushfires are completely avoidable!

 It’s difficult to understand the mindset of those landowners that continually set fire to their properties, a practice otherwise known as ‘burning off’, with no means or intention of containing it.

This scenario is particularly prevalent where the land in question adjoins state forest, national parks or other public land, and this year has seen huge expanses of parks and reserves in the Clarence Valley burned out by neighbouring landowners. Everlasting Swamp, Nymboida, Chaelundi, and Ramornie National Parks, Sherwood, Banyabba, and Chambigne Nature Reserves, have all suffered, along with the entire Shannon Creek dam catchment, which has serious implications for the quality of the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply.

Out of control fires result in enormous financial losses for neighbouring landowners, and all too often result in the loss of homes, livestock, and even human lives.

The laws governing the seemingly ritual burning off of bushland are strict. All neighbours must be notified before burning takes place, and the fire must be contained within the property. However, the alerting of neighbours rarely takes place, and statistics suggest that many landowners light fires, knowing they can’t control them.

Out-of-control bushfires have cost millions of dollars-worth of property damage in the Clarence valley this year, and the cost to taxpayers of fighting those fires is even greater, and then there’s the clean-up. Removing fallen and potentially dangerous trees from highways and replacing power poles and wooden bridges. Water supplies are polluted and in extreme cases fish-kills can result, and the list goes on.

The environmental cost of too frequent burning is well documented, leading to ecosystem and species decline and even extinction. Despite all of this, authorities continue to condone these practices and turn a blind eye to breaches.

Earlier this year, an out-of-control fire at Dilkoon saw a Section 44 emergency declared, yet two days earlier, landowners had been free to burn-off without a permit.

Bushfire threat must be taken seriously.

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , November 22, 2023

 

WHAT IS NEEDED IN AUSTRALIA'S NEW FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT LAWS

Professor Graeme Samuel’s 2021 report on the effectiveness of the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1991 (EPBC Act) found that it had largely failed to protect biodiversity.  The government is now working towards amending the act to make it more effective.

A recent article in The Conversation listed broad requirements for improving the effectiveness of the EPBC Act to prevent further species loss as well as working to hasten environmental recovery.  Three of these five listed requirements are discussed below.

The current Act ignores the issue of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity which means the federal environment minister is not required to consider developments such as new or expanded coal mines and gas fields and their climate impacts on biodiversity.  As climate change clearly threatens biodiversity, a climate trigger should be included in the amended Act.

A second requirement is the need to provide effective habitat protection.  This is urgently needed for threatened species such as swift parrots, koalas and greater gliders who are being driven towards extinction because their habitats are being destroyed or fragmented.  And in Australia’s north biodiversity is increasingly threatened by the development of industries such as cotton and fracking for gas which involve extensive land clearing as well as water extraction.

Also discussed was the importance of the new Act not devolving federal approval powers to state and territory governments - something the former federal government was planning to do.  Given the track record of some state and territory governments, this passing the buck could have disastrous consequences as well as leading to inconsistency across the country.

A third requirement was the importance of establishing an independent umpire which operates at arms length from government.  Hopefully the government’s commitment to creating a national Environmental Protection Agency will ensure that the independent umpire is impowered to prevent any political interference by governments leading to over-riding of the biodiversity protection laws.

It will be interesting to see the legislation when it is unveiled.

-        Leonie Blain

 

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , November 29, 2023

 

HIDDEN GEMS IN THE CLARENCE VALLEY

During a long day recently spent scrambling across some pretty inaccessible terrain in a local State Conservation Area, I unexpectedly happened upon a deep chasm cut into the surrounding sandstone ridges.

I had been searching for populations of a rare plant and had already located a number of the shrubs growing along a gully in a eucalypt-dominated dry sclerophyll forest, when I found myself standing on top of what would normally have been a waterfall, on eye-level with the tops of rainforest trees growing from the depths below. 

Probably no more than fifty metres deep, and less than forty wide, chiselled out of the sandstone by flowing water over millions of years, this 300m long canyon was spectacular and awe-inspiring, with massive boulders littering the floor at the base of towering cliffs covered with ferns and epiphytes.

The sun barely reaches into the depths, which has allowed the rainforest to flourish, with ancient Water Gums, Brush Box, and Tree Ferns, and rocks adorned with orchids, Maidenhair, and Hare’s-foot Ferns, along with mosses and lichens.

As I clambered through the labyrinth of boulders I marvelled at the fact that this gem of nature was only a few hundred metres from human habitation and cleared paddocks full of grazing livestock, yet few people know of its existence, and even fewer have ever had the opportunity to experience its wonder.

So much of our national parks’ estate contains features of great beauty such as this, and while it’s comforting to know they are protected, it seems a shame that more nature-lovers couldn’t share this wondrous experience.

I’m aware of the risk of these icons being “loved to death”, but the therapeutic values they possess could provide relief to many in this stressed-out world.

Tourism and passive recreation are a major driver of the region’s economy, something that should encourage the powers that be to invest more heavily in support of that industry. More walking trails, with interpretive signage and lookout points, and more funding to remove weeds and feral animals, could all add to the experience.

 

-        John Edwards