KOALAS AND THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY UPGRADE

The RMS - Roads and Maritime Services (previously known as the RTA) - continues to show a lack of concern about protecting important populations of native species.  The route of its proposed Pacific Highway upgrade from north of Coffs Harbour to Ballina will have a devastating effect on many species because of the clearing of native vegetation and the increased likelihood of roadkill. 

An important koala habitat area near Wardell, south of Ballina, is one area of concern.  Recently ecologist Mark Graham wrote to local papers expressing his concern about a statement made about this area by the Highway Upgrade Manager. This letter is printed below.

Yesterday on the ABC Mr Bob Higgins, Pacific Highway upgrade manager for the RMS said about the proposed Broadwater to Ballina deviation "The route that was selected is mostly on cleared land."  His statement is not correct.  The reality is the proposed route will clear and sever intact corridors of forest and wetland that connect the Wardell heathland (part of the National Reserve System called the Ngunya-Jargoon Indigenous Protected Area) with the nationally significant forests (and koala habitats) of the Blackwall Range.  Indeed these areas are recognised as some of the most important wildlife corridors in Ballina Shire.

What Mr Higgins has repeatedly failed to address is that the proposed route is several kilometers longer than the existing highway.  It will require clearing lots of nationally important koala habitat and result in the isolation and  permanent degradation of hundreds of hectares of adjacent koala habitat.  It will clear and fragment the largest and most significant tracts of native vegetation in Ballina Shire.

The RMS policy about biodiversity states: "When managing biodiversity, RMS aims to: 1. Avoid and minimise impacts first. 2. Mitigate impacts where avoidance is not possible. 3. Offset where residual impacts cannot be avoided."

Mr Higgins has been informed (in person and in writing) since 2005 that building a highway along the proposed route will cause local extinctions of nationally protected species such as the koala and long-nosed potoroo.  He knows there is  no native vegetation, protected areas or culturally significant features along the existing highway between Broadwater and Ballina.  He also knows that avoiding any impacts on biodiversity is readily achievable.

Mr Higgins, you have no excuse for killing Ballina's koalas.

      - Mark Graham

This letter was published in The Daily Examiner on July 17, 2014.

BALLINA KOALAS THREATENED BY PROPOSED NEW PACIFIC HIGHWAY ROUTE

Roads and Maritime Services, or RMS (the former RTA), is planning to upgrade the Pacific Highway between Woolgoolga and Ballina on the NSW North Coast.  Some sections of the proposal will have very severe impacts on biodiversity as they pass through areas of native vegetation which are home to a range of native species, some of which are threatened.

One such section is Section 10 from the Richmond River to Coolgardie Road, Wardell.  This section cuts through the Blackwall Range wildlife corridor, including the regionally and nationally significant Lower Richmond Koala population.

Friends of the Koala, Ballina Environment Society and Ballina Councillor Jeff Johnson are running a campaign to have the route on this part of the new highway changed because of the impact it will have on the local koala population.  Koalas in NSW, along with those in the Australian Capital Territory and South-east Queensland, were listed in 2013 as vulnerable under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

For the RMS to be planning to put a major highway through prime koala habitat is inexcusable. There are other route options that do not impact on this important biodiversity hotspot, including widening the existing route.

The entire upgrade has been declared a controlled action under the EPBC Act.  So the proponents require approval from the Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, as well as from the NSW Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard.  Whether these politicians will protect the koalas in this area by forcing RMS to change its plans is debatable.  What may force them to do so is the pressure of public opinion. So letters or emails to these politicians may help - as may signing the on-line petition -  Save Ballina Koalas