And people wonder why their council rates keep rising

Council rates don't just rise because the dollar value of lots in a local government area increase or because a council needs to play catch-up with its infrastucture build and road maintenance debts.

Rates may also rise over time because of other cumulative costs. Including the cost of too many people vandalizing or illegally dumping on property owned or managed by a council.

Here is a classic example. The result of someone obviously wanting to take a vehicle somewhere a vehicle was not meant to go.

There are timber bollards at both ends of a walking track at the rear of the Bowling Club in Iluka, a quiet little village at the mouth of the Clarence River.

Replacing, repositioning or re-erecting these bollards costs Clarence Valley Council money in the form of material and/or manhours. 

I am reliably informed that this is the third time this has happened in the last four weeks and that these bollards were also vandalised around 18 months ago.

 Photographs of vandalised bollards supplied

Now the majority of people living in the NSW Northern Rivers region are rightly proud of the greenspaces within their towns and villages and the natural forests inbetween.

So the next time you see someone doing something like this - report it to your local council and if appropriate then call the police.

Remember, doing so just might save you some money in the long run.

"Blinky Bill" visits a couple of Iluka residents in February 2017

Delightful video and photograph of a koala in Spenser Street, Iluka NSW, by Lisa Shaw from the Green Room café at Iluka.

Ken Nicholl from Iluka Landcare transferred this little koala to a koala food tree next door.

An Iluka resident tells me that this koala was approximately 1km from the proposed subdivision of Lot 99 Hickey Street, Iluka, a parcel of land which also reportedly contains koala food trees.

Koalas in Iluka on the NSW North Coast and coastal development pressure

Who would not get pleasure in seeing this healthy young Koala peering down at them from the foliage?

Photograph supplied by Gabrielle Barto

It was sighted in Paperbark and then later Flooded Gum in Sid and Eileen Gill Park in Elizabeth Street, Iluka all day on Wednesday, 8th February 2017 and is one of those koalas giving lie to the myth much favoured by developers that the local koala population is functionally extinct.

The amateur photographer on the spot, Ms. Barto stated: May be the same koala sighted in Elizabeth St. on 5th January. Both sightings are within 250 metres of Hickey St. Iluka D/A site. One of the criteria for assessing critical koala habitat  (E.P.B.C  Critical Koala Habitat assessment tool) is that one or more koalas are sighted within 2 kms. of the edge of impact area, in this case the Hickey St. (D/A) site, within the last 5 years.

Passions run deep in Iluka not only for koalas, but also more generally for protecting biodiversity for future generations.

Letter to the Editor in the Clarence Valley Independent on 8 February 2017:

Iluka DA - Have Your Say

15 January at 20:07 

Koala sighting again.

Intersection of Hogan street and Elizabeth streets 5th January 2017 around 9.30 am. (West of the 160 lot development proposal)

Thank you and great work Essential Energy. They got here pretty qiuckly and it was a great relocation to the relative safety of the bush across the road.

This situation came about because of a dog chasing the koala. Hopefully the koala headed back into the Bundjalung National Park (to the East of this location) and to relative safety.

This bush heading back to the national park is going to be largely cleared and broken up if the 160 lot subdivision gets approval. The re-submitted DA still does not include a continuous vegetation corridor for koalas to move in a east west or west east direction!

Koalas will become more vulnerable to dog attack and car strike unless the developer includes a realistic continuous vegetation corridor within the proposed development site.

Belatedly the NSW Coalition Government; is currently beginning the development of a whole of government koala strategy and asking for community feedback on planning issues and its Saving Our Species conservation strategy. At a federal level, the National Koala Conservation and Management Strategy expired in 2014. Word is that a new strategy is in the pipeline but at the moment we’re flying blind.

The best way to protect koalas is a tried and tested one. The scientists that identified the crisis ecoregion problem also identified the solution: large, well-connected protected areas. Only by protecting and connecting remaining koala habitat can the government enact meaningful conservation. Everything else is tinkering round the edges.

And only by demonstrating that it can effectively protect koalas can we have any confidence that the government can protect the rest of Australia’s extraordinary wildlife that doesn’t share the koala’s high profile. [The Guardian, 16 January 2017]

On the other hand professional property developer, climate change sceptic and alternate Clarence Valley Council representative on the NSW Northern Joint Planning Panel, Cr. Andrew Baker, made this characteristically snide comment on Saturday, 11 February 2016 in an email he cc’d to North Coast Voices¹:

Thanks Gab for the copy

I hadn't appreciated the significance until your email.

It seems the only Koala sightings in the last 5 years have occurred at exactly the same time as Council is considering significant Iluka Development Applications.

I recall the identical occurrence as Council was about to consider the Anchorage Park expansion.

On the basis of your reports it seems development applications are proving extremely beneficial in attracting Koala to the area. Of course it might take a few more DA's to prove this obvious benefit but I expect this will now encourage further.

Of course I'm not suggesting the ability to encourage Koala is the only reason to support any development application - it will be just one of, if any, benefits to be considered along with disadvantages if any on a case-by-case basis.

Thank you for bringing this supporting information to our attention.

Regards

Andrew Baker

The tenor of this comment throws into doubt Cr. Baker’s ability to act as an unbiased council alternate (if called upon) in relation to this particular development application when it is considered by the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel in March this year.

North Coast Voices was not alone in noticing this comment, as one other recipient of Baker's email made clear when he told the councilor: "I find your comments not only highly offensive, but, given your supposedly impartial decision-making role as Councillor, deeply disturbing."

To which the property developing Cr. Baker's insouciant reply (again cc'd to this blog) was; "It's unfortunate that you are disturbed and offended. Surely that's some personal issue that can't be blamed only on my willingness to state the obvious?

And people wonder why - when all the world loves koalas - they are fast disappearing from this state's coastal landscape?

Note:
When deciding to send his reply email as "Reply All", Cr. Baker made a conscious choice to also make his personal views known to council staff having some responsibility for and/or carriage of formal advice to Council-in-the-Chamber in relation to DA SUB2015/0034. Thus muddying the waters considerably, given it is a number of concerned residents' understanding that a final staff report and recommendation on the development application is yet to be delivered.

So who has a bad case of egg on face when it comes to an Iluka DA - The Daily Examiner or the NSW Nationals Member for Clarence?

On 13 January 2017 The Daily Examiner contained this little nugget of information on Page 3:

State Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis agreed there were plenty of good arguments to support their case, and said he wa “absolutely supportive” of their fight [for an ambulance station].

But he said it would be an uphill battle, partly due to the village’s small size.

Iluka has a population of about 2000 but it is growing, with planning for a 162 lot subdivision just finalised.

Planning for a 162 lot subdivision just finalised?

Seems either Chris Gulaptis is spinning the situation or the newspaper took its eyes off the ball.

Planning appears to be far from finalised.

This was on Page 31 of Clarence Valley Council’s Environment, Planning & Community Committee Meeting Business Paper of 14  February 2017:

SUB2015/0034 11/12/2015 297 162 lot Residential Subdivision and new roads

Hickey Street

ILUKA NSW 2466

Additional information received and unsatisfactory.

Further information has been requested 24/1/17 (flora and fauna, stormwater, sewer, cultural heritage)

In addition, the formal staff report to council is yet to be tabled and deliberations of the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel are not yet completed.

And property developers try to say that Iluka in the Clarence Valley NSW has no koala population

Clarence Valley Council, media release, 18 January 2017:

Koala avoids nasty shock

On the way to work one morning in early January, Iluka resident Mark Starkey was shocked to see a koala high up an electricity pole. Koalas usually prefer good quality habitat with plenty of their favourite food trees.

Thanks to Mark, the koala avoided serious injury. ‘I rang the energy company who temporarily disconnected the power and relocated the animal to nearby bushland’, he said.

Mark was just one of the residents in the areas of Iluka, Woombah and Ashby to receive a brochure from Council detailing ways to help koalas by protecting native bushland, containing dogs, and ways to recognise koala food trees. The brochure also asked residents to ring and report koala sightings. Mark then contacted Council with the details of the koala.

The biggest threats to koalas in our area are loss of food and shelter trees, vehicle strike and dog attacks. Even though there are 100’s of different types of Eucalypts, koalas tend to only eat one or a few species. So even a single tree in your backyard can be important to koalas and other wildlife.

There’s more information about koalas in the Clarence on our website www.clarence.nsw.gov.au (search ‘koala’).

If you’d like a copy of the brochure or if you’ve seen koalas in your area, please ring Council on 66430200.

Release ends.

The same koala on his way down the electricity pole

Koala in bushland at Frazer's Reef, Iluka, in May 2016 at 

https://www.facebook.com/Ilukadahaveyoursay/videos/1158769244173802/

Iluka Development Application No. SUB2015/0034: "The Bob Jelly Gazette" decides it always knew it would happen

In March 2016 the Ratepayers Association of Iluka Inc. published its regular newsletter in which its president, real estate agent Graeme Lynn, stated the following:

Eight months later and the story has changed – now we’re told there was always going to be a major revision of the development application:

As  for those ordinary people who “suddenly became town planners and without any knowledge were telling everyone the design was poor and needed redoing”.

Well it appears that the “experts” are not as disdainful as Bob Jelly & Co, because this turned up in one of the documents being submitted to the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel on behalf of the developer:

So   congratulations to all those locals at Iluka who took the photographs, did the geo-plotting and otherwise supplied information for the Thursday, 16 June 2016 blog post

A remnant Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in Iluka, New South Wales.

Australia Infrastructure Development doesn't know its rivers

The Message from Iluka....

Clarence Valley Independent, June 2016:

Ed,

I read with some bewilderment that a “summit” had been held in Casino last week by AID (Australia Infrastructure Development) for the development of a mega port to accommodate massive ships in the Lower Clarence River.

Thought I’d Google here to see what is going on: www.aid-australia.com.au.

This proposal would completely destroy the lower Clarence.

It would appear to be a box ticking exercise as part of a formal application process to government.

Ticking the “community consultation” box.

Community consultation indeed!

This company has completely failed to consult the right communities.

Surely the business people and residents of Iluka, Yamba, Maclean, Grafton and all the smaller villages and islands along the river should have been the target audiences?

One would think the company’s “summit” might have been held in one of the fine clubs that are at Iluka, Yamba, or perhaps Maclean or Grafton, rather than Casino over 100kms away.

And hey, not even the right river! Casino is on the Richmond River. Go figure.

Perhaps AID just had some bad advice about matching the right town/s to the right river.

Or is this just being a tad sneaky? Trying to keep us all in the dark until the paperwork has been lodged.

Or worse still, trying to bluff us and the government that AID conducted extensive “community consultation”.

Either way, there will be huge opposition to this MEGA PORT proposal if it is ever considered.

Tony Belton, Iluka

The Message from Grafton....

The Daily Examiner, Letter to the Editor, 8 Jul 2016:

Ugly transformation

THE Yamba Port and Rail proposal first raised its ugly head three or four years ago, and now the promoters, Australian Infrastructure Developments, and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd, are ramping up the pressure, promoting their multi billion dollar, 36sqkm obscenity, which would completely transform the lower Clarence into an export port facility to rival Newcastle.

Gone would be the fishing, sugar and tourist industries that are the current economic drivers, replaced by heavy industry and its associated noise, air and water pollution, as huge freighters, tankers, and container ships, spewing their poisonous bilge sludge into the river as they go, replace the current pleasure craft and fishing vessels.

Gone would be the quiet relaxing retirement destination described in a series of Government development strategies over the past 20 years, as coastal villages of Iluka, and Harwood, along with communities on Palmers Island and elsewhere, are decimated to allow for the widening and dredging of the river estuary, to four times the current depth.

Gone would be the culturally significant Dirrangun Reef, sacred to the Yaegl people, as part of that massive dredging.

Gone would be the supposedly protected significant agricultural land on the delta, replaced by endless kilometres of wharfs and warehouses, and massive holding pens for the proposed live cattle export, their stench wafting over the urban centres of Yamba and Maclean.

And don't forget border security, with the proponents making provision for a naval base that, in the event of conflict, could see the area become an enemy target.

There are of course the obvious obstacles to such a scheme; the sacred reef, the unstable delta soils which will collapse into the river as a result of the dredging.

There are regular floods that will require mountains of fill to raise the entire project area above flood level, a barrier that is bound to divert those flood waters across Yamba, causing even worse flooding there.

Then there is the added problem of climate change and rising sea levels. Even a modest .75 of a metre within 80 years will see most of the land proposed for the industrial complex inundated at high tide, a situation that will worsen even further with the passage of time.

It's hard to take such a proposal seriously, but over the years we have heard reports that politicians, state and federal, various northern NSW councils, including some of our local councillors, meeting with the scheme's proponents. The Northern Star's report featuring a happy Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, with arms around the proponents smiling for the cameras, adds a worrying dimension to this abhorrent proposal.

It's time for our leaders to come clean, tell us exactly what has, and is still being discussed behind closed doors, and if this proposal is pie in the sky, then to inform the proponents of that fact, and tell them to back off and put their foreign investment into something useful, like renewable energy.

John Edwards, South Grafton

The Message from Yamba....

The type of Clarence River experience that Yamba, Iluka, Maclean and other estuary towns wish to preserve for their families, visitors and holiday makers alike

This is the sort of river experience that the Lower Clarence delights in.....

https://youtu.be/l4AnlDPps40

Not this......

https://youtu.be/6e9_eeNbyqA

NO YAMBA MEGA PORT!

Keeping the pens steeled in Iluka

Clarence Valley Independent, letter to the Editor:

The author of this letter asked me to note that to be factually correct line fourteen should actually have read “28 of the 50 accompanying species that make up the endangered ecological community of which there now exists only 200 hectares in the whole of N.S.W.”

Des Euen warned off Yamba by an online supporter

Not that Des Euen needed any hint that many Yamba and Iluka residents would be against the industrialisation of the Clarence River estuary…..

Facebook, 23 June 2016

Mr. Euen is rather sensitive about the few comments on the Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd Facebook page.

He recently removed comments from two Clarence Valley residents (at least one of whom attended the “summit” he organised at Casino on 2 June 2016) but left his accusations of selfishness against individuals living in the region which would be most affected by this highhanded attempt to make his fortune at the expense of so many ordinary people.

Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!

"All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values." [DLWC, Umwelt (Australia Pty Ltd, 2003, Clarence Estuary Management Plan: The Clarence Estuary - A Valued Asset]

The economic value of tourism is worth an est. $239.4 million per annum to the Clarence Valley with recreational fishing forming a significant part of the region's income and, in 2010 the commercial fishing industry was worth an est. $92 million annually to the valley.

The economies of the three main towns in the Clarence River estuary are heavily based on commercial and recreational fishing and water-based tourism, with Yamba and Iluka being principal holiday destinations.

Boating is a major recreational activity, with 90% of recreational boating related to fishing and 61% involving retired people. [Clarence Valley Council, 2003]

Fresh seafood caught locally forms part of the staple diet for many Lower Clarence households.

These are the faces of some of the people who threw a line in the last two months:

Bluff Beach, 10 June 2016

Catch at Moriaty’s Wall, 8 June 2016

26 May 2016

31 May 2016

Iluka Beach, 18 May 2016

Off the break wall, 8 June 2016

Brown's Rock, 16 June 2016

[Images from Iluka Bait & Tackle]

However, Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd - along with Messrs. Des Euen, Thomas Chui, Lee and Nigel Purves - want to destroy this great year-round and holiday lifestyle by lobbying government to allow the 
construction of a large industrial port covering over 27 per cent of the Clarence River estuary.

Thereby severely compromising lower river commercial and recreational fishing grounds with the constant movement in and out of the river of mega ships such as these:

[North Coast Voices, February 2016]

With their bow wave and propeller wash sucking at known seagrass beds as well as riverbanks along the main estuary channels as they pass. 

Many of us who live on the river are firmly of the belief that we would rather have

“Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!”

Brief Background

Long before the arrival of Europeans in the area, local Bundjalung people were fishing the waters of the 'big river' for oysters and fish, as evidenced by the large middens found along the river banks and coastline. The first settlers to the area found a bountiful river surrounded by dense subtropical forests and swamps flowing out to the coastline. Fish were easy to come by and made up an important food source for the early settlers who set about developing forestry and farming in the area. Grafton was established in the 1850’s with the river being a principal source of transport. The introduction of sheep grazing to the area occurred in the late 1850’s and sugar cane farming was carried out as early as 1868 (Anon, 1980a). A small commercial fishery had its beginnings in 1862 when fish were caught to supply workers and their families employed in the construction of the river entrance works. This major project was designed to provide safe navigation for the coastal steamers that traded upriver. Commercial fishermen were supplying fish to the local market by the 1870’s, particularly seasonal fishing for mullet, which was an important local industry supplying the Grafton market (Anon, 1880). The fishing industry began in earnest in 1884 when shipments of fish were sent to Sydney twice a week, weather permitting. The fish, mainly whiting, bream, flat tailed mullet and flathead were packed in ice in large insulated boxes. The boxes were then reused to bring ice on the return trip (Anon, 1994). [Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, A socio—economic evaluation of the commercial fishing industry in the Ballina, Clarence and Coffs Harbour regions, 2009]

o   The commercial industry in Northern NSW provides about one-third of the product (fish) landed in the whole of NSW.

o   An assessment of fish stocks in NSW indicated most fisheries are probably sustainable but that there should be no expansion of catches.

o  The economic modelling results demonstrated that the industry provides quantifiable economic benefits to the Northern NSW region in the form of output, income, employment and value added (gross regional product).

o  The combined harvesting and processing sectors of the industry in Northern NSW provided total flow-on effects of $216 million derived from output, $36.1 million in income, 933 employment positions and $75.5 million in value added.

o   Two-thirds of the money generated by the operation of the industry is spent in the local and regional economies.

o   Commercial fishing activity in the Clarence River occurs in the Estuary General and Estuary Trawl Fisheries.

o   The ocean fleet has home port facilities in both Yamba and Iluka.

o   The Clarence River Fishermen's Co-op operates two depots with Maclean primarily processing catch from the river fishery and Iluka processing catch from the offshore fishery.

o   Ocean Hauling was one of the earliest fisheries to be utilised on the beaches in the Clarence district and continues to be an important fishery in the area.

[Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, 2009 & Clarence Valley Council, 2016]

o   In 2010 Clarence Valley Council estimates that the commercial fishing industry is now worth over $92 million and generates over 430 jobs, while the recreational fishing industry which forms a large part of the $280 million tourism industry in the Valley generates much of the economic base of Yamba, Iluka and Maclean.

o   Due to tourism Yamba and Iluka regularly double their population during major holiday periods and many retired and family holiday makers are thought to be drawn to the area by fishing and other recreational opportunities on the river.

o   Commercial ocean fish and crustacean species both breed and feed in the Clarence River estuary system.

[J.M. Melville, Submission to the Inquiry into the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on Regional Australia, No. 177, December 2010]

All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values…..

The outstanding threat nominated by the Maclean group was population growth and urban development, particularly where this is located close to the estuary. This is an interesting result, given that the Clarence overall is not an urbanised waterway. It may reflect the rapid changes that are occurring in Yamba, and the view in the community that further growth in this area will require major sustainability issues to be addressed. The appropriate growth rate and style of development in Yamba has been a major source of discussion for residents in the lower Clarence, especially in response to Council’s interpretation of the results of its community survey on the future of Yamba. Several other frequently nominated threats were examples of the types of threats that are associated with poorly managed urban growth that exceeds the capability of the natural system. Declining health of the estuary (from any cause) was perceived as a major threat by the lower Clarence community, acknowledging the high economic dependence on estuary health in this area.

[DLWC, Umwelt (Australia Pty Ltd, 2003, Clarence Estuary Management Plan: The Clarence Estuary - A Valued Asset]

The Clarence Valley Local Government Area’s Gross Regional Product in 2015 was estimated at $1.73 billion, which represents 0.4% of the state's GSP (Gross State Product)

Homes and hiding places on an as yet undeveloped block of land at Iluka in the Clarence Valley

Trees, tree hollows and fallen logs are frequently the homes and hiding places of Australian birds, animals and pollen dispersing insects.

The NSW Dept of the Environment tells us that in south east Australia this includes some 17 % of bird species, 42 % of mammals and 28 % of reptiles (Gibbons and Lindenmayer 1997). They include bats, possums, gliders, owls, parrots, antechinus, ducks, rosellas and kingfishers as well as numerous species of snakes, frogs and skinks.

It also points out that: Trees with hollows and the animals that depend on them are disappearing. Natural tree hollows are valuable and often essential for many wildlife species. They provide refuge from the weather and predators, and safe sites for roosting and breeding. Destroying living or dead hollow-bearing trees displaces or kills wildlife dependant on those hollows.

This photograph found at the Royal Botanic Gardens' Hollows As Homes website is an example of one possum hiding away in the daylight hours.

While this is an example of a lorikeet using another naturally occurring hollow.

The photographs below were supplied by an Iluka resident highlighting some of the homes and hiding places on a 19ha lot which is currently the subject of a 162 lot subdivision development application before the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel and Clarence Valley Council.

A bolt hole for a small creature or somewhere to spend a night?

A place to hunt for beetles or ants?

A raptor's nest

A hollow to hide from large birds looking for lunch

It too high to tell but a colony of bees or wasps has created a home near the sky

An enterprising bird built this secure home for its young

Frogs, lizards and snakes often rest in the center of ferns like this

A remnant Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in Iluka, New South Wales

Images supplied by Iluka resident

Coastal Cypress Pine, Callitris columellaris distribution on Lot 99 Hickey Street, Iluka, which is currently the subject of a development application for subdivision into 162 residential lots:

Image supplied by Dr. Miles Holmes, PhD (Anthropology) University of Queensland,

Honorary Research Fellow University of Queensland

This forest appears to meet the requirements for being classified as an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC), in that even small patches that have been disturbed in the past by clearing, or fire are still considered to be important remnants of Coastal Cypress Pine Forest and meet the criteria of being an EEC [NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in the NSW North Coast Bioregion, 2009].

However, the developer of record Stevens Holdings Pty Ltd (trading as Stevens Group) is thought to be resistant to the possibility that this mapping represents a viable remnant forest which would meet the requirements for such a classification.

Environmentally conscious village residents are concerned about the fate of this small forest on Lot 99 as it is to be clear felled to make way for residential land parcels.

These are excerpts from advice given to the NSW Government in 2008 concerning Coastal Cypress Pine forests on the NSW North Coast:

Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in the NSW North Coast Bioregion is the name given to the ecological community dominated by Coastal Cypress Pine, Callitris columellaris, found typically on coastal sand plains, north from the Angourie area on the far north coast of NSW. The community typically has a closed to open canopy of C. columellaris, which may be mixed with eucalypts, wattles, banksias and/or rainforest trees, and an open to sparse understorey of shrubs, sedges and herbs. Structural forms of the community include woodland, open forest and closed forest, although the tree stratum may be very sparse, absent, or comprised only of dead trees in stands affected by partial clearing, tree senescence or fire…..

The species composition of a site will be influenced by the size of the site, recent rainfall or drought condition and by its disturbance (including fire) history. The number of species, and the above ground relative abundance of species will change with time since fire, and may also change in response to changes in fire regime (including changes in fire frequency). At any one time, above ground individuals of some species may be absent, but the species may be represented below ground in the soil seed banks or as dormant structures such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, rootstocks or lignotubers. The list of species given above is of vascular plant species; the community also includes micro-organisms, fungi, cryptogamic plants and a diverse fauna, both vertebrate and invertebrate…..

Based on detailed field inspections, the total distribution of Coastal Cypress Pine Forest covers approximately 150 ha (A. Benwell, unpubl. data), and is certainly less than 200 ha. Coastal Cypress Pine Forest is currently known from 15-20 localities, most of which are patches no larger than 10 ha. Stands of the community have been mapped in Bundjalung, Yuraygir and Broadwater National Parks (Griffith 1983, 1984, 1985) and Billinudgel Nature Reserve (Benwell 1998), accounting for about half of the total known occurrence. The remaining stands occur primarily on private land or road easements. All known occurrences of the community are within a total extent of occurrence of 2500 –3000 km2. These estimates indicate that the community has a highly restricted distribution……

Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in the NSW North Coast Bioregion is eligible to be listed as an Endangered Ecological Community as, in the opinion of the Scientific Committee, it is facing a very high risk of extinction in New South Wales in the near future…. [Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in the NSW North Coast Bioregion - endangered ecological community listing NSW Scientific Committee - final determination, October 2008]

Coastal Cypress Pine Forest in the NSW North Coast Bioregion - endangered ecological community listing NSW...

This flora species list is compiled from notes supplied by John Edwards (Clarence Environment Centre) & M.L. de Lepervanche and shows that the lot contains at least 28 of the 50 indicative species found in a Coastal Pine Forest Endangered Ecological Community (EEC):

Coastal Pine EEC indicative species	* = species identified
Abildgaardia vaginata
Acacia aulacocarpa
Acacia disparrima subsp. disparrima	*
Acacia ulicifolia
Acianthus caudatus
Acianthus exsertus	*
Acronychia imperforata	*
Acrotriche aggregata
Allocasuarina littoralis	*
Alyxia ruscifolia
Araucaria cunninghamii
Aristida spp.
Astroloma humifusum
Austromyrtus dulcis	*
Baloskion tetraphyllum subsp. meiostachyum
Banksia integrifolia subsp. Integrifolia	*
Banksia serrata	*
Bulboschoenus barbata
Callitris columellaris	*
Chiloglottis sp.
Commelina cyanea	*
Corymbia intermedia	*
Cyclophyllum longipetalum
Cymbopogon refractus var. refractus
Cyperus stradbrokensis	*
Dianella caerulea	*
Eragrostis brownii	*
Eucalyptus pilularis
Eucalyptus resinifera subsp. hemilampra
Eucalyptus signata
Euroschinus falcata	*
Halfordia kendack
Hoya australis subsp. australis	*
Imperata cylindrica var. major	*
Leptospermum polygalifolium	*
Leucopogon ericoides
Leucopogon leptospermoides	*
Leucopogon margarodes
Lomandra longifolia	*
Monotoca elliptica	*
Notelaea longifolia	*
Oxylobium robustum
Paspalidium distans	*
Persoonia stradbrokensis	*
Platycerium bifurcatum	*
Pomax umbellata	*
Pteridium esculentum	*
Pterostylis nutans	*
Pterostylis pedunculata	*
Zieria smithii

Examples of 24 of the 28 Coastal Pine EEC indicative species which are known to grow on Lot 99:

 Acacia disparrima 

 Acronychia imperforata

 Allocasuarina littoralis

 Austromyrtus dulcis

 Banksia integrifolia

 Banksia serrata

 Commelina cyanea

 Corymbia intermedia

Dianella caerulea

Eragrostis brownii 

Euroschinus falcata

Hoya australis

Imperata cylindric

Leptospermum polygalifolium

Leucopogon leptospermoides

Lomandra longifolia

Monotoca elliptica

Notelaea longifolia

Pteridium esculentum

Pterostylis nutans

 Pomax umbellata

 Platycerium bifurcatum

 Persoonia stradbrokensis

Paspalidium distans

Photographs courtesy of John Edwards