A lost and found story playing out on little island near Chinderah Bay on the Tweed River in north-east NSW

 

Small island flood refuge
IMAGE: Google Earth, 19.01.24

First there was a cow caught up in the Northern Rivers flood waters in 2022 which managed to swim to safety on a small island in Boyd's Channel, rather than being swept further down the Tweed River.

Then in January 2024 a handsome black bull was sighted on the island as well.

IMAGE: ABC News, 17 January 2024

When the cow first stepped on dry land was she hiding a pregnancy or did that black bull arrive on the island in recent months with amorous intent?

ABC News, 17 January 2024:

Authorities are working to solve a mystery involving cattle thought to have been washed onto a small island in the Tweed River by floodwater.

Fisherman Nathan Hall told the ABC he spotted a brown cow on the 5.67-hectare Chinderah Island about two weeks after catastrophic flooding in northern New South Wales in February 2022.

He has been keeping an eye on it ever since.

"Looking at the island it's living on, there's only a very small amount of grass area, and the rest is all mangroves and mud," Mr Hall said.

"It's not really the sort of grass that I'm used to seeing cows live in."

The island is close to the mouth of the Tweed River, and the water surrounding it is usually salty.

Mr Hall said he had been making regular deliveries of fresh water "for the last six months, at least".

"I've got three 20-litre drums, and every time I go down that way in the boat, I stop and pour 60 litres of water into a half-drum tin we've got down there," he said.

Recently, Mr Hall discovered a new resident.

"I have stopped in and visited [the cow] over the time until now, but then seeing the black bull a few days ago was a bit of a shock to me," he said.

How the bull arrived on the island is a mystery and no-one has claimed ownership of either animal.

Hunt for owner

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a farmer with cattle agisted on nearby Dodds Island said he had 30 cows wash away in the 2022 floods.

He said 20 of those animals were still unaccounted for and that the cow could be his.

He suggested the bull may have washed onto the island during last week's floods or that the cow may have calved him on the island.

Mr Hall said that both seemed in good condition.

"When I saw them the other day, the floodwater was still very fresh and they were drinking straight from the river," he said.

"They came within six feet of the boat like they wanted to hop in with me."

Mr Hall said he would like to see the cattle brought back to the mainland.

"The best way to do it would be when the run-out tide is, and the animals could swim with the water rather than against it," he said.

"There's been plenty of interest, and give us another week and we'll get them off the island and get them back to living where they should be."....

Cartoons of the Week

 

Cathy Wilcox

David Rowe

"The bad reality TV show" that is Lismore City Council continues to stumble from one poor planning or policy decision to another

 

Lismore City councillors
IMAGE: Lismore City Council

In October 2023 it was reported that the Santin Quarry was once more on the Lismore City Council agenda.

Local residents and farmers in the Alstonville area were objecting to the quarry being made operational again in part because of concerns regarding the impact its activities would have on the Alstonville aquifer.

Echo, 10 October 2023:

Lismore’s Santin Quarry ceased operation in 2021 after an attempt to extend the life of the quarry for 16 years failed. An appeal to the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) by Santin Quarry’s owner Mick Santin was subsequently withdrawn. Yet the quarry is back on the table and objectors are concerned that the current crop of conservative Lismore councillors will approve the extension regardless of the fact that the staff have recommended refusal.

Due to the ‘lengthy history’ of the Santin Quarry modification to the development application (DA) Lismore Council staff ‘engaged an independent town planner, GAT & Associates, to undertake the assessment’.

There were 35 submissions received in relation to the modification with ‘25 against and 10 in support’.

‘The public submissions raised several concerns, including impacts on the visual and acoustic amenity of the area and nearby properties, impacts on the road networks, koalas, and the legality of the potential for consent to extend the quarry’s life,’ stated the staff report.

‘The modification application has been assessed and is recommended for refusal.’ .....

Despite this  staff recommendation Council in the Chamber gave consent in a 5 to 4 vote and yet another poor planning decision, in a long line of poor policy and planning decisions that can be placed at the feet of Lismore City Mayor Steve Kreig and his supporters on Council, was underway.

Echo, 15 January 2024:

A local group is challenging the decision-making ability of Lismore Mayor Steve Kreig and his team in court, in what they say is yet another test of that team’s legitimacy.

The Monaltrie Area Community Association Incorporated (MACAI) have commenced Class 4 proceedings in the NSW Land and Environment Court arguing the Lismore City Council had no power to approve a Modification Application (MA) that was made by Michael Santin operating Santin Quarry.

The MA was approved by Mayor Kreig and his team on the 10 October 2023.

Seeking costs and an injunction

MACAI are seeking costs and that the council and Mr Santin be permanently injuncted from acting upon the approval.

MACAI commenced proceedings on January 9. The group alleges that Council did not have the power to approve a modification application (MA) to extend the life of the Santin Quarry, at Riverbank Rd.

The quarry at Monaltrie, 5 km from Lismore CBD, had a modification application approved by Lismore City Councillors in October last year. The application would allow a 12-year extension of the quarry, that owing to an expired consent, had ceased operations in February 2021.....

BACKGROUND

Lismore App, 11 October 2023:

As expected, the Santin Quarry application to extend its life for another 12 years to the 12th of May 2036, was keenly debated and easily dominated the Lismore City Council agenda.

What was not expected was the amount of drama that went on in the one-hour sixteen-minute discussion before the majority of councillors approved the extension 6 votes to 4 (Councillor Cook was away). Once again, it was like a bad reality TV show.

There were five public speakers who spoke in favour of the Lismore City Council (LCC) staff recommendation that the application not be approved. Council staff based that recommendation on the likelihood of the quarry having a significant acoustic impact on neighbouring properties, and the proponent has submitted insufficient information to assess whether all reasonable and feasible mitigation measures have been explored.

However, the five public speakers, one of which does not live on the land in the buffer zone near the quarry in Monaltrie, included previously disputed points that the DA (development application) is not substantially the same and the wording of the consent having expired or lapsed.

LCC staff sought outside legal advice and found the DA could be approved on both points finding the DA was substantially the same and council could extend the life of the quarry as the consent had expired. The sticking point was the acoustic impact.

Where the discussion started turning ugly was when some of the public speakers insinuated that a number of councillors personally knew Mr Santin and this may influence their decision to approve the extension.

One speaker said, "When making these decisions, associations and friendships need to be declared and decisions need to be made on facts, not friendships."

Earlier in the evening, a number of councillors did declare they knew Mr Santin and the association was non-pecuniary and non-significant.

Another speaker was concerned about the road width which was supposed to be widened to 6m but hadn't and was currently 4.9m making it dangerous for cars to pass trucks as they approached or left the quarry.

The final speaker was the catalyst for the meeting to be paused as councillors lost all perspective. To start the October meeting, Mayor Krieg asked councillors to remain respectful throughout tonight's proceedings. That reasoning unravelled at this point.

After prefacing her controversial comments by saying they were her own and she did not represent any body, community or organisation, the speaker went on to challenge the non-pecuniary, non-significant declaration saying, "It seems to me a very obvious conflict of interest."

There was a reference to undertones of nepotism and potential corruption if councillors voted against the staff recommendation.

It was at this point that Councillor (Cr) Rob moved a point of order and Mayor Krieg asked the speaker to stop talking. Something she did not do with Cr Rob sitting and continuing to talk also.

Mayor Krieg then banged his gavel asking for order as part of the gallery applauded. The mayor then threatened to clear the gallery if people could not be respectful to each other. The speaker continued to talk in reply to the mayor's comments before he issued one last warning that she would be removed if there was another outburst.

The speaker and another person spoke once more when Cr Rob stood to change the order of business as they walked out of the meeting. Mayor Krieg made another plea to the gallery to keep order or he would clear the gallery. This was challenged by Cr Guise.

"Mr. Mayor, can you please refer to the code of meeting practice where it gives you the right to clear the gallery based....."

At this point, the mayor is on his feet and refers to 6.9 of the code of meeting practice, "When the chairperson rises or speaks during the meeting, any councillor speaking or seeking to speak, must cease speaking and if standing immediately resume their seat."

Mr Guise then replied, "If you're gonna threaten to kick out the public members from a public facility, practising democracy, please refer to the code of meeting practice where you can do that. We are not in an autocratic regime, yet."

Mayor Krieg then adjourned the meeting for five minutes to find the relevant section.

When the meeting restarted five minutes later, Mayor Krieg reiterated 6.9 that when the chairperson stands, a councillor must immediately cease speaking and resume their seat. He then quotes 15.15, "All chairpersons of meetings of the council and committees of the council are authorised, under this code, to expel any person, other than a councillor, from a council or committee meeting for the purposes of section 10.2b.

The mayor then referred to 15.18, "A member of the public may, as provided by section 10.2a or b of the act, be expelled from a meeting of the council for engaging in or having engaged in disorderly conduct at the meeting. If I have to do it individually, so be it, but I will do it. Thank you, Councillor Guise for bringing those to everyone's attention."

Once the order of business was changed, Cr Rob put forward an alternative motion that the application for modification of the Development Consent to extend the life of the quarry be approved for a maximum of 12 years subject to the attached conditions. We later learnt that there were 44 conditions for the Santin Quarry to comply with over various timeframes of the consent. Some of those, like the acoustic noise mitigation measures were to be completed before any quarrying restarts while others were within the first six months of operation and some longer.

Councillor Guise expressed his reasons for not supporting the new alternative motion by outlining the history of the quarry, as well as asking his fellow councillors to support the staff's recommendation.

"Councillors, if you're contemplating ignoring a staff recommendation to refuse this, you are throwing out any adherence to the law. Any adherence to sensible planning decisions and you're ignoring what you folks said you were being elected for, which is to listen to staff recommendations and follow their recommendations. Please don't stand up in this chamber and say that you're going to go against the staff recommendation. When it's quite clear. This quarry will have unacceptable impacts on the community and it does not meet the basic legal threshold tests required for a development application modification."

Later Cr Rob asked Cr Guise what the staff recommendations were when the applications came to the LCC chambers in 2019 and 2020.

Cr Guise responded by saying he couldn't remember those recommendations. Cr Rob mentioned they were to approve the extension of the quarry's life to which Cr Guise replied, "Councillors did resolve to not give consent".

Non-compliance was an issue raised by Crs Bird, Guise and Ekins during the lengthy debate.

Acoustic earth mounds were to have been constructed at the start of the quarry thirty years ago but LCC's Eber Butron said that his understanding was that partial construction has occurred.

Cr Bird put forward a foreshadowed motion to defer the decision so councillors could understand the 44 new and updated conditions attached to the approval before Cr Ekins added more drama to an already bizarre discussion when she said that Mr Santin had donated money to the Greens last state election campaign.

Someone had complained to the General Manager that this caused a conflict of interest for Cr Guise and Ekins. The Greens returned the money but Cr Ekins said, "And in their view (the NSW Greens), it appeared to be an attempt to undermine the democratic process and to remove Council Guise and myself from this chamber."

To this point, no councillor had spoken for the motion to extend the quarry's life. A point not lost on Cr Bird who challenged those councillors to explain their decision.

Cr Rob, who was going to speak then rose and said, " How dare any councillor try and tell me what to do. I do what I want, as long as I believe it's within the code of meeting practice and the code of conduct. So, I'm not going to explain why I want to do this. I'm just going to approve it.

It was put to the vote which was won 6/4 with councillors Gordon, Hall, Jensen, Bing, Rob and Krieg in favour and councillors Guise, Colby, Bird and Ekins against......

With continuing rain bringing risk of across border flooding Northern NSW put on alert for fire ant movement in January 2024

 

Invasive Species Council, excerpts retrieved 17 January 2024:

Red Fire Ants are a serious problem for everybody in Australia. These highly invasive ants first turned up in Australia in 2001 at the northern port of Brisbane. We know of four other outbreaks. One large outbreak in southeast Queensland remains active, but contained.....

Nearly all of Australia is vulnerable to fire ant invasion, including all major cities and towns. More than 99% of the mainland and 80% of Tasmania are suitable to these deadly intruders.

Fire ants might be small, but when their nests are disturbed they rise up in their thousands to swarm and sting their intruder en masse.

Without the regular use of chemical baits, infested parks, gardens and homes become uninhabitable. In the US, 30% to 60% of people in infested areas are stung each year. The stings are painful, hence their name ‘fire’ ants. The alkaloid venom causes pustules and, in some people, allergic reactions.

Fire ants have greater ecological impacts than most ants because they reach extremely high densities. An assessment of their likely impact on 123 animals in southeast Queensland predicted population declines in about 45% of birds, 38% of mammals, 69% of reptiles and 95% of frogs.

These ants damage crops, rob beehives and kill newborn livestock. During dry times they dominate the margins of dams and livestock cannot reach water without being seriously stung.

Australia has too much to lose if we don’t eradicate red fire ants.....

‘The recent heavy rainfall and wild weather in the region could accelerate the spread of fire ants, one of the world’s worst invasive species,’ warned Invasive Species Council Advocacy Manager Reece Pianta.

‘Fire ants are more active before or after rainfall and can form large floating rafts which move with water currents to establish footholds in new areas.

‘We have recently seen evidence of this rafting behaviour on cane farms south of Brisbane.

‘The good news is that it will be easier to spot fire ants and their nests at this time.

‘We are therefore calling on the community to be on the lookout for fire ants, including in their backyards, local parks, beaches or bushland.

‘It’s really easy to do your part. Just take a picture of any suspicious ants and report it.

‘And don’t worry if you’re not sure what type of ant it is, every picture that is sent in will be vital information for the eradication program.....

Report fire ants to:

Queensland: 13 25 23 or www.fireants.org.au

New South Wales: 1800 680 244 or https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/forms/report-exotic-ants

If you think fire ants are on your property, find advice on what to do by visiting: https://www.fireants.org.au/treat/residential-landowner-or-tenant

TheSydney Morning Herald, 17 January 2024:

Venomous fire ants caught in Queensland floodwaters are forming living rafts that quickly traverse long distances, raising the threat of more incursions from the south-east of the state into NSW.

A video released by the Invasive Species Council on Tuesday shows thousands of ants clinging to each other in a tight pack as they float in floodwaters around the Gold Coast.

The invasive species, whose sting can kill people, pets and livestock, and destroy native ecosystems, can also fly – in rare cases up to several kilometres at a time – and travel in transported soil, mulch, animal feed, potted plants and other organic material.

Six nests were detected and destroyed at Murwillumbah in the NSW Northern Rivers region in November. The mounting threat is so urgent the state government has increased checks at the Queensland border, requiring people to declare their goods and register their movements.

“There is a real onus on NSW residents, buyers, importers or anyone that’s bringing in goods from Queensland to make sure they know where it comes from,” NSW Department of Primary Industries chief invasive species officer Scott Charlton said.

“If it’s a fire ant area, it requires the appropriate paperwork to be certified as free from fire ants.”.....

Two aggressive loggers get off with a rap over the knuckles for violently assaulting two community members

 

It was two arrests and two court judgments long delayed - with little in the way of deterrence at the end of proceedings.

News of the Area, 25 June 2023:

Two men appeared in Coffs Harbour Local Court on June 14 in relation to an incident in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest in June 2020.

Michael Luigi Vitali from South Grafton is charged with common assault against local ecologist Mark Graham.

Grafton man Rodney James Hearfield is charged with common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm against Andre Johnston.

Both men pleaded ‘not guilty’ and the matter will be heard next in Coffs Harbour on August 16......

Echo, 16 January 2024:

The Coffs Harbour Local Court has found two forestry workers guilty of assaulting two members of the community on a public road in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest on 25 June 2020.

NSW Upper House Greens MP Sue Higginson reported the guilty finding, which was handed down by the court yesterday, in a press release.

Ms Higginson said the assaults had been recorded on a mobile camera device by a Forestry Corporation Officer.

The two forestry workers were, at the time, employed by logging company Greensill Bros that was contracted by the NSW Forestry Corporation, a state owned corporation.

The forestry workers were not charged immediately following the assault, and one of the victims was instead targeted and charged by the Coffs Harbour Police.

The officer who handled the matter attempted to withhold the video footage of the assaults from the victims and the public, according to Ms Higginson. He is no longer a police officer.

‘Today’s judgement is well overdue and is the end of a harrowing experience for the two victims, Mark Graham and Andre Johnston,’ Ms Higginson said.

‘Mark and Andre were on a public road, in a public forest, when the forestry workers approached, threatened and then assaulted them all while being filmed by an employee of the NSW Forestry Corporation…’

‘The initial investigation into these assaults resulted in the charging of one of the victims, Mark Graham, who is a forest ecologist.

‘The NSW Police, after discussions with the Forestry Corporation charged Mr Graham with approaching forestry operations, those charges were wrongly pressed and were later withdrawn.

‘The fact that Mr Graham was charged for a crime when he was a victim of what the Magistrate described as a violent assault on a public road, in a public forest, and it was captured on video, can only be described as a wilful miscarriage of justice.

The Magistrate noted that the evidence showed the police officer who handled the situation had been helpful to the guilty men and took a serious dislike to the victims of the assaults.

‘The video evidence is confronting and unambiguous.’ Ms Higginson said.

‘Two members of the community, who are acting in a friendly and non-threatening manner, are approached by two agitated and hostile forestry workers who then proceed to assault them, demand their personal property and shout threatening abuse at them.

‘It is gross and brutal and shows the level of impunity that forestry workers are afforded from their actions when the local police then charge the victims of the assault instead of the perpetrators.’

‘It is a good day for justice, as slow and bumpy as this road has been for Mark and Andre. There must be a strong response from the Government.’

Blue Mountains Gazette, 16 January 2024:

The Forestry Corporation is under pressure to blacklist a logging contractor after its workers attacked two environmentalists in a NSW forest.

It's been three-and-a-half years since Mark Graham and Andre Johnston were assaulted on a public road during a day trip to the Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, where logging was under way.

On Monday, the pair got their day in court with a Coffs Harbour magistrate finding two employees of Greensill Bros had committed common assault.

The environmentalists are now demanding Greensill Bros be banned from any further logging work for the NSW government-owned Forestry Corporation.

They also plan to pursue a corruption complaint against the Forestry Corporation, saying one of its direct employees who was overseeing the logging operation filmed the assault but failed to intervene.....

"Immediately following the assault in 2020 neither of the forestry workers were charged and one of the victims was instead targeted and charged by the Coffs Harbour police."

Ms Higginson said the charges were laid after discussions between the police and Forestry Corporation.

Mr Graham has told AAP he was dismissed by police when he went to report the assault in June 2020 and was instead to go and "get a job".

About six months later he was charged with being within 100 metres of logging machinery.

Ms Higginson represented Mr Graham in that matter and has accused police of trying to withhold video evidence of the assaults from both victims, and from the public.

The charge against Mr Graham, of being too close to logging machinery, was eventually dropped in May 2022.....

No convictions were recorded with Michael Luigi Vitali and Rodney James Hearfield both put on 15-month good behaviour bonds.

The Forestry Corporation and Greensill Bros have declined to comment.

AAP has also sought comment from police.

SEA LEVEL RISE 2024 : It's later than you think

Most of what we the general public think we know about sea level rise calculations by inundation height and rate is derived from models which did not anticipate global land and sea surface temperatures accelerating as sharply as they have in the last two years nor thought that an average annual global temperature anomaly of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels was quite literally just around the corner.

So it is highly possible that what is quoted below by way of text and maps is an underestimation of what the Australian East Coast will begin to experience between now and 2030. While it is also likely that the most common established timelines of climate change milestones which run out to 2100 will be truncated to a marked degree.

UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), AR6 Synthesis Report (2020-23), Headline Statements, excerpt:

Continued greenhouse gas emissions will lead to increasing global warming, with the best estimate of reaching 1.5°C in the near term in considered scenarios and modelled pathways. Every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards (high confidence).

AdaptNSW, excerpt, retrieved 15 January 2024:

IPCC modelling suggests slightly higher sea level rise to the north of the state and slightly lower to the south. These projections do not include processes associated with the melting of ice sheets which for NSW could result in sea level rise of up to 2.3m by 2100 and 5.5m by 2150.

In the longer term, the IPCC show sea level is committed to rise for centuries to millennia due to continuing deep ocean warming and ice sheet melt, and will remain elevated for thousands of years.

• If warming is limited to 1.5°C, global mean sea level will rise by about 2 to 3m.

• for 2°C, 2 to 6m is expected, and

• for 5° 19 to 22m is expected. [my yellow highlighting]

National Oceanography Centre, Clarence Coast Mean Sea Level 1986 – 2022

YAMBA

NASA, Projected Sea Level Rise Under Different SSP Scenarios, Yamba:

Clarence Valley Sea Level Rise 2030 onwards based on Climate Central Interactive Mapping

Extent of inundation at 2 metre rise

Extent of inundation at 3 metre rise

Rise by 2030 - six years time

Rise by 2040 - sixteen years time

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.