Showing posts with label Clarence Valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clarence Valley. Show all posts
Friday 6 September 2019
NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission will investigate complaints concerning the behaviour of officers belonging to an elite police unit in Grafton
The Daily Examiner, 3 September 2019, p.3:
The NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission will investigate complaints into the behaviour of officers belonging to an elite police unit in Grafton in May.
Grafton solicitor Greg Coombes has lodged complaints with the LECC, alleging officers from Strike Force Raptor targeted him over a two-day period when he was due to defend a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang on an animal cruelty charge.
The State Crime Command’s Gangs Squad formed Strike Force Raptor in 2009 to tackle outlaw motorcycle gangs and any associated criminal enterprises.
Mr Coombes said the LECC had two courses of action open to it.
“They can direct the police to investigate the complaint, or they can run their own investigation,” he said.
“In my case they’ve decided to take the harder option and conduct the investigation themselves.”
Mr Coombes said he understood the LECC could recommend anything from exoneration to sacking following an investigation.
“I’m certainly glad they’re taking this seriously,” he said.
“It’s one thing to hassle bikies, but it’s another thing entirely to actively interfere with the court process.....
NOTE:
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission is an independent statutory body. Its principal functions are to detect, investigate and expose serious misconduct and serious maladministration within the NSW Police Force and the NSW Crime Commission. The Commission is separate from and completely independent of the NSW Police Force and NSW Crime Commission.
Past investigations can be found at https://www.lecc.nsw.gov.au/investigations/past-investigations/2019.
Labels:
Clarence Valley,
Grafton,
investigation,
police
Thursday 29 August 2019
Castillo Copper pays out $96k in enforceable undertaking after allegedly contravening NSW Mining Act during activity on its Clarence Valley exploration lease
The Daily Examiner, 28 August 2019, p.3:
The companies behind mining exploration at Cangai have had to pay more than $90,000 after breaching their license.
Total Minerals Pty. Ltd. and Total Iron Pty Ltd. put forward a $91,000 Mining Act enforceable undertaking which was accepted by the NSW Resources Regulator on Monday in relation to series of serious compliance issues back in November 2018.
The alleged breaches included unauthorised drilling, not disposing of drilling waste properly and failing to prevent erosion and chemical or fuel spillages, resulted in both companies being issued suspension notices.....
Resources Regulator Acting Director of Compliance Steve Orr said mining authorisations carried strict compliance responsibilities. “The community expects companies like Total Minerals and Total Iron to be aware of their legal and environmental obligations and have appropriate systems in place to ensure compliance,” Mr Orr said.....
It was also noted that both companies which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Castillo Copper Ltd. had taken steps to rehabilitate the affected sites at a cost of “about $300,000”.
An enforceable undertaking once agreed to avoids any potential prosecution for allegedly identified breaches of the conditions of a mining exploration licence.
A total of 16 offences were alleged by the Resources Regulator who included this notice to be published by the mining company as part of the enforceable undertaking accepted on 21 August 2019:
Thursday 22 August 2019
One hundred & thirty-three dog attacks have been recorded in Clarence Valley so far in 2019
The Daily Examiner, 20 August 2019, p.6:
There have been 133 recorded dog attacks across the Clarence Valley this year, with most of the attacks avoidable.
In an attempt to curb the problem, Clarence Valley Council has released a brochure to inform dog owners of their responsibilities.
Council regulatory services supervisor Tim Brenton said if people had taken two simple steps most of this year’s dog attacks could have been avoided.
The first was to make sure dogs were always on a lead when being taken for a walk and the second was to ensure yards were properly fenced.
“The seriousness of the attacks varied, but these were the common threads,” Mr Brenton said. “Unless they are in an off-leash area, dogs must be on a leash if they are outside their property.
“Dog owners need to take all reasonable steps to ensure their dog is confined to the property where it is kept.”
The brochure, called Take the Lead, will be distributed widely around the Clarence Valley and available at the council’s customer service centres in Grafton and Maclean.
“Having a dog is wonderful,” Mr Brenton said. “But having a dog comes with responsibilities and this brochure aims to make people aware of those.”
The brochure also contains a list of off-leash areas around the Clarence Valley and some of the penalties that apply for breaches of the Companion Animals Act.
Labels:
Clarence Valley,
companion animals
Wednesday 14 August 2019
Recent bushfires in Clarence Valley causing high air pollution
As of yesterday there were still sixteen fires burning across the Clarence Valley, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.
The Daily Examiner, 13 August 2019, p.5:
People with heart and respiratory conditions are being urged by the North Coast Public Health Unit to be careful as recent bush fires are causing high pollution.
Communities around Grafton may be particularly affected in the coming days, and Public Health North Coast assistant director Greg Bell said children, older adults and people with heart and lung conditions are most susceptible to air pollution and excessive smoke.
“If you have asthma you should follow your Asthma Action Plan and take your relieving medication where necessary and if symptoms get worse, seek medical advice,” MrBell said.
In case of emergency dial triple-0. Information about bushfire smoke and health:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/bushfire-smoke.aspx
I believe this is Clarence Valley smoke filling up my sky pic.twitter.com/POImkIhUDq— Leonie (@propinqua) August 12, 2019
Labels:
bushfires,
Clarence Valley
Monday 5 August 2019
Clarence Valley youth invited to speak up at Youth Employment Forum, 5.30-7.30pm on 12 August 2019 at Grafton District Services Club
In March Quarter 2019 the overall unemployment rate on the NSW North Coast was 5.2 per cent.
In the Clarence Valley the unemployment rate was higher at 9.7 per cent, according to Australian Government Small Area Labour Markets data.
Yet youth unemployment in the valley could be as high as 20.3 per cent.
Time to give those most affected by this disproportionate situation a voice.......
Clarence Valley Council, media release, 2 August 2019:
Speak up about youth employment
YOUTH in the Clarence Valley are being encouraged to attend a forum in Grafton next week where they can speak with potential employers and other key stakeholders about available options.
The Youth Employment Forum is being hosted by The New School of Arts Neighbourhood House and Clarence Valley Council and will be held at the Grafton District Services Club on August 12 from 5.30- 7.30pm.
Council community development officer (youth), Allira Newton, said the event was designed to encourage conversations with key stakeholders, young people and the community in order to identify issues, develop strategies and, most importantly, open up opportunities for collaboration across all facets of the community.
“The event will explore round table topics with the aim of developing a youth employment strategic plan in collaboration with community members, service providers and business stakeholders,” she said.
“We want as many young people and community members at this forum as possible, so we’re urging them to register today for the opportunity to be part of the change and tackling the issue of youth unemployment in the Clarence Valley.”
The forum was developed from the local Youth Interagency group where youth unemployment was identified as an area of focus for the community.
To register visit www.stickytickets.com.au/90503 or contact the New School of Arts youth team on 6640 3800 or Allira on 0428 420 908.
Labels:
Clarence Valley,
unemployment
Thursday 1 August 2019
Presentations on the plight of Koala populations will be held at Maclean and Lawrence on 14 August 2019 - be there to support Lower Clarence koalas
Koala at Lawrence in the Lower Clarence Valley Photograph supplied |
Deborah Tabart, Chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation is coming to brief the local community on the plight of koalas and why we need a Koala Protection Act.
It is amazing that we do not have such an Act to protect one of Australia’s iconic animals. As we know, koala numbers are declining and this issue is now very topical in our area, especially around Lawrence, where koala habitat trees are under threat.
Ms Tabart will be visiting Lawrence and adding the koalas there to the Foundation’s koala map. If you know where koalas are living in the Lower Clarence please come along to the presentation to make sure that all the koala habitats are added to the map.
There will be two information sessions in the Clarence Valley on Wednesday the 14th August one at 11 AM and one at 6.00 PM.
Maclean Branch of the NSW Country Women’s Association invites everyone to the Koala presentation at 11 AM on Wednesday 14 August at the CWA Rooms, 40 River Street, Maclean followed by a light lunch.
A donation of $5 is requested to help with catering. Please let the CWA know via Linda if you are coming so that we will have enough chairs and lunch. Ring Linda on 02 66 47 7373 or email santilinda@aapt.net.au
The next session is at 6 PM in the evening at the Lawrence Hall, located between the pub and the shop, with a light supper provided for free.
Ring or text Elizabeth on 0407 883 656 or email elizabethparker96@rocketmail.com. It helps to know how many to cater for.
These events are friendly and informal and a great way to meet interesting people.
Bring your Koala questions and your appetite.
Monday 15 July 2019
Clarence Valley NSW has recorded its highest tourist numbers ever
Clarence Valley Council, media release, 9 July 2019:
Record tourism numbers in the Clarence
THE Clarence Valley has recorded its highest tourist numbers in history, with an estimated 1.3 million visitors coming to the region during 2018.
Tourism Research Australia figures show a 22% increase in international, domestic and day visitors from 2017 to 2018, continuing an impressive increase over the past three years.
Clarence Valley Council destination management officer, Lou Gumb, said the word was getting out that the Clarence Valley region boasted some of the finest scenery, adventure and nature-based experiences that Australia had to offer.
“The Clarence Valley offers a diverse array of quality and unique offerings,” she said.
Key Clarence Valley tourism results for 2018 are:
Domestically, we welcomed 680,000 overnight visitors who stayed 2,355,037 nights.
Internationally, the Clarence Valley received 27,000 visitors who stayed 157,830 nights.
Day visitors to the Clarence Valley totalled 600,000. Council’s economic development manager, Elizabeth Fairweather, said Tourism Research Australia’s figures showed a big turn around after a steady decline in tourism numbers over the past 10 years.
“We hit the lowest point in 2014 when 857,000 visitors were recorded as coming to the area,” she said.
“But here we are at the end of 2018 with a whopping 52 per cent increase on this in a relatively short space of time.
“The graph line is now on a fast incline but this hasn’t happened by accident. We’ve worked incredibly hard to create awareness of the Clarence Valley, support the local industry, encourage nature-based sporting events and overall enhance the region’s nature-based experiences, targeting active families.”
Ms Gumb said there had been a multifaceted approach that included working with the local tourism industry, government bodies including Destination NSW and Tourism Australia, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Crown Lands and the Forestry Corporation.
“We are working to attract visitors and to create an atmosphere that encourages people to stay longer, spend more and return year after year because they have had such a wonderful time in our very special part of the world,” she said.
“You only have to look at our @myclarencevalley on social media to see how many people have already fallen in love with the area and can’t wait to come back. Even those who have not yet visited the Clarence Valley are fast realising the Clarence Valley should be on their to-do list.”
Mayor Jim Simmons said the impressive numbers were charging the region’s economy, generating jobs and driving investment in local communities as tourists chose to visit the Clarence Valley.
“The results speak to the broad appeal of the Clarence Valley region,” he said.
“We really do have something for everyone, with our renowned Clarence canoe and kayak trail, Grafton Jacaranda season, Yuraygir coastal walk, tourist towns including Yamba, Iluka, Brooms Head, Wooli and Ulmarra.
“Visitors are coming for our beaches and rivers, bush adventures, laid-back lifestyle, world-class food, events and just to kick back and relax if that’s all they want to do.”
Want to know more about visiting the Clarence Valley? Head to www.myclarencevalley.com
Release ends
Labels:
Clarence Coast,
Clarence River,
Clarence Valley,
statistics,
tourism
Tuesday 14 May 2019
UN-UNESCO Global Assessment Report: "The loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is already a global and generational threat to human well-being."
Smithsonian.com, 6 May 2019:
Our world is losing
biodiversity, and fast. According to a report released today by the United
Nations, up to one million species could face extinction in the near future due
to human influence on the natural world. Such a collapse in biodiversity would
wreak havoc on the interconnected ecosystems of the planet, putting human
communities at risk by compromising food sources, fouling clean water and air,
and eroding natural defenses against extreme weather such as hurricanes and
floods.
In the sweeping
UN-backed report, hundreds of scientists found that biodiversity loss poses a
global threat on par with climate change. A 40-page “Summary for Policy Makers”
was released in advance of the full report, which is expected to be published
later this year and span nearly 2,000 pages. The document calls the rate of
change in nature “unprecedented” and projects that species extinctions will
become increasingly common in the coming decades, driven by factors such as
land development, deforestation and overfishing.
“The basic message is
the same as what the scientific community has been saying for more than 30
years: Biodiversity is important in its own right. Biodiversity is important
for human wellbeing, and we humans are destroying it,” Robert Watson, the
former chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that produced the report, said during a press
conference on Monday.
To produce the report,
145 biodiversity experts plus hundreds of other contributors compiled
information over three years from 15,000 sources. For years, scientists have
been sounding the alarm about biodiversity’s dramatic decline in what some have
dubbed the world’s sixth
mass extinction event. This die-off, however, differs from the other five
in its central cause: humans.
As the global assessment
confirms, human activity is a major driver of biodiversity decline among
the millions of species on Earth. The report ranks some of the
top causes of species loss as changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation
of organisms (like hunting or fishing), climate change, pollution and invasive
alien species (often introduced by human travel across ecosystems).
The current global rate of species extinction is already “at least tens to
hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years,”
and it’s expected to keep accelerating.
All in all, human action
has “significantly altered” about 75 percent of the world’s land environment
and 66 percent of its marine environment, according to the report. Insect
populations have plummeted in tropical forests, grasslands
are increasingly drying out into deserts, and pollution along with ocean
acidification is driving
many coral reef ecosystems to the brink.
The destruction of
biodiversity at all levels, from genes to ecosystems, could pose
significant threats to humankind, the report says. In addition to affecting
human access to food resources, clean water and breathable air, a loss of
species on a global scale could also clear a path for diseases and parasites to
spread more quickly, says Emmett Duffy, a biodiversity expert with the
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center who contributed to the report.
“Historically, a lot of
us have thought about conservation and extinction in terms of charismatic
animals like pandas and whales,” Duffy says. “But there’s a very strong utilitarian
reason for saving species, because people depend on them. There’s an
environmental justice aspect.”
The effects of
biodiversity loss won’t be distributed equally, either, the researchers found.
The most devastating impacts would disproportionately affect some of the
world’s poorest communities, and the report concludes that the decline in
biodiversity undermines global progress toward the Sustainable
Development Goals, milestones set by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015 to
reduce global inequality…..
IPBES Global
Assessment Preview,
excerpt:
Important
aspects of the Global Assessment
Building upon earlier IPBES assessment
reports, especially the recently-released Land Degradation and Restoration
Assessment and the Regional Assessment Reports for Africa, the Americas,
Asia-Pacific and Europe and Central Asia (March, 2018), the Global Assessment:
• Covers all land-based ecosystems
(except Antarctica), inland water and the open oceans
• Evaluates changes over the past 50 years — and implications for our economies, livelihoods, food security and quality of life
• Explores impacts of trade and other global processes on biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Ranks the relative impacts of climate change, invasive species, pollution, sea and land use change and a range of other challenges to nature
• Identifies priority gaps in our available knowledge that will need to be filled
• Projects what biodiversity could look like in decades ahead under six future scenarios: Economic Optimism; Regional Competition; Global Sustainability; Business as Usual; Regional Sustainability and Reformed Markets
• Assesses policy, technology, governance, behaviour changes, options and pathways to reach global goals by looking at synergies and trade-offs between food production, water security, energy and infrastructure expansion, climate change mitigation, nature conservation and economic development
• Evaluates changes over the past 50 years — and implications for our economies, livelihoods, food security and quality of life
• Explores impacts of trade and other global processes on biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Ranks the relative impacts of climate change, invasive species, pollution, sea and land use change and a range of other challenges to nature
• Identifies priority gaps in our available knowledge that will need to be filled
• Projects what biodiversity could look like in decades ahead under six future scenarios: Economic Optimism; Regional Competition; Global Sustainability; Business as Usual; Regional Sustainability and Reformed Markets
• Assesses policy, technology, governance, behaviour changes, options and pathways to reach global goals by looking at synergies and trade-offs between food production, water security, energy and infrastructure expansion, climate change mitigation, nature conservation and economic development
What the CSIRO
and climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au
state about coastal New South Wales:
KEY MESSAGES
·
Average
temperatures will continue to increase in all seasons (very high confidence).
·
More
hot days and warm spells are projected with very high confidence. Fewer
frosts are projected with high confidence.
·
Decreases
in winter rainfall are projected with medium confidence. Other changes are
possible but unclear.
·
Increased
intensity of extreme rainfall events is projected, with high confidence.
·
Mean
sea level will continue to rise and height of extreme sea-level events will
also increase (very high confidence).
·
A
harsher fire-weather climate in the future (high confidence).
·
On
annual and decadal basis, natural variability in the climate system can act to
either mask or enhance any long-term human induced trend, particularly in the
next 20 years and for rainfall.
At its ordinary monthy meeting of 23 April 2019 Clarence Valley Council passed the following resolution:
Friday 10 May 2019
Memo to NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole & NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance: Pull you fingers out and fix this!
Sportsman's Creek Bridge (1910) sited close to where the creek meets the Clarence River Image: GeoLink |
The Daily Examiner, 6 May 2019, p.1:
As he stood on the now
dismantled Sportsmans Creek Bridge approaches, Lawrence Museum and Historical
Society president Rob Forbes held a series of letters that appalled him.
For the past two years,
based on a positive relationship with Roads and Maritime Services, the society
had made plans to reconstruct a full section of the bridge, preserving its
memory at the museum.
Now, with a change in
management, that agreement made has seemingly vanished, with RMS offering a
‘take it or leave it’ approach to what will be preserved.
“I’m appalled to think
that a small local historical society trying to save one of the most historic
and important structures in Lawrence has to record every single conversation
made with every single person we talked to so we don’t get shafted,” Mr Forbes
said.
Mr Forbes said for the
first stages of planning, the rapport with RMS could not have been better, with
RMS employees regularly visiting the museum to see what could be done.
“They couldn’t do enough
for us,” he said. “They even organised a license from the EPA so we could take
some of the building that was removed for the bridge which had lead paint.
“It carried over when we
wanted a section of the bridge. I stood in the museum with the representative
and we looked at the model so we were talking about the exact same thing.”
Originally it was agreed
two complete ends of one span (both sides of the structure) could be
reassembled to create a good representation of the bridge.
“The engineer at the
meeting said we could have two complete ends of one span and ‘probably’ also a
large amount of the other bridge timbers ‘if we wanted it’,” Mr Forbes said.
After the bridge was
demolished recently, and with a change in management at RMS, these verbal
agreements made months earlier were disregarded, according to Mr Forbes.
“An email was received
stating we could now have only two ends of one truss (one side of the structure
only) and 150 square metres of decking – and that this was non-negotiable,” he
said.
“We’ve even had emails
saying if we had a problem with the quality of the timber they’ll sell the
whole lot to salvage... and we feel pressured to sign the new agreement or
it’ll best lost forever.
“There was no agreement,
but when they said yes for two years, as far as I’m concerned the deal was done.”
A spokesman said RMS had
worked with the Lawrence community, including the museum and historical
society, throughout the Sportsmans Creek Bridge project.
“Roads and Maritime has
provided a replica of the bridge to the society to commemorate this historic
structure, along with an agreement to supply timbers from the old bridge for
re-use as a commemorative structure,” the spokesman said.
“The agreement includes
providing 150sqm of bridge decking timbers to be used as a floor to support the
old Ashby ferry, two ends of one truss (each end of one single truss) and
supports for display purposes only and transport of the timber and truss to the
museum.
“This agreement has not
changed and Roads and Maritime will continue to work with the historical
society to commemorate the old Sportsmans Creek timber truss bridge.”
The Lawrence Historical
Society urges people to show support for the cause by either contacting Mr
Forbes on 0412 715 805, or leaving comments on their Facebook page.
Wednesday 8 May 2019
The Liberal & Nationals answer to all the water policy mistakes they have made in the past. Full speed ahead to make some more!
In 2006 the
Howard Coalition Government’s then Minister for Water Malcolm Bligh Turnbull attempted an under-the-radar progression of
a proposal to dam and divert water from the Clarence River system into the
Murray Darling Basin. He was sprung and it lost his government the seat of Page
in 2007.
When Tony Abbott was prime minister he was
all gung-ho for damming east coast rivers, but was by then wary of the mood of Clarence
Valley communities.
Despite a
certain coolness on Tony Abbott’s part and Turnbull's silence once he followed Abbott as prime minister, the wannabee water raiders within the Basin have never given up on the idea of destroying the Clarence River in order
to continue lucrative water trading for profit and inappropriate levels of farm irrigation
in the Basin.
This is a mockup of what these raiders would like to see along the Clarence River.
North Coast Voices, 1 March 2013 |
On 30 April
2019 Scott Morrison and Co announced
the proposed creation of the National
Water Grid which in effect informs communities in the Northern Rivers region that
our wishes, being “political” because we are not their handpicked ‘experts’,
will be ignored when it comes to proposed
large-scale water diversion projects including dams if they are
re-elected on 18 May 2019.
The Daily Examiner, 4 May 2019, p.10:
“Just add water” is the
Nationals’ answer to “unleashing the potential” of regional Australia but it
would come at a cost to areas flush with the precious resource.
Deputy Prime Minister
Michael McCormack announced on Tuesday at the National Press Club that a
returned Coalition government would establish an authority, the National Water
Grid, to manage water policy and infrastructure.
“We know the key to
unlocking the potential of regional Australia is simple – just add water,” he
said.
The announcement of the
National Water Grid has sparked fears the Clarence and Nymboida rivers may be
dammed to irrigate drought-stricken areas of the country – a prospect the
Clarence Valley community has faced before.
The Nationals’ Page
MP, Kevin Hogan, said there were “no plans to dam the Clarence
River”.
“There are proposals in
other drought-affected areas of the country,” he said…..
The planned National
Water Grid would ensure water infrastructure would be based on the best
available science, “not on political agendas”, Mr McCormack said.
It would “provide the
pipeline of all established, current and future water infrastructure projects
and then identify the missing links”.
Mr McCormack said dams
were the answer to “create jobs”, “back agriculture and back farmers”.
“While we are being bold
and building big, we are often stopped at the first hurdle when it comes to
short-sighted state governments that choose politics over practicality, and
indeed science,” he said…..
Tuesday 23 April 2019
Clarence Valley winter woolies drive on 29 April to 5 May 2019
The
Daily Examiner,
22 April 2019, p.4:
If you have clothes
piling up in the back of your wardrobe you’ve forgotten about or won’t be
wearing any more, now is the time to dig them out.
What started out as an
initiative of the Waste Not Want Not Facebook group has quickly become a
tradition now in its sixth year.
The original yarn
bombing movement was about injecting colour and joy into everyday life, but for
Sue Noddy and the other organisers, it was a chance to help others.
“If it’s been sitting
your wardrobe forever and you don’t wear it any more bring it down, it is all
about recycling things,” Ms Noddy said.
She said anything warm
is welcomed but hoodies, jeans and mittens are particularly useful.
“We do have some ladies
who are knitting crochet all year-round rugs, hats and scarves and they will
peg their hand knitted items up,”
“We run it for a week,
we don’t take the items in at night because some people don’t want to be seen
taking things off the fence,” she said.
“We leave it out all
night, all day, even if it rains people still come and take the items.”
There will be three
locations for the community to donate their pre-loved winter woollies, two in
Grafton and one in Maclean.
Drop off points from
April 29–May 5:
New School of Art
neighbourhood house, corner of Spring and New streets, South Grafton
The Hub Baptist Church,
corner of Queen and Oliver streets
River St, Maclean, next
to the fire station.
Labels:
Clarence Valley,
Waste Not Want Not
Wednesday 17 April 2019
Yaegl Aboriginal cultural heritage areas in the Clarence Valley to be mapped
Clarence Valley Council, media release:
Mayor:
Jim Simmons LOCKED BAG 23 GRAFTON NSW 2460
General
Manager: Ashley Lindsay Telephone: (02) 6643 0200
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April
15, 2019
Mapping
areas of Yaegl Aboriginal cultural heritage
A
PROJECT that aims to help protect areas of cultural value to the Aboriginal
community is about to get under
way in the Clarence Valley.
Representatives
of the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, the Office of
Environment and Heritage
and Clarence Valley Council recently signed a memorandum of understanding for a
cultural mapping
project of the Clarence.
The
project aims to identify and map known and “high potential” areas of Aboriginal
heritage to ensure culturally
appropriate information is used to inform conservation and local plans.
The
MoU says plans, which include cultural heritage management initiatives, are
intended to better protect
Aboriginal heritage within or adjacent to all mapped areas.
“Assessment
of the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System data and extensive
field surveys
in company with nominated cultural representatives to validate and record data
is also a necessary
project component,” it says.
The
project aims to produce 1:25,000 scale topographic maps for the Yaegl Native
Title Claimed Area, annotated
with “known” and “high potential” areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage, within
and immediately adjacent
to the Clarence Valley local government area.
Once
complete, a training program will be developed for Yaegl site officers,
Clarence Valley Council staff and
other appropriate agencies.
Release
ends.
Wednesday 10 April 2019
Valley Watch urgent message to Clarence Valley residents about saving Lawrence koala habitat
Koala habitat within Larwence village streets |
Valley Watch Inc has sent this email out…….
Hi
everyone brief history and response from Essential Energy below.
Upgrade
and change of route required due to safety (currently passing over someone's
house). Project planned then needed to change route as an underground
water main was identified in their proposed route. New route chosen and
vegetation clearing increased from two trees and trimming to approx. 28 trees
& shrubs being cleared in a known koala corridor.
Thanks
to Community who raised concerns and attended special meeting where they
presented new route that could be considered. As per email below we need
to ensure Essential Energy hear there is large community support for protecting
koala habitat.
Please
telephone and email Raelene Myers at Essential Energy.
Thanks
----- Forwarded
message -----
From: Linda redacted]
Sent: Friday, 5 April 2019, 05:06:11 pm AEDT
Subject: save Lawrence koala habitat
Hi everyone,
At the end of an
information session today in Grafton, led by Essential Energy Community Liaison
Officer Raelene Myers, the Essential Energy staff told the assembled
concerned Lawrence and wider Clarence Valley residents, after much discussion,
that they will now put the plan to relocate some poles and wires to an area
that would involve koala habitat destruction on hold,
while they examine an alternative route that would not.
The alternative route
was put forward by meeting attendees. The plan attached shows the existing
route in green, the habitat-destroying route in orange, and the
non-habitat-destroying route in red.
Raelene has undertaken
to keep updated people who let her know they want to be. Our best chance of
saving the koala habitat now is to get as many people as possible to contact her and let her know we are in favour of the non-habitat
destroying route and want to be kept updated. Her contact details are below.
Please pass this
information on to anyone you think might care.
Regards,
Linda
T: 02 6589 8810 (extn 88810) M: 0407 518 170
PO Box 5730 Port
Macquarie NSW 2444
General Enquiries:
13 23 91
UPDATE
The Daily Examiner, 10 April 2019, p.5:
Clarence Valley
councillor Greg Clancy said the the proposal would result in the removal of a
number of trees and put at risk the koala population in the area.
“We think they could
reroute the power lines a different way to reduce the number of trees that
would need to cut down,” he said. “I think it’s going to push the local
population further towards extinction"
Mr Clancy said despite
the relatively small number of trees marked for removal, the frequency with
which koalas could be found in them meant they should be saved.
“I was out there the
other day with a representative from Essential Energy and there was a koala in
one of the marked trees,” he said.
“The point is the koalas
are always in these trees and there is a lot of habitat they may not find as
suitable. You need to rely on where the koalas are, not where they might be.”
Labels:
biodiversity,
Clarence Valley,
flora and fauna,
Koala,
Lawrence,
trees
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