CLARENCE VALLEY COUNCIL'S LIVING SUSTAINABLY AWARDS

 With all that is happening in the world it seems that “good news stories” are in short supply.  Despite the horrific wars, growing biodiversity loss, rapidly expanding climate change impacts, political chicanery and a range of other depressing issues, there are positive developments with individuals and groups working to improve outcomes in a wide range of areas both locally and further afield.  These contributions - even if just on a small scale - are important for the welfare of those individuals and groups as well as for society in general.  They are also beneficial in showing others what can be achieved by those who have the time, the energy and the commitment.

Clarence Valley Council has been playing an important part locally in recognising individuals and groups who are working to improve outcomes in the area of sustainability.  Its Living Sustainably Awards, introduced in 2011, recognise people and groups in our LGA who are making positive contributions to living sustainably.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2024 awards.

All Clarence residents, not-for-profit community groups, schools or businesses in the Clarence Council area eligible to nominate.  There are five categories - Individual, Community, Business, Education and Our Backyard.

Nomination for the awards can either be through a third party or by self-nomination.  Nomination forms are available on Council’s website or can be collected from Council offices in Grafton or Maclean.

One of the issues through the history of these awards has been the reluctance of people to nominate themselves.   That is unfortunate as self-nominees might feel less reluctance if they recognise that they are doing great work and would see the value of encouraging others to take a similar path.

For more details check Council's website .

Do you know anyone who could be nominated?

There are two important benefits from these awards.  The first is recognition of those who are making significant contributions to sustainable living.  The second, which is also very important, is showing others what can be done and hopefully encouraging them to make a positive contribution in their lives.

-        Leonie Blain

EARTH MATTERS SESSIONS IN GRAFTON START IN MARCH

 The Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition (CVCC) is restarting its Earth Matters environmental information sessions on March 18 after a break in 2020 following the advent of covid. 

These public events, introduced in 2004, were held every two months between March and November and were conducted by a range of people from the community, or from government or local environment groups. Sometimes the goal was acquiring information about an issue while at other times it involved exploration of an idea, the seeking of a solution or celebrating the wonders of the natural world.

The range of subjects over the years has included sustainable farming, climate change, the impact of light at night, flying fox ecology, cane toads in the Clarence Valley, Grafton’s tree heritage, riparian vegetation on the floodplain, native bees, waste management and recycling, inspiration for your town garden, conservation in north-west Tasmania, national parks in India and Bhutan, and restoring rainforest.

Recently the CVCC decided to restart these public information sessions.  The new venue is the Joan Muir Community Centre in Turf Street, Grafton.  Sessions will be held between 6 and 8 pm on the third Monday of the month in March, May, July, September and November.  The events will generally consist of a presentation by one or more speakers for an hour, followed by a short question and discussion session and light refreshments.  Those attending will be asked to contribute a gold coin to assist with expenses.  

The first two presentations have been arranged and the CVCC is looking forward to providing the community with information on a range of important environmental matters from March onwards.

Proposed Mineral Mining in the Clarence Catchment is the subject of the first Earth Matters session on March 18.  Shae Fleming, Clarence Catchment Alliance Coordinator (CCA), will discuss the current situation on mining in the Clarence Catchment, CCA's role, the community campaign's aim and progress to date, the threat of mineral mining to our local water, species, environment, social, cultural and economic wellbeing and how you can help.

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , February 6, 2024.

CALL TO STOP LOGGING KOALA HABITAT ON NSW PUBLIC LANDS

 North East Forest Alliance

MEDIA  RELEASE

February 29, 2024

The NSW Government has released Reviewing the NSW Koala Strategy  discussion paper  and is seeking community input on current koala conservation actions.

The NSW Government’s 2021 Koala Strategy identifies that the highest priority to avoid the extinction of Koalas in the wild by 2050 is to protect their habitat, to this end they have allocated $71 million to buy private properties and implement conservation agreements over up to 22,000 hectares.

So far they have bought 10,000 ha of land to add to national parks and entered conservation agreements over 7,700 ha of private land.

Only part of this is high quality Koala habitat, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“There are 230,000 hectares of State Forests on the NSW North Coast identified as high quality Koala habitat by the NSW Government and as Nationally Important Koala Areas by the Commonwealth Government, yet both Governments refuse to stop logging them.

“The Forestry Corporation is losing $15 million a year, and getting tens of millions in equity injections, to log tens of thousands of Koala feed trees in thousands of hectares of high quality Koala habitat every year.

“If the Government was serious about saving Koalas and saving money then their highest priority must be to protect Koala habitat on public land

“The Government has identified 50 koala populations “where koalas have the potential to persist over the long term”, and in 2021 prioritised 19 of these for immediate protection of strongholds, including in the Banyabba Area of Regional Koala Significance (Whiporie-Rappville).

“Despite this they are right now logging identified Koala strongholds in Braemar and Myrtle State Forests within the Banyabba ARKS.

“The Government is asking people to tell them what else they should be doing to protect koala habitat.

“Please tell them to immediately stop logging Koala habitat on public lands” Mr. Pugh said.