Koonyam Range NSW: when forest dwellers don't value trees

 

IMAGE: Google Earth 11.01.24
Click on images to enlarge

There couldn't be more than a handful of residences on Boogarem Road in the middle of pristine native forest on the Koonyum Range. However, that street is gaining a reputation........

On 11 Jan 2024 the NSW Dept. of Planning and Environment announced that a person described as a local Koonyum Range resident was convicted of clearing 0.35 ha of native vegetation and constructing an unauthorised building in Mount Jerusalem National Park.

The cleared section at Boogarem Road, Koonyum Range NSW after removal of illegal dwelling. IMAGES: Echo, 12 January 2024

InsideLocal Government, 12 January 2024:

A Koonyum Range resident has been convicted and fined by Mullumbimby Local Court after failing to check property boundaries before clearing 0.35 ha of native vegetation and constructing an unauthorised building in Mount Jerusalem National Park.

The actions breach the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 and National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2019.

With fines and a costs order amounting to nearly $22,000 (including a remediation order of $8,000), the court found the local resident had direct responsibility for the offences.

“The felling of forest oaks impacts directly on the habitat and food resources of the glossy black cockatoo, a listed vulnerable species known to occur in the area,” said NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Area Manager, Jenny Atkins.

“Trees are highly valued in the Byron Shire and their removal, without permission, is not tolerated by NPWS, or the broader community. The fines and the community correction orders imposed by the magistrate in the Mullumbimby Local Court support this.

“This sends a strong and very clear message to people that before you clear land or cut down any trees or do any building work, even on your property, you should know where the property boundaries are.

“You should always check with the local council to see what is allowed and what is not.”

Mount Jerusalem National Park is home to several endangered and vulnerable plants and animals and this sentence is a reminder that native vegetation laws must be taken seriously, she said.

“The seriousness of the offences is reflected in the penalty imposed by the court which, in addition to the fines and costs, included two community correction orders of 12 months.”

In June 2022 Andrew Giles Packshaw was reported as pleading guilty and being convicted of development without consent. It appears he erected a donga.

Mirage News,16 June 2022:

A Byron Shire resident has been fined $60,000 for land clearing and removing trees from a property on the Koonyum Range west of Mullumbimby, and $10,000 for unauthorised building work.

It comes after Council was notified, in October last year, of alleged land clearing, tree removal and construction on a property on Boogarem Road.

Investigations found there was progressive land clearing between April and October last year on a 1,300m2 site including the removal of nine trees ranging in height from 15 metres to 25 metres.

An expert arborist/ecologist engaged by Council found the age of each of the trees that were cut down or pushed over was 40-50 years.

The property is in the Scenic/Escarpment zone where the clearing of land can only be done with development consent.

The offence was aggravated by the fact that the Rural Fire Service had imposed conditions providing that clearing for bushfire hazard reduction did not permit the removal of trees over three metres in height.

Ralph James, Legal Counsel, said that the court found that the impact of the clearing, and the construction of an informal shower and toilet area, had a negative impact on the natural environment and that the clearing of native vegetation and earthworks modified the site which impacted native habitats and drainage

"This land borders a national park and, not surprisingly, the area is home to a number of endangered and vulnerable plants and animals," Mr James said.

"The felling of Forest Oaks impacts directly on the habitat and food resources of the Glossy Black Cockatoo, a listed, vulnerable species known to occur in the area.

"Trees are highly valued in the Byron Shire and their removal, without permission, is not tolerated by Council, or the broader community, and the large fines imposed by the Magistrate in the Mullumbimby Local Court support this," Mr James said.

"In addition to the $60,000 fine for removing trees, the defendant was fined $10,000 for the construction of the informal shower and toilet," he said.

"The defendant has been ordered to also pay Council's legal costs of $5,000.

"I hope this sends a strong and very clear message to people that before you clear land or cut down any trees or do any building work on your property you should check with Council to see what is allowed and what is not," Mr James said.

Alleged 70 per cent hazard reduction burn over two days planned for the biodiverse Billinudgel Nature Reserve in June 2021

Echo NetDaily, 11 June 2021:

Local Minjungbal Indigenous leaders are asking the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to consult with them over a planned hazard reduction burn at Billinudgel Nature Reserve but a scheduled meeting was cancelled by NPWS. 

Billinudgel Nature Reserve where the hazard reduction
burn is planned by National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The hazard reduction burn was originally scheduled for the Billinudgel Nature Reserve on 3 June with neighbours being informed by letter on 2 June.

‘We got notification that Billinudgel was going to have a hazard reduction burn which gave me time to get in touch with NPWS to discuss some options and ask them to sit down with traditional owners to look at cultural issues in the reserve,’ said Rachael Cavanagh, a Minjungbal woman and traditional owner that covers the Billinudgel Nature Reserve.

Rachael said a meeting was originally set up but was then cancelled by the NPWS who said that they would only speak to the Tweed Byron Aboriginal Land Council (TB ALC).

‘They are not the traditional owners,’ Rachael pointed out. ‘Everyone deserves a voice. We are on the Native Title claim for the Five Rivers and the Tweed Bundjalung people. We are the traditional owners who hold the cultural knowledge on the land values. We still have fire law that has been continued in our family,’ she told The Echo. 

Billinudgel Nature Reserve.

‘NPWS legislation states that they need to engage with traditional owners and knowledge holders. By their own legislation they are supposed to meet all registered parties.’

Rachael has been a fire fighter for 20 years with the Queensland National Parks and Forestry Corporation and is engaged with the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation.

‘I am in a senior leadership team for National Fire Sticks Alliance. We support and build capacity with Indigenous groups nationally to support cultural fire practices and traditional land management for people on country. We look at the whole picture.’

Having been denied the option to meet with NPWS Rachael told The Echo that their lawyer has now sent a letter to NPWS to seek a meeting between the traditional owners and NPWS in relation to the burn.

‘Pretty much our family are fighting to be at the table and be part the discussion,’ she said.

‘They are planning to for a 70 per cent hazard reduction burn over two days which means it will be very hot, raging and overall health of the forest and the cultural values will be at risk, the understory will be and the canopy will be scorched, the animals will have nowhere to go to.

‘Regardless of whether it is Billinudgel or Cudgen. I will be fighting to have a say over the management of Minyungbal Country.’

‘Regardless of whether it is Billinudgel or Cudgen. I will be fighting to have a seat at the table.’…... 

BACKGROUND

Billinudgel Nature Reserve was created in April 1996. It's current size is 789 ha. Approximately 75% of the Reserve is within Byron Shire with the remainder in Tweed Shire in the NSW Northern Rivers region.

The Reserve protects the following features: 

· a large tract of natural lowland coastal vegetation, a significant remnant in an otherwise highly modified environment; 

· an extensive wetland containing Melaleuca swamp forest; 

· a diversity of habitat which supports a wide range of fauna and flora including rare, threatened, significant and migratory species; 

· Aboriginal sites and landscapes of significance; and 

· features of scientific interest. 

In the 2016 Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management the North Byron Koala Management Area encompasses an area of approximately 2,814ha located to the north of the Brunswick River and includes the Billinudgel Nature Reserve along with the localities of South Golden Beach, Ocean Shores and Billinudgel.

localities of South Golden Beach, Ocean Shores and Billinudgel as indicated by Figure 3 of the

Northern Rivers Region Billinudgel, Marshalls Creek, Jinangong, and Brunswick Heads (north) Nature Reserves Fire Management Strategy (Type 2) 2016 at:

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/Fire-management-strategies/billinudgel-marshalls-creek-jinangong-brunswick-heads-reserves-fire-management-strategy-160705.pdf

Green Turtle hatchlings race to the sea at beach near Evans Head, NSW

 

Green Turtle hatchings making their way to the sea near Evans Head, NSW
IMAGE: Rick Pagotto

NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, media release, 9 March 2021:

Furious flipper action has been seen on a remote beach near Evans Head as tiny sea turtle hatchlings emerged from their buried nest and made a break for the ocean.

Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchling, Evans Head 

Andy Marshall from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said more than 100 Green Turtles hatched last week and their first moments were caught on camera by a local photographer coincidently walking the beach.

“These eggs have been incubating underneath the sand since around December and the hatchlings all emerged over a few hours in the early dawn,” said Mr Marshall.

“NPWS and NSW TurtleWatch are keeping a keen eye on around 7 more sea turtle nests along the coast as they should also hatch over the next few months.

“Along the NSW coast we expect the hatchlings will either be green turtles (Chelonia mydas) like the ones we saw at Evans Head or the endangered loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), both are generally around 5cm in length when born.

“If anyone sees a hatchling please don’t pick it up or interfere with its path to the sea, instead report it immediately to NPWS or NSW TurtleWatch so we make sure these little ones make it safely to the water,” Mr Marshall said.

Holly West from NSW TurtleWatch says early reports and information from the public is vital in being about to monitor these hatchlings.

“With such a large coastline to cover it is likely that we could have missed some nests being laid and may miss them hatching so public help at this time is vital,” said Ms West.

“Hatchlings should emerge at night as they are safer from predators and the heat of the sand but there are of course always stragglers, so we are asking people to keep their eyes peeled, especially close to sunset and sunrise.

“As well as reporting all sightings, you can help these baby turtles by removing your rubbish from the beaches, drive slowly along the beaches, and stay off the dunes,” Ms West said.

If you find a sea turtle hatchling along the beach please notify NSW TurtleWatch immediately on 0468 489 259, or contact NPWS on 1300 0PARKS.

NSW TurtleWatch has been developed by Australian Seabird Rescue, in partnership with NSW Government's Saving Our Species program. Visit Saving Our Species for more information on green turtles.

More photos: Dropbox: Green turtle hatchlings

The problem of illegal camping in NSW coastal towns just never seems to go away

 

A question that is increasingly facing residents of NSW coastal towns – what do you when a group of loud, sometimes intoxicated people come to holiday right outside your family home? Who use your front lawn as a solid-waste toilet, openly urinate in front of your children, litter the kerb and when they finally leave they are replaced by yet another set of noisy freeloaders.

Council or NPWS fines for camping on streets, in car parks or certain road rest areas, local parks, reserves, foreshores, or other Crown land appear to be barely stemming the influx in some areas.

In New South Wales illegal camping appears to attract a fine of between $1,000 to $5,500. However, I would be surprised if many of these ‘free spirits’ ever pay any fines they incur.

ABC News, 23 February 2021:

Those who flout strict camping regulations risk on-the-spot fines of up to $2,200.(Supplied: Alison Drover)

Edging through the logjam of traffic along Ewingsdale Road, a car horn offers an unlikely reprieve from the tedious hum of engines.

"Welcome to Byron Bay," reads a wooden sign in the distance. "Cheer up, slow down, chill out."

It is, in many ways, an apt reflection of the Byron dichotomy — a city both trapped and liberated by its own reputation.

With roots in the counterculture movement, the coastal paradise is renowned as a mecca for backpackers, the rich and famous and everyone in between.

A place, as one Vanity Fair writer offered, where "nomadic broods" come to "find their tribes on life's journey".

But with Byron's visitor numbers eclipsing its permanent population, the local community has found itself at a crossroads, struggling to reconcile this "free-living" ethos with the inexorable costs of tourism.

And as "van lifers" increasingly seep into the suburbs, it is ordinary residents who have suddenly found themselves bearing the brunt of tourism's ugly side: motorhomes lining residential streets, human waste on front lawns, and authorities trying in vain to keep it under control.

"As an area, we're too open to contradiction," muses Alison Drover, who has lived in Byron for 10 years.

"We're known as being free-spirited and open to everything, but it doesn't really serve us in some ways.

"We're being sort of trampled on."……

Full article here.

Bushfire forces temporary part closure of Yuraygir National Park in the Clarence Valley

Department of Planning, Industry and Environment & NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, media release, 18 September 2019: 

Bushfire forces temporary part closure of Yuraygir National Park

Following last week's destructive bushfires part of the Yuraygir National Park, including a section of the iconic Yuraygir Coastal Walk are temporarily closed. 

A National Parks and Wildlife Services spokesperson said 6600 hectares of private property and 4000 hectares of Yuraygir National Park burned in the Shark Creek 2 fire. 

"The walking track from Mara Creek Picnic Area, just south of Angourie to Lake Arragan is closed while the site is being managed," the spokesperson said. 

"Mara Creek Picnic Area and Shelley Headland Camping Areas are also closed. 

"The rest of the Yuraygir Coastal Walk, from Lake Arragan to Red Rock remains open. 

"Angourie Bay Picnic Area and all other visitor areas within Yuraygir National Park are still accessible to the public." 

"Unfortunately, the fire damage extended to the toilets, a bridge, numerous elevated walkways, signs, picnic tables, seating, fencing, bollards, staircases and drainage structures across the park," the spokesperson said. 

"NPWS will continue to assess the damage and address safety hazards including burnt structures and trees as a priority. 

"We're urging the public to put safety first and to be patient until works to repair damage commence. 

"The damage is significant and will take some time to restore. 

"In the meantime, we're investigating temporary solutions to allow the public access to the park. 

We will keep everyone informed of these decisions once they are made."

"We'd like to acknowledge the work of the NPWS and RFS (Rural Fire Service) crews who worked tirelessly with significant support from dozers and aircraft to contain the fire."

ENDS

Remembering Terania......

ABC News, 17 August 2019:

VIDEO: Looking back on the legacy of Terania Creek (ABC News)

It has been 40 years since the first images emerged of protesters blocking the path of bulldozers to stop the logging of rainforest at Terania Creek on the New South Wales north coast.

The protest is regarded as a watershed moment in Australia's environmental movement and cited as the first time people physically defended a natural resource.

While the fight to save the rainforest reached its climax in August 1979, the story began several years earlier when a young couple from Melbourne moved to a single-room cabin bordering the rainforest in Terania Creek.

PHOTO: Protesters Falls in Nightcap National Park are named after the demonstrations. (ABC North Coast: Leah White)

Hugh and Nan Nicholson said they were drawn to the incredible beauty of the area and were shocked to learn the following year that the Forestry Commission planed to clear-fell the forest.

"Our involvement was very sudden, very abrupt," Mrs Nicholson said.

"We had no experience, we were very young, but we felt we couldn't let this go, we had to try to do something."

Over the next four years, the Nicholsons said their efforts to halt the logging escalated from writing letters and submissions and lobbying politicians to hosting hundreds of protesters and being at the coalface of the fight.

"We found there were many other young people who had just moved to the area and they also were appalled at the idea of this beautiful forest being flattened," Mrs Nicholson said.

"So we quite quickly got into a group that was going to fight it, and that was the start of years and years of battle."

'Not so peaceful' protest say loggers

While the demonstrators' intentions were "non-violent, peaceful protest", not everybody held to that ideal.

Death threats were made and received by each side.

Even though Hurfords Hardwood had nothing to do with the Terania logging operation, the family's South Lismore mill was burnt to the ground.

The company who held the licence for the coupe at Terania Creek was the Standard Sawmilling Company from Murwillumbah.

John Macgregor-Skinner, the production manager at the time, said the toll from protests put an "astronomical" strain on his workers and family.

"We had tractors sabotaged, people threatened [with] chainsaws, trees spiked, bridges sabotaged and the like," he said.

"From a personal perspective, we received telephone calls to say that my wife was going to get raped, they knew where the kids were going to school and they weren't going to come home tomorrow.

PHOTO: Loggers say protesters sabotaged equipment during the Terania Creek protest. (Supplied: David Kemp)

"That happened on several occasions to the point that we had police protection and I had a direct line to the police inspector.

"Nothing did eventuate, but by gee you don't know."

Mr Macgregor-Skinner said the protest also had a detrimental impact on jobs on the NSW north coast.

"Terania Creek was only a very, very small part of our operations," he said.

"But what eventuated out of Terania Creek closed down the mill."

Mr Macgregor-Skinner estimates 600 jobs were lost in the region when Neville Wran, then New South Wales premier, made the historic 'rainforest decision' in October 1982, removing about 100,000 hectares of forest from timber production.

Legacy of saving the 'big scrub'

Bundjalung woman Rhoda Roberts was only young when the Terania Creek protests took place, but she can remember her late father, Pastor Frank Roberts, talking about the new arrivals who were eager to save the environment.

She said at the time traditional owners were living under the Protection Act.

"We didn't really have a voice. You've got to remember there were curfews, they were taking kids.

PHOTO: Rhoda Roberts remembers her father talking about the significance of the Terania Creek protest. (Supplied)

"People were very frightened, so to have a group of people who arrived on country and were determined to love that environment, from our perspective, was incredibly new."

Ms Roberts said the big scrub, which includes Terania Creek, is a 'storybook' place where knowledge is exchanged among generations.

"I'm indebted now because my children and the coming children … when we travel our territories, we still have a sample of land that we know has been there since time immemorial," she said.

"I pay my greatest respects to everyone who was involved in Terania Creek because you saved country for us, and we are all benefiting from that.".....

Read the full article with more images here.

This private member's bill signals an ongoing threat to forests on the NSW North Coast and elsewhere in the state

This is Austin William Evans, NSW Nationals MP for Murray since 14 October 2018 when he won the seat on the back of a by-election after fellow Nationals Adrian Piccoli resigned.

On 18 October 2018 Evans introduced a private member’s bill in the NSW Legislative Assembly titled, National Parks and Wildlife Legislation Amendment (Riverina) Bill 2018 or An Act with respect to certain lands in the Riverina region reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 or dedicated under the Forestry Act 2012; and for other purposes.

As yet no text of this bill is publicly available.

However, there are no prizes for having guessed that this bill seeks to revert  the Murray Valley National Park to a state forest to allow timber harvesters back in.

According to state parliamentary records the Bill lapses in accordance with Standing Orders on 19/4/2019.

Austin Evans has told the media he hopes to have a second recording of the bill before the end of the year and expects Berejiklian Government MPs to support it.

The 41,601ha Murray Valley National Park was declared in July 2010 and is part of the largest continuous red gum forest in the world, this region hosts a unique ecosystem with over 60 threatened native animal species and 40 threatened plant species. It is also an important place for Aboriginal people.

Make no mistake Evans’ bill represents the unsustainable native timber industry’s desire to make inroads into the wider national park system.

In fact it made sure it never really left the Murray Valley National Park, having received milling timber via so-called ''ecological thinning'' of sections of the park since 2012.

Given the number of national parks and reserves in the Northern Rivers region it is time to put pen to paper and remind Premier Gladys Berejiklian that growing the total area covered by the national park system, as well as reining in broad scale land clearance and/or extensive logging in rural and regional areas, is one of the easiest ways to mitigate against rising state greenhouse gas emissions.

The Berejiklian Government has already walked back from the transfer of 23,000 hectares of low productivity state forests to the national park estate and presented a whittled down version of the National Park Estate (Reservations) Bill 2018 which passed both Houses on 17 October 2018.

Although under this passed bill an est. 2,200ha of state forest will become part of the national park estate in January 2019 and and further est. 1,791 of state forest will be rededicated as state conservation areas, the total amount of protected viable koala habitat is limited.

In an effort to redress this, amendments were proposed which include the creation of the Great Koala National Park.

As of 18 October 2018 both NSW Greens and NSW Labor support the Great Koala National Park proposal and, if there is a change of government at the 23 March 2019 state election, we should see a genuine start to placing protection on enough viable habitat to begin to reverse the koala's decline towards local extinctions.

Scientists, traditional owners & community call on NSW Premier Berejiklian to withdraw the Water NSW Amendment (Warragamba Dam) Bill 2018 from the NSW Parliament, and that plans to raise Warragamba Dam be taken off the table immediately

Water NSW Amendment Bill 2018 - Proposed Inundation of the Blue Mountains National Park by clarencegirl on Scribd

Reweavers of the Tapestry 30th Anniversary, Friday 1 June 2018 - Save The Date

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Is the NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government taking the Norther Rivers bushfire risk level seriously?

The NSW Nationals Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) manages more than 870 national parks and reserves totalling over 7 million hectares.

With 22 per cent of the Clarence Valley covered by heavily timbered national parks and the entire NSW Northern Rivers region having 10 national parks, at least 9 nature reserves and 2 state forests, the risk of bushfires has always been high.

With climate change raising the fire risk and the NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government stripping the NWPS of personnel and funding, many local residents are beginning to worry.

Park Watch group forms as a fight back against the Berejiklian Coalition Government's ongoing cutbacks to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

Park Watch, Media Release, 1 November 2017:

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service staff in restructure meltdown due to executive and ministerial incompetence according to Park Watch

A new group known as Park Watch comprised of concerned, former National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) officers, scientists, botanists, researchers and former high ranking government officials have received information from serving NPWS officers of a pending mass no confidence vote in the NPWS executive due to incompetence, bullying, the direct appointing of favourites, loss of positions for those who speak-out and, continual lack of consultation.

Park Watch spokesperson on National Park Operations, Mr Ross McKinney has stated that “Under the Berejiklian Government the 10 years of relentless NPWS ‘decimation-by-restructure’ has caused the highest rates of employee stress that has now reached a point where sources within the NPWS are concerned that some staff may be at serious risk of harm.

“I have recently seen a letter of desperation written by a staff member to an NPWS executive Director which paints a disturbing picture of what is happening to staff in this once, world renown organisation. Unfortunately, based on the present NPWS executive’s record, the letter may prove to be career ending for this courageous officer but it clearly demonstrates the anger and sheer desperation of the remaining staff in NPWS”, Mr McKinney said.

“Other sources from within the NPWS have also mentioned a groundswell of Branch based staff who want to send a formal no-confidence message to the government over the existing NPWS executive’s inability to consult, continual movement of the restructure goalposts, lack of leadership and direction, unmanageable workloads, bullying, the direct appointment of favourites to positions that clearly should have been advertised and the loss of positions held by those who have spoken out against the restructure, not to mention the massive funding cuts and decade long restructure time frame”, he said.

Mr McKinney went on to say, “Based on the numerous pleas for help from NPWS staff and information they have provided to Park Watch, it is obvious the  Berejiklian Coalition Government is hell-bent on dismantling the NPWS by setting it up to fail completely, well before the 2019 March election. The NPWS failure as a conservation land management agency then allows the government to introduce a ‘common-tenue’ approach to the state’s remaining forested areas as proposed by Timber NSW, which essentially opens the State’s protected areas to destructive logging operations.

park.watch.nsw@gmail.com

Park Watch - Who are we?

Park Watch is a group of people concerned with the sound management of protected areas so that the diversity and beauty of our natural wild places and landscapes is maintained for all to enjoy - now and by future generations.

The group came together when former staff of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service started to hear about the NSW Coalition government's proposed cut- back in NPWS staff.  Despite the NSW Government hosting an international World Parks Congress in 2014, that made a “Promise of Sydney”, to not regress on looking after our national parks and natural reserves, we are seeing an attack on the national parks workforce underway now. 

Park Watch believes it is important to alert the public to the consequences of the cut backs to visitor services, control of weeds and introduced animals, loss of species, wildfires, degraded walking tracks and vandalising of our natural areas.

Ends….

1 November 2017