Kristine Crous, Senior Lecturer, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University; Belinda Medlyn, Distinguished Professor, Ecosystem Function and Integration, Western Sydney University, and David S Ellsworth, Professor of Plant Eco-physiology, Western Sydney University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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STEP Matters 185
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- During the STEP walk at Agnes Banks Nature Reserve we came across an endangered Persoonia nutans with lots of little…Read More
- Beecroft is bearing the brunt of three significant infrastructure developments (North West Rail Link, Epping to Thornleigh Third Track and…Read More
- Interesting consumer research has found the number of Australians going bushwalking has risen significantly in the past five years. Findings…Read More
- A group of people living in the Shoalhaven region have seen the potential of the bushwalking boom. The Shoalhaven region…Read More
- The battle continues against coal mining under the water catchments in the Illawarra but there are some hopeful signs that…Read More
- At the end of March aerial surveys of more than 500 coral reefs from Cairns to Papua New Guinea revealed…Read More
- Technological developments have had profound impacts on our lives, some good and some not so good, some with immediate benefits…Read More
STEP Matters 184
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- The population of the Sydney metropolitan area is estimated to grow by 1.6 million people by 2031. According to the…Read More
- In STEP Matters, Issue 183, p4 (Concern about Changes to Biodiversity Laws) we explained the reasons for concerns about the…Read More
- In the past, councils expended significant funds in formulating local environment plans with zoning locations appropriate for different areas. The…Read More
- After promising that amalgamation would not be forced onto residents, the NSW Government is pressing ahead by moving the goal…Read More
- The Ku-ring-gai Bushcare Association is an unincorporated organisation that is supported by Ku-ring-gai Council which supports the Bushcare volunteer program…Read More
- The Paris climate change talks in December 2015 produced an agreement hailed as 'historic, durable and ambitious'. Developed and developing…Read More
- In November last year STEP held a talk by Dr Ian Percival on the unique volcanic diatreme that has been…Read More
- STEP committee member, Andrew Little, happened across an Echidna searching for ants in a driveway in Roseville Chase. It was…Read More
- Mark Diesendorf, UNSW Australia Can Australians be sustainable and enjoy endless economic growth? It’s not likely.Read More
- The Boomerang Alliance, a coalition of groups led by the Total Environment Centre, has been campaigning for more than ten…Read More
- Out thanks to the Ku-ring-gai Bat Conservation Society for permission to publish this article that was originally published in Friends…Read More
- Two members of the STEP committee visited the Snowy Mountains in recent months. John Martyn saw plenty of flowers in…Read More
STEP Matters 183
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- About a year ago the discovery of a new species of Hibbertia in was announced. The species, with the scientific…Read More
- Sadly another STEP stalwart has died. Glenn Johnson was a member of the committee for nine years from 1984 to…Read More
- The Science Teachers’ Association of NSW conducts a program to assist students and their teachers to carry out scientific investigations.…Read More
- Wander through the bushland of Wahroonga Estate and you will see the delicate heads of native orchids peeping out from…Read More
- Ross Rapmund gave a fascinating talk on the changing birds in northern Sydney. He started with a slide which compared…Read More
- The NSW Government is currently considering legislation to implement the recommendations of the Independent Biodiversity Legislation Review Panel contained in…Read More
- This article by Connie Harris was originally published in the October edition of Native Plants for NSW. It concerns the…Read More
- Silly me; I thought world population now around 7 billion was going to stabilise at around 9 billion by 2050.…Read More
- Media Release 17 September 2015, The Hon Kelvin Thomson, Federal Member for Wills.Read More
STEP Matters 182
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- Last year the NSW Government’s planning legislation was rejected because communities were going to be left out of significant parts…Read More
- The Environmental Impact Statement on Hornsby Quarry was released in August with a closing date for submissions of 4 September…Read More
- The report on the review of the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice was released in August. The NSW Government…Read More
- The issue of waste and litter from single use plastic bags handed out by supermarkets and other stores has been…Read More
- The impact on marine life from plastic may be most obvious in coastal regions, but in August CSIRO released the…Read More
- Allan Dale Professor in Tropical Regional Development, The Cairns Institute James Cook Universiity. Originally published on The Conversation. Read the…Read More
- The Australian Government is reviewing the tax deductibility status of donations to environment organisations and is in the process of…Read More
- Ever heard of Shazam? It’s an app that tells you the name of that song you just can’t remember. Well…Read More
- This article has been written by Frances O’Brien, Group Administrator at Wahroonga Waterways Landcare. The site is part of SAN…Read More
STEP Matters 181
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- A new high quality walking map of the Berowra Valley has been published by Friends of Berowra Valley.Read More
- The Sydney Institute of Marine Science, located in a historic sandstone quarry on the Chowder Bay foreshore, has opened a…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council has received considerable flak over a decision to close an unauthorised mountain bike track down a steep hill…Read More
- Issue 178 (p2) of STEP Matters outlined the content of a preliminary draft plan of management for the Canoon Road…Read More
- In early 2015, Ku-ring-gai Council invited submissions on a draft plan of management for St Ives Showground and Precinct Lands.…Read More
- Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made by the Stop the Chop alliance have revealed that the NSW Government ignored expert…Read More
- This information came from an article written by Margery Street for Blandfordia, the newsletter of the North Shore Group of…Read More
- The efficacy of offsets depends on a strict set of rules and long-term consistency of application. The first article ponders…Read More
- Under the United Nation's climate change agreement Australia’s current greenhouse gas emissions reduction task is to reduce its emissions by…Read More
- This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Read More
STEP Matters 180
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- Participants in Clean Up Australia Day once again noticed the massive extent of littering and rubbish dumping from vehicles. The…Read More
- The NSW Government election demonstrated the high level of concern about coal mining and coal seam gas. Several seats affected…Read More
- The residents of Malton Road and the Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust have been working for many months to try and…Read More
- Several past and present members of the STEP committee were delighted to be invited to a function at Ingleside on…Read More
- This article was written by former president of STEP, Barry Tomkinson, who has had a close involvement with the Berowra…Read More
- Previous issues of STEP Matters (Issue 173, p7–8 and Issue 175, p2) have highlighted the damage that is occurring in…Read More
- The release of the 2015 Intergenerational Report (IGR) by the Treasurer Joe Hockey brings nothing new to raise hopes that…Read More
- STEP member Ralph Pridmore describes his personal experiences with his local feathered friends.Read More
- This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Read More
STEP Matters 179
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- The NSW state election is not far away and we have only just found out who the Liberal Party candidate…Read More
- Just before Christmas, NSW Premier, Mike Baird, and the Environment Minister, Rob Stokes, announced that the Government favoured the introduction…Read More
- Local environment groups have been calling for a moratorium on bushfire clearing under the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code while the…Read More
- The reasons for concern about the loss of old trees under the 10/50 Code are demonstrated by research.Read More
- Residents of Sydney's suburbs cannot help but notice the abundance of the native honeyeater, the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) in…Read More
- Jim Wells, former STEP treasurer, has contributed this detailed information comparing the finances of Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai councils. We leave…Read More
- Much of Ku-ring-gai’s money has come from apartment building construction. Contributions appear to be about $30,000 per unit with most…Read More
STEP Matters 186
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- The NSW Government has been reforming the legislation governing the operation of local government under the catchy title of Fit…Read More
- On 4 May 2016, the Senate Standing Committee on the Environment tabled a report on its inquiry into the Register…Read More
- Everyone likes a race; whether it’s the Melbourne Cup, some sporting event or an election. Winning is fabulous, losing can…Read More
- The NSW government has been undertaking a major review of the biodiversity legislation in response to farmers’ complaints about the…Read More
- Former NSW Crown Solicitor, Hugh Roberts, was treasurer of STEP from 1996 to 2001. In this period STEP began its…Read More
- The previous issue of STEP Matters 185 described the risks to Sydney’s water catchment in the Illawarra region from longwall…Read More
- Good news, a container deposit scheme is going to happen. The NSW Premier announced on 8 May that a scheme…Read More
- Australians buy more than 100 million litres of paint each year but around 5% of it ends up as waste,…Read More
STEP Matters 187
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- Sheldon Forest in Turramurra contains the second largest area remaining of the critically endangered Blue Gum High Forest covering an…Read More
- The tremendous efforts of the local community have produced some beneficial outcomes. Issue 185 of STEP Matters provided an update…Read More
- STEP welcomes new members of the committee and other members who would like to contribute to our work in some…Read More
- Two weeks before the Federal election with Warragamba Dam threatening to spill due to severe storms, the Baird government committed…Read More
- The Greater Sydney Commission has been created by NSW legislation with a brief to make Sydney more liveable, more productive…Read More
- There is surprisingly little information that describes, interprets and records heathlands and its ecology in Australia. However, Nick de Jong’s…Read More
- STEP was actively involved in the fight against the O’Farrell government’s legislation introduced in 2012 allowing amateur hunting in national…Read More
- In the 19th century deer were imported and released into areas like Royal National Park because they were regarded as…Read More
- Well the July election is done and dusted and the Liberal–National Coalition just scraped in. Despite Malcolm Turnbull’s previous statements…Read More
- John Martyn discovered this beautiful pink fungus in Sheldon Forest. Fungi expert Ray Kearney identified it as Cantharellus lilacinus. A…Read More
- Back in the 1970s, a speck of harbourside bushland in Hunters Hill achieved unexpected fame as the site of the…Read More
- To many people who are fascinated by Sydney's native flora but have no formal training in geology, the rocks around…Read More
- NSW residents are currently waiting for the state government to respond to the deluge of submissions opposing the new draft…Read More
STEP Matters 188
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- Yes, the brand new Lane Cove Valley map is now available. It has been produced by John Martyn with his…Read More
- Most people who live in the upper North Shore and who are interested in bushland, or gardening, or geology, or…Read More
- South Dural Residents and Ratepayers Group, a developer initiated lobby group, has made numerous applications since 1990 to Hornsby Council…Read More
- In November the Turnbull Government ratified Australia’s commitment to comply with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Australia has set…Read More
- Previously we've reported on Ku-ring-gai Council’s closure of the mountain bike downhill track that had been constructed illegally near Warrimoo…Read More
- There has been a flurry of legislative action and announcements during the final months of the year following varying periods…Read More
- Knowledge of some of the common endings of scientific names can help to make names less forbidding. It is well…Read More
- In last year’s Annual Report I noted the transformation happening in Sydney and the unknown impacts on our bushland, the…Read More
- Have you ever enjoyed the cool refuge that an underground cave offers from a hot summer’s day? Or perhaps you…Read More
- On Saturday 25 February 2017 the NSW Rogaining Association is holding LaneCoveRivergaine3, backing up the very successful LaneCoveRivergaines 1 and…Read More
- In 2015 the winner of STEP’s prize for a project relating to an environmental issue was awarded to Jade Moxey…Read More
STEP Matters 189
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- It's important that as many people as possible comment on the Greater Sydney Strategy and the North District Plan by…Read More
- Have your say on the North District Plan and the Greater Sydney Strategy by 31 March 2017. District Plans cover…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council has been developing plans to improve the Turramurra local centre over many years. As a resident of Turramurra…Read More
- STEP is delighted that our secretary has received Ku-ring-gai Council’s Australia Day Award for Outstanding Service to the Ku-ring-gai Community…Read More
- The geology of the Sydney Basin changes dramatically at the top of the Hawkesbury Sandstone, which is followed upwards ultimately…Read More
- Hornsby Council has moved to the next stage of planning for the redevelopment of Old Mans Valley and the Quarry.…Read More
- It’s a rare week when natural resource management policy penetrates the national news cycle not once, but twice. Nonetheless, last…Read More
- We've previously summarised our concerns about the application to rezone rural land to residential land. It is a relief that…Read More
- The Institute for Economics and Peace has supplemented their Global Peace Index with a Positive Peace Report 2016. But be…Read More
STEP Matters 190
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- Hollows as Homes The Australian Museum has joined the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Sydney University in launching a new…Read More
- Firstly, some history; in 2003 UTS decided to vacate the site and sought a rezoning for residential development with 560…Read More
- Thirlmere Lakes lie in an area that was subject tectonically to weak uplift and gentle monoclinal warping at the ill-defined…Read More
- Every day there’s an outdoor event to celebrate or commemorate something or other, and balloons will be released. It looks…Read More
- Following the serious power blackouts that occurred in South Australia and near misses in other states, gas-fired power stations have…Read More
- The Australian Association of Bush Regenerators was established in 1986 out of concern for the continuing survival and integrity of…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council has commissioned a report on developing the tourism potential of the municipality. Ku-ring-gai Destination Management Plan 2017 to…Read More
- The name Wianamatta is familiar through the loose usage of the term ‘Wianamatta Shale’ to embrace the Triassic rocks that…Read More
- Sydney's Blue Gum High Forests built colonial Sydney. By the 1850s most had gone. However a few patches survived. The…Read More
STEP Matters 191
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- In May the NSW government released regulations and codes that provide some of the detail on how the biodiversity legislation…Read More
- Over the past 200 years NSW has lost almost half of its bushland through land clearing and only 9% of…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council is anticipating that there will be a strong demand for biodiversity offsets once biodiversity legislation comes into operation…Read More
- STEP is supporting a great initiative by organised by Forestmedia, a small not-for-profit organisation that is aiming to increase community…Read More
- The Australian and Queensland governments are still pushing for the Adani mine to go ahead and are bending over backwards…Read More
- Lord Howe Island is a magnificent island about 600 km off the coast of NSW. Its unique landform as an…Read More
- There has been much media interest in the report that Sydney's population has reached 5 million. What has also been…Read More
- Our economy and society ultimately depend on natural resources: land, water, material (such as metals) and energy. But some scientists…Read More
STEP Matters 192
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- Male superb fairy-wrens change colour every year, from dull brown to bright blue. But being blue may be risky if…Read More
- The Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, was asked by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to undertake an independent review…Read More
- One of the major concerns about the NSW government’s biodiversity laws is the fundamental flaws in the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme,…Read More
- STEP’s public fund, the Environment Protection Fund, is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) via the Register of Environmental…Read More
- The NSW government thinks that raising the spillway wall of Warragamba Dam by 14 m will significantly reduce the risk…Read More
- In the early days of settlement in NSW development decision-making took little heed of its impact on the environment, the…Read More
- Over the past century, average land surface temperatures have risen by almost 1°C across the Australian continent. Models suggest this…Read More
- Please consider sending a submission opposing Mirvac's rezoning and development proposal for land adjoining Cumberland State Forest in West Pennant…Read More
- A special resolution will be moved at our AGM to modify our constitution. In accordance with the constitution, official notice…Read More
STEP Matters 193
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- Can one form a friendship with a magpie – even when adult males are protecting their nests during the swooping season?…Read More
- Back in the 1980s IBM built an office complex at 55 Coonara Road, West Pennant Hills. The building design won…Read More
- Another round of ‘restructuring’ has hit our national parks staff. More managers and rangers with superb skills and experience have…Read More
- Hornsby Council weakened its Tree Preservation Order (TPO) in 2011 so that only tree species indigenous to the area (about…Read More
- Robin Buchanan reminds us that maps on smart phones have limitations. ‘Just another lost bushwalker’ said the weary voice of…Read More
- STEP applied for an Environmental Small Grant from Ku-ring-gai Council last year for further repairs to the STEP Track near…Read More
- The NSW Government forecasts of population growth for metropolitan Sydney over the next 20 years are frightening, at 37% or…Read More
- STEP continues to sponsor an award for a project about an environmental issue under the Science Teachers’ Association Young Scientist…Read More
- This year, for the first time, STEP supported a great initiative organised by Forestmedia, an organisation that is aiming to…Read More
- We recently wrote about the exhaustive research, economic analysis and consultation that has been undertaken into a plan to eradicate…Read More
STEP Matters 194
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- Our plans to celebrate STEP’s 40th anniversary will be announced later this year. Graeme Aplin has kindly offered to write…Read More
- The Plan of Management of the Canoon Netball Complex was amended in 2015. It involved improvements to landscaping and changing…Read More
- At the last Clean Up Day the largest number of items collected by far was beverage containers (about 30% of…Read More
- The last two issues of STEP Matters (Our National Parks Need Protection and Fifty Years of the NPWS but is…Read More
- It is with great sadness that Willoughby Environmental Protection Association (WEPA) reports the peaceful passing of long-term member, Harold Spies,…Read More
- It seems a long time ago when the NSW public were fighting an attempt in 2013 by the Shooters and…Read More
- Northern Beaches Council is currently considering a development application that has been submitted to build 95 seniors housing units, three…Read More
- STEP Matters issue 193 provided detail on the application by Mirvac to build 600 apartments in the former IBM business…Read More
- The Australian government has a framework of strategies and programs for the management of biodiversity. According to the Department of…Read More
- In the previous issue of STEP Matters we reported on the major loss of trees in Hornsby Shire in recent…Read More
- In the last newsletter we highlighted the loss of tree canopy in Hornsby Shire and illustrated the abrupt decrease in…Read More
- Did you know that your morning cup of coffee contributes to six million tonnes of spent coffee grounds going to…Read More
- Here are five common Australian energy myths and facts for the next barbeque when these questions about renewable energy are…Read More
- Good insulation in a tree hollow or a well ventilated drey provides better protection than a nest box on a…Read More
STEP Matters 195
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- There has been much local angst about the idea that lights be installed on some of the Canoon Road netball…Read More
- The Nature Conservation Council with the help of the Environmental Defenders Office won the case challenging the process of implementation…Read More
- All members of the local botanical, bushcare and conservation communities have been deeply saddened by the sudden death of Noel…Read More
- Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) are the mechanism by which the states are permitted to log native forest under accreditation from…Read More
- The Australian government proposal, first floated in 2016, to remove tax deductibility status from donations to environment groups unless they…Read More
- Australia’s rate of species decline continues to be among the world’s highest. Government decisions to promote population growth and resource…Read More
- It has been a long drawn out process to develop a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). In…Read More
- We gardeners are often urged to ‘buy native’, especially nectar-producing flowering shrubs like grevilleas and banksias – they attract birds of…Read More
- The preparation of STEP’s history by Graeme Aplin and the committee is progressing well and will be completed by our…Read More
- STEP was a sponsor of this competition last year. Over 1,600 children entered and created some brilliant art works. The…Read More
- FrogID is a project to help identify and survey frogs in your area. This is done via an app on…Read More
STEP Matters 196
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- We are delighted to announce that Katie Rolls (Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University) is the winner of…Read More
- The Powerful Owl is a keystone species of bushland in eastern Australia. The survival of the current population of this…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council is currently undertaking a review of policy for managing recreation in bushland areas. This will cover the way…Read More
- Just months after the hard fight to get tree protections strengthened in Hornsby, council is trying to water down those…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council’s decision to close the Warrimoo Downhill Mountain Bike Trail was taken in July 2016 (see STEP Matters 188).…Read More
- Back in 2016 the NSW government conducted a consultation process on a Wild Horse Management Plan for Kosciuszko National Park…Read More
- The South Dural proposal for rezoning and development of rural land has fallen through thanks in no small part to…Read More
- The NSW government has finalised the Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code and Design Guide that were the subject of…Read More
- Great cities need trees to be great places, but urban changes put pressure on the existing trees as cities develop.…Read More
- With the recent introduction of the Biosecurity Act, there is now more emphasis to think about our action in terms…Read More
- The iNaturalist website has been set up as a means for citizens and scientists worldwide to record their observations of…Read More
- The perfect way to learn about the geology that underpins the landscape and diverse flora of the Sydney region A…Read More
STEP Matters 197
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- STEP member, Beverley Gwatkin, came up with the great idea of conducting walks for people unfamiliar with the amazing features…Read More
- This walk on 22 June was fascinating. We heard all about the diverse diet and life of the local Kai’ymay…Read More
- Our 40th birthday party on 22 July was a great occasion to remember the bold actions of the STEP people…Read More
- Over 700 native plant species and 300 vertebrate species have been recorded in Ku-ring-gai. On 19 June Chelsea Hankin (council’s…Read More
- Call for Review of 10/50 Legislation At their meeting on 11 July, council resolved: to write to the state government…Read More
- 2018 Budget The NSW government is flush with money thanks to the property boom. But, according to the Opposition, the…Read More
- The ABC reported that the May budget has reduced the budget allocation of funding to the biodiversity and conservation division…Read More
- What if Australia were to stop farming? At approximately 3% of gross domestic product, the removal of agriculture from the…Read More
- There are many books on the environment, as you will see if you scan the shelves of bookshops like Kinokuniya,…Read More
- The amount of development along Epping Road is astronomical. Sure, this development is near the Chatswood to Epping train line…Read More
- We recently received a message from a fellow bird enthusiast about his blog called the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Bird…Read More
STEP Matters 198
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- We have conducted two introduction to bushland walks this year, one in Sheldon Forest/Rofe Park and the other along the…Read More
- STEP is one of a group of environmental organisations that has got together to write a position paper on the…Read More
- The speaker at STEP’s AGM on 30 October was Lesley Hughes, Distinguished Professor of Biology from Macquarie University, who has…Read More
- We recently reported on the application for development on Bayview Golf Course for seniors housing units in an area that…Read More
- In recent months there have been several more bad policy decisions by the NSW government that go against scientific common…Read More
- Issues 193 and 194 of STEP Matters give a rundown of the convoluted application process by the Hills Council through…Read More
- The NSW government wants to bulldoze a large tract of community land around Flat Rock Drive to construct the Northern…Read More
- Such a simple title for such a comprehensive book – the subtitle ‘A photographic journey through the rich and varied geology,…Read More
- This is not a recent issue. The process of approval of this mine application by Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO)…Read More
- The names of many of our native trees were taken from perceived resemblances of their timbers to those of traditional…Read More
- STEP has been giving a Young Scientist prize at the annual awards every year since 2001. During this period the…Read More
- This year 2749 children participated in the Children’s Threatened Species Art Competition. There were 2397 entries and over 100 schools…Read More
- In 2018 STEP celebrated our 40th year of activity with a party at Lane Cove National Park and the publication…Read More
STEP Matters 199
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- It is estimated that there are fewer than 21,000 koalas left in NSW. The population may have reduced by more…Read More
- Australia’s total population grew by 390,000 over the year to 30 June 2018. In August 2018 Australia’s population hit the…Read More
- The Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust has been working for the local community for many years, keeping them informed about local…Read More
- Clean Up Australia was founded 30 years ago by Ian Kiernan. It is sad to hear of his death in…Read More
- In Issue 198 of STEP Matters we described the latest application by the Hills Council through the Gateway Process to…Read More
- Lane Cove National Park will be expanded, albeit marginally, with the addition of 0.6 ha near the river at North…Read More
- We have all been shocked by the mass killing of fish in the Menindee Lakes and other areas in January,…Read More
- Frances O’Brien worked as the Environmental Officer at Wahroonga Waterways Landcare for four years and has written a book about…Read More
- It may not look like a pristine expanse of Amazon rainforest or an African savannah, but the patch of bush…Read More
- We have been alerted to a perplexing situation by a Streamwatch volunteer. Streamwatch was established in 1990 by Sydney Water…Read More
- The participants of John Martyn’s walk in the Watagans on 5 December 2018 were treated to some great views of…Read More
STEP Matters 200
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- The rainforest corridors along the gullies of northern Sydney have been called by many names as ecologists try to describe…Read More
- The Aboriginal heritage of northern Sydney reminds us that these precious environments around us have been valued and nurtured for…Read More
- Our local and regional environment owes so much to its geological heritage. We live in the Sydney Basin, an epicontinental…Read More
- In February 1805 botanist George Caley (sent out by Sir Joseph Banks) made an exploratory trip from Pennant Hills across…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai has a rich environmental history. Some even consider it to be the birthplace of the Australian conservation movement because…Read More
- Walking along hand built stone paths into the bushland property Ahimsa is a step back in time and an inspiration…Read More
- 1956 was my second year out from Sydney Teachers’ College where I trained as a physical education teacher. As a…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is part of a geographic, geologic and eucalyptus sandstone bushland arc that encircles Sydney. This 12,963 hectare…Read More
- The early European history of the area that became Lane Cove National Park could be said to stem from an…Read More
- Sydneysiders are lucky to have several national parks within easy reach of suburbia. Their existence is thanks to a situation…Read More
- On the high ridges north of Sydney Harbour grew a tall, open forest of blue gums, blackbutts and casuarinas with…Read More
- Berowra Valley bushland stretches from south of The Lakes of Cherrybrook to the Hawkesbury River. The valley has a long…Read More
STEP Matters 201
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- Western Sydney University and the University of New England have set up a Citizen Science Project called the Dead Tree…Read More
- STEP has supported the Threatened Species Children’s Art Competition since 2017. The competition has been a great success and has…Read More
- The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee, established under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, has made a Final Determination to list…Read More
- We are very pleased to announce that the John Martyn Research Grant for 2019 has been awarded to Gabriella Hoban.…Read More
- The final deadline was set at 31 May for submissions on the Hills Council’s applications to the NSW government to…Read More
- The transport sector is Australia’s second fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions and yet we still don’t have any…Read More
- The costly problem of ash dieback has been highlighted in New Scientist. This fungal disease caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus was…Read More
- When the USA became serious about WWII they brought about an amazing mobilisation of their entrepreneurial industrial potential. That is…Read More
- Visiting Tasmania at leatherwood flowering time in February was a nice experience apart from the weather. It has a perfumed…Read More
- In May 2019 the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published its global assessment of the state…Read More
- Our walk in Fox Valley on 14 April revealed some surprises. A Powerful Owl was spotted and there were several…Read More
- We welcome Peter Clarke as a new member of the committee. He is well known for his work with Ku-ring-gai…Read More
STEP Matters 202
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- Hornsby Shire Climate Action has set up an online petition calling on Hornsby Council to declare a climate emergency. Declaring…Read More
- From July the management of the Streamwatch program was taken over by the Greater Sydney Landcare Network. This is a…Read More
- NSW Forestry Corp has lodged a proposal to sell off parts of the Cumberland State Forest for housing subdivision. More…Read More
- The Office of Environment and Heritage has alerted the Hills Council to the fact that the presence of Blue Gum…Read More
- Good news! The Land and Environment Court has upheld the decision by the Northern Beaches Council and Sydney North Planning…Read More
- Hornsby Council is undertaking a four-month review at a cost of $70,000 into potential rezoning and acquisition of land in…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is one of the most popular national parks in NSW, with over 3 million visits each year.…Read More
- On 25 May the Friends of Lane Cove National Park put on a special celebration. They were founded in 1994…Read More
- Since the re-election of the Berejiklian government there has been a mixed bag of news in relation to the environment.…Read More
- River red gums, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, are among the most iconic of Australia’s eucalypts. They are the most widely distributed of…Read More
- There is lots of research demonstrating the benefits of trees in urban areas. Not only do they camouflage the grey…Read More
- CSIRO Futures released a report in June on Australia’s future in the next 40 years, called Australian National Outlook 2019…Read More
- This is a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping. We have decided to reduce the price of our books…Read More
- STEP is supporting the screening of the film 2040 at Roseville Cinema. Booking is essential. We need a minimum of…Read More
STEP Matters 203
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- Members of the Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society and the Lane Cove community have been saddened by the death…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council is soon to decide whether to install synthetic turf at Mimosa Oval in Turramurra. Click here for our…Read More
- In the last issue of STEP Matters we reported good news that, in April 2019, the Land and Environment Court…Read More
- There is a parcel of land at the end of Chestnut Road, Mt Colah that has been privately owned for…Read More
- As this is being written in late-August, Sydney is enjoying another near cloudless day. There’s been no rain for weeks…Read More
- The article explains that the Snowy 2.0 project will be a financial disaster and that the project will also cause…Read More
- Lithgow coal miners want job security. Environmentalists want protection for the Gardens of Stone region’s upland swamps, endangered wildlife and…Read More
- National park land At the Nature Conservation Council annual conference Environment and Energy Minister Matt Kean was positive in his…Read More
- In this time when science is our main hope for combating climate change, it was so uplifting to attend the…Read More
- From January 2019 the National Herbarium of NSW has been closed while its collection of plant specimens is relocated from…Read More
- The NSW and federal elections in 2019 had the unfortunate result of leaving us with business as usual. No policy…Read More
- You may be wondering what happened on 12 November, the evening of STEP’s AGM. Owing to temperatures in the 30s,…Read More
STEP Matters 204
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- We have written several times about Mirvac’s proposal to develop the land at 55 Coonara Ave, West Pennant Hills that…Read More
- The local residents living near Mimosa Oval, Turramurra that is part of Rofe Park have been campaigning strongly against Ku-ring-gai…Read More
- Mermaid Pool, a rock pool below Manly Dam was named in the 1930s for the naked girls who used to…Read More
- Australia and the world have been horrified by the devastating bushfires that have been burning along the east coast and…Read More
- In November the results of an aerial survey of feral horse numbers was released. The numbers have increased by more…Read More
- The decline in koala numbers in NSW has been highlighted over many years by environment groups. The major causes have…Read More
- Currently there are several reviews taking place into biodiversity management at the federal level: Senate inquiry into faunal extinction review…Read More
- After a prolonged process of research, impact assessment, economic analysis and discussion with residents the Lord Howe Island Board got…Read More
- At the start of the bushfires right up to December the government refused to talk about the influence of climate…Read More
- While we may stand on a clifftop lookout and gaze in awe at its world-class sandstone scenery, it wasn't the…Read More
- The state and federal governments are unwilling to discuss the issue of Australia’s population growth. The general view is that…Read More
STEP Matters 205
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- Considering that we have had to cancel or postpone our walks and talks we decided it is appropriate to take…Read More
- The Australian Association of Bush regenerators (AABR) is cautioning against rushing in to replant burnt areas. They are advocating a…Read More
- The NSW government is not holding sittings in Macquarie Street but decisions are still being made, with most of them…Read More
- This strategy has taken many months to finalise after extensive consultation was undertaken with interested groups, often with competing interests.…Read More
- Sydney escaped the extreme bushfire experiences of last summer but the heatwaves, strong winds and extremely dry bush conditions could…Read More
- Optimistic, prosperous – a country of rare beauty, blessed with abundant natural resources. Australia has all the ‘golden eggs’ ’needed to…Read More
- China decided two years ago to ban the importof plastics for recycling and several SE Asian countries have limited imports.…Read More
- This article is based on recent visits by John Martyn to two different burnt areas, the Blue Mountains and the…Read More
- Many Australians feel compelled to help our damaged wildlife after this season’s terrible bushfires. Suggested actions have included donating money,…Read More
- NPA NSW has released a new research paper that has found that the claimed benefits of the Snowy 2.0 project…Read More
- We are pleased to announce that the John Martyn Research Grant for 2020 has been awarded to Ruby Paroissien. Ruby…Read More
STEP Matters 206
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- Suspension of old growth forest logging but other logging continues The government has suspended plans for the Natural Resources Commission…Read More
- As feared by the residents of West Pennant Hills and environment groups the NSW government has ignored the more than…Read More
- The process of partially filling in the void that was Hornsby Quarry using spoil from the excavation of the North…Read More
- The Coalition government just does not get it! Scott Morrison has stated in relation to the COVID-19 response that: What…Read More
- Documentary maker Michael Moore’s latest offering, Planet of the Humans, rightly argues that infinite growth on a finite planet is…Read More
- Many of you will know the Empire Marina at Bobbin Head, and if you have young kids or grandkids, buying…Read More
- Love, sex and mate choice are topics that never go out of fashion among humans or, surprisingly, among some Australian…Read More
- Reintroducing protected species into the wild has been near impossible due to predation by cats and foxes unless the site…Read More
- ARENA is the Australian Renewable Energy Agency that is tasked with improving the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies and increase…Read More
STEP Matters 207
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- On 6 May the Sydney North Planning Panel conducted a hearing into Hornsby Council’s DA for the works of Hornsby…Read More
- The Powerful Owl Coalition, of which STEP is a member, presented a submission to a Sydney North Planning Panel on…Read More
- On 14 August some good Hornsby Council decisions were made. Byles Creek Valley Local residents of the Byles Creek Valley…Read More
- An article in the last issue of STEP Matters explained the bad news that the rezoning of the IBM site…Read More
- The EPBC Act that has been in force since 1999 is required to be reviewed every 10 years. The second…Read More
- The NSW Government Architect has released a draft Greener Places Design Guide that is open for comment until 28 August.…Read More
- We are all aware of the impact that the use of 1080 poison has had on the local population of…Read More
- It has been a bad decade for bats. Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, they were already in severe decline…Read More
- Amid the urgent need to slow climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency makes sense. But as Australia’s…Read More
- On Thursday morning 18 June the Friends of Lane Cove National Park held a special celebration at Carter Creek to…Read More
- In April this year an international citizen science bioblitz event was held. Volunteers from all over the world recorded flora…Read More
- A group of researchers from Macquarie University are currently conducting a national online survey that aims to examine people’s connection…Read More
STEP Matters 208
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- Welcome to the annual report on the 42nd year of operation of STEP Inc. Believe it or not, 2020 has…Read More
- The Nature Conservation Council held their annual conference on 31 October via Zoom. There were speeches by Matt Kean, the…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council is currently developing plans for conversion of two existing sporting fields to synthetic turf. Both could have impacts…Read More
- Now our bushfire season has officially started it’s interesting to look at the devastating fires in the western US: still…Read More
- It seems good that the cost to students of environmental degrees has been cut but the direct government funding has…Read More
- Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) is an independent not-for-profit organisation. They work on many fronts to encourage informed public debate about…Read More
- New research shows lyrebirds move more litter and soil than any other digging animal When you think of lyrebirds, what…Read More
- I came across this book through a very positive review in the Weekend Australian. Its author is ecologist Matthew Colloff,…Read More
STEP Matters 209
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- In many areas of Ku-ring-gai people living near bushland have been busy constructing bike tracks for their family and neighbours…Read More
- In the November 2020 newsletter we explained concerns about the proposed change to land clearing regulations that would allow landowners…Read More
- In November 2020 we were alerted by residents of North Turramurra that the Glengarry Girl Guides site was up for…Read More
- The Mirvac development of the old IBM site next to Cumberland State Forest in West Pennant Hills was fast-tracked by…Read More
- The North Connex Tunnel that is a direct link between the Sydney Newcastle Expressway (now called the M1) and the…Read More
- The final report on the review of the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act headed by Prof Graeme…Read More
- There has been much relief that the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has ruled against the expansion of the Dendrobium Mine…Read More
- The NSW government is ploughing ahead with plans to build the Northern Beaches tunnel link at great expense estimated at…Read More
- We previously wrote about the damage the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will cause to the sensitive environment of the Snowy…Read More
- The Linnean Society of NSW was established in 1874 and is one of Australia’ oldest scientific societies. Their objective is…Read More
- The Clarke Medal is awarded each year for distinguished research in the natural sciences conducted in Australia and its territories.…Read More
STEP Matters 210
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- The Friends of Berowra Valley are sad to report the death of founding chair, Robert ‘Bob’ Salt OAM on Easter…Read More
- We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the John Martyn Research Grant for 2021 is Erin Rogers. She…Read More
- The long-awaited plans for the redevelopment of Hornsby Park and Westleigh Park are now open for submissions until 2 June.…Read More
- In the November 2020 issue of STEP Matters we outlined the current issues with proposals to install synthetic turf on…Read More
- We have just found out about a proposal for an 18-storey office tower to be built on the Eden Gardens…Read More
- Picture this: you’re in your backyard gardening when you get that strange, ominous feeling of being watched. You find a…Read More
- The devastating fires over the Black Summer in the Blue Mountains have produced one remarkable display, the pink flannel flower…Read More
- Arguably there are fewer animals in the world that are feared more than sharks. But the reality is that they…Read More
- Glyphosate, most commonly marketed as Roundup, is extensively used as a herbicide in agricultural areas and bushcarers know how effective…Read More
- It is 20 years since the Grey-headed Flying-fox was listed as a threatened species under NSW and Commonwealth legislation. This…Read More
STEP Matters 211
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- The land that comprises the St Ives Showground, Wildflower Garden and Community Nursery are important areas for conservation as well…Read More
- We haven’t heard much lately about Mirvac’s planned development on the IBM site in West Pennant Hills next to the…Read More
- In our previous newsletter there was a last-minute story about a proposal to build an 18-storey tower at Eden Gardens…Read More
- Early this month the Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment announced that Macquarie Park has been chosen as one…Read More
- In STEP Matters 210 we described the strong community opposition to plans by several councils for the installation of synthetic…Read More
- The Byles Creek Valley Union has been fighting for several years for the valley to be protected from further development.…Read More
- In Issue 191 we wrote about our concerns about the effectiveness of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme (BOS) to be established…Read More
- The key recommendation of Prof Samuel’s review of the EPBC Act was that the national environmental standards need to be…Read More
- Since 2017 STEP has supported the Threatened Species Children’s Art Competition. The competition was instigated by Forestmedia Network, a non-profit…Read More
- This information has been provided by the Willoughby Environment Protection Association, a member of the Powerful Owl Coalition. WEPA was…Read More
- In the Issue 209 we reported on the community concern about Ku-ring-gai Council’s determination to remove an illegal mountain bike…Read More
- Birdlife Australia’s regular newsletters have a regular series of snippets about well-known birds. Here are some about the Grey Fantail,…Read More
- Staghorn ferns belong to a group of tree-dwelling plants known as epiphytes. Tree canopies are a challenging environment for plants…Read More
STEP Matters 212
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- Earlier this week, NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean claimed he was ‘fortressing’ threatened species from extinction within our national parks…Read More
- The NSW Bushfire Inquiry recognised the need to identify the most important natural and cultural assets in the national park…Read More
- It is interesting to note that there are some local asset of intergenerational significance (AIS) sites protecting an unusual plant,…Read More
- The Morrison government has proposed scrapping recovery plans for almost 200 endangered species and habitats. Recovery plans are documents that…Read More
- In the previous issue of STEP Matters we provided information on what wasn’t happening with the Mirvac development on the…Read More
- The St Ives Showground and Precinct Lands are a complex mix of developed areas with a long history within a…Read More
- My concern is that weeds occur along all land that has been disturbed in otherwise pristine bushland areas. These are…Read More
- Under the Paris climate change agreement the majority of countries have made pledges to get their greenhouse gas emissions down…Read More
- We have all been out and about this spring and have made some new discoveries of orchids, some quite rare…Read More
- Although most of our walks and talks have had to be cancelled there has been lots of activity behind the…Read More
- To help STEP members learn more about the environmental credentials of candidates in Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai we sent them a…Read More
STEP Matters 213
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- Welcome to the annual report on the 43rd year of operation of STEP Inc. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021…Read More
- Much has been written in the press about the stalemate that developed within Ku-ring-gai Council following the ‘election’ of a…Read More
- In the last parliamentary sitting week of the year the Coalition attempted to legislate some major changes to the National…Read More
- Our highly intelligent and loud sulphur-crested cockatoos have developed a new skill, opening wheelie bins in order to raid their…Read More
- The Friends of Lane Cove National Park were planning to hold a celebration this year commemorating 30 years of volunteering…Read More
- It is good to see the Young Scientist Awards being run again this year. The winner of the STEP award…Read More
- NPWS has released a set of documents for consultation on an updated cycling strategy in national parks and reserves. The…Read More
- After 90 hard years of campaigning the NSW government has finally decided to declare some protection for the Gardens of…Read More
- A couple of months ago, I sat in on an Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) event via Zoom for its donors…Read More
- Between July 2003 and January 2017 Greg was Commissioner, Fire and Rescue, NSW. Being a former employee is an advantage…Read More
STEP Matters 214
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- 'What’s in a name?', asked Juliet of Romeo. 'That which we call a rose by any other name would smell…Read More
- There have been several items of news that are making the Warragamba Dam project look increasingly less likely to proceed.…Read More
- As one drives north along the M1 towards Gosford and cross the Hawkesbury River Bridge one has magnificent views of…Read More
- The Wahroonga Estate was acquired by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1898 when the land was just an orchard. The…Read More
- It is ten years since the Powerful Owl Project was initiated under the auspices of Birdlife Australia. This highly successful…Read More
- We have a rival? Well actually no! The Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park has very similar interests to ours. The Park…Read More
- There are many books dedicated to nature and the environment, most of them good, some very good, but this one…Read More
- I can't quote a price for this book because it was a gift or rather a swap. I met the…Read More
- As one who enjoys long bushwalks and studying nature, having walked as a ‘swaggie’ from Yuleba to Surat along the…Read More
STEP Matters 215
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- The NSW and Australian governments still want a rapid increase in population This will place great pressure on new outer…Read More
- This important discussion paper on population and climate change by Ian Lowe, Jane O’Sullivan and Peter Cook was published in…Read More
- The EPA released the three-yearly State of the Environment Report (SoE) in February. There are some pluses but mostly it…Read More
- The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) is a voluntary scheme, administered by the Australian government’s Clean Energy Regulator. It aims to…Read More
- Eucalypt Australia holds a competition every year asking people to vote for their favourite out of a short list of…Read More
- There are nearly 20,000 introduced plant species in Australia – roughly the same number as our native species – and while some…Read More
- When we attached tiny, backpack-like tracking devices to five Australian magpies for a pilot study, we didn’t expect to discover…Read More
- Richard Flanagan provides a depressing description of the Tasmanian salmon farming industry in 189 pages. This review looks at environmental…Read More
STEP Matters 216
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- At last we have some good news to report. The country is breathing a sigh of relief following the defeat…Read More
- Australia is losing more biodiversity than any other developed nation. Already this year the charismatic and once abundant gang gang…Read More
- On 10 May 2022 Chantelle Doyle gave our members a presentation on her extensive PhD work on conserving Hibbertia spanantha.…Read More
- Trees play an important role in defining the character of Ku-ring-gai. Council has been going through a process to develop…Read More
- Tradescantia fluminensis, commonly known as wandering trad is one of the worst weeds in Sydney’s bushland and home gardens. This…Read More
- In November 2021 the NSW government announced the creation of the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area. This means this…Read More
- In Issue 211 of STEP Matters we wrote about the review being undertaken by Hornsby Council of the planning controls…Read More
- Dr Holly Parsons and the Powerful Owl team from Birdlife Australia, with financial assistance from a Ku-ring-gai environmental levy grant,…Read More
- In June 2021 NSW introduced a Plastics Action Plan. The most visible action is the plan to reduce harmful plastic…Read More
- In great news for the circular economy, the Thornleigh Community Recycling Centre is now able to accept hard plastics! This…Read More
- As reported in Regenavitus (newsletter of the Friends of Lane Cove NP), the botanical name of the pesky weed known…Read More
STEP Matters 217
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- In our submissions STEP has often highlighted the issue of the disruption to animal behaviour from artificial light spill. Examples…Read More
- Near the end of Quarter Sessions Road in Westleigh there is a large area of land (34 ha) that was…Read More
- We are all aware of trees being chopped down and poisoned in order to facilitate development (subdivision) or views. The…Read More
- Fungi are poorly known. Of the estimated 3 to 8 million species in existence, only about 120,000 species ever have…Read More
- The first State of the Environment (SoE) report for Australia was produced in 1996 by a team led by Prof…Read More
- In August the NSW Environment Minister, James Griffin, announced a project, dubbed the Seabirds to Seascapes project that aims to…Read More
- While Ku-ring-gai Council was in caretaker mode in December 2021, Mayor Cedric Spencer signed the documents giving the go-ahead for…Read More
- WildThings NSW is a local not-for-profit organisation with a goal to promote, protect and enhance urban wildlife and their habitats…Read More
STEP Matters 222
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- Australia’s national parks, botanic gardens, wild places and green spaces are swarming with an invasive pest that is largely flying…Read More
- A group of residents in West Pymble took Ku-ring-gai Council to the Land and Environment Court for a judicial review…Read More
- The synthetic hockey surface was installed about 30 years ago and is now worn out. The Northern Sydney and Beaches…Read More
- There has been much angst expressed at Ku-ring-gai Council forums and meetings about the grandstand project. Sure there is a…Read More
- Typical low maintenance plantings on public land have low diversity, visual appeal and function. Monocultures of strappy plants such as…Read More
- At the August council meeting it was decided to trial the introduction of a new recycling service of items that…Read More
- Prepare to appreciate the world under your feet (well, your feet grounded on the earth, maybe not on a concrete…Read More
- Finally there is the prospect of real action on feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park – please make a submission by…Read More
- This book was of great interest having lived in Perth for 9 years and worked and travelled at length in…Read More
STEP Matters 223
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- Welcome to the annual report on the 45th year of operation of STEP Inc. There is a brighter outlook for…Read More
- Those of you who attended Ian Dunlop's STEP AGM talk on 4 November may have ended up distressed by the…Read More
- At our AGM on 4 November, Ian provided a clear message about the future of the Earth and humankind. He…Read More
- Grayling Reserve is a small area on the corner of Grayling Street and Binalong Street in West Pymble. It covers…Read More
- Our Black Summer fires were closely followed by record rainfall and flooding. We were actually up in the Blue Mountains…Read More
- ‘What an amazing opportunity …’ was a student response overheard during a lunch conversation at the recent biodiversity survey held at…Read More
- Would you like to take part in our citizen science project? STEP is becoming increasingly concerned about the potential impact…Read More
- Two threatened species, the Eastern Pygmy Possum and the Red-crowned Toadlet, are both listed as Vulnerable under the NSW Biodiversity…Read More
- In the previous edition of STEP Matters there was an article about the NSW government’s proposal and consultation on reinstating…Read More
- STEP has given a prize for environmental projects in the Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientists Awards for 22…Read More
- The Upper House of the NSW parliament has been conducting an inquiry into how the planning system can be improved…Read More
STEP Matters 224
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- In December, just as we were looking forward to a peaceful holiday break, the NSW government released plans for new…Read More
- Myrtle rust is an invasive species of fungus that threatens plants in the Myrtaceae family. Researchers want to know more…Read More
- According to 2020 data Ku-ring-gai currently has an urban forest canopy cover of 45%. The Urban Forest Strategy is to…Read More
- A planning proposal for the redevelopment of the Lourdes Retirement Village at the end of Stanhope Road in Killara was…Read More
- Domestic cats and dogs pose a serious threat to wildlife because of their natural hunting instincts. With a large number…Read More
- The Ku-ring-gai Bushcare Association (KBA) came up with the idea to run a competition to encourage cat owners to keep…Read More
- This book is delightfully easy to read but not so easy to review in a limited space as it moves…Read More
- Hornsby Council is making good progress on the development of the Hornsby Park and Quarry site with works almost completed…Read More
STEP Matters 225
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- When we make roads, houses or farmland, we often find large old trees in the way. Our response is often…Read More
- One of the Albanese Government’s promises was to take action to halt the alarming decline in our biodiversity and rewrite…Read More
- The NSW government’s Transport Oriented Development (TOD) plans came into effect on 1 April. We provided an outline in the…Read More
- Construction of the synthetic turf field at Norman Griffiths Oval in Bicentennial Park, West Pymble commenced in August 2023. You…Read More
- In Issue 221 we reported on the Chief Scientist’s report into Synthetic Turf Study in Public Open Spaces. One of…Read More
- We have observed several trees in Turramurra and Warrawee that seem to have died of natural causes. Here is one…Read More
- On 26 March Ku-ring-gai held a forum on the management of trees. It was very well attended with over 150…Read More
- Our talk on 27 April was presented by Shannon Kaiser, PhD researcher into the impact of aerially deployed fire retardants…Read More
- We are pleased to announce that the recipient of this years’ award is Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan for his project entitled Exploring…Read More
STEP Matters 226
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- As humanity continues to burn fossil fuels, the delicate balance of life on Earth is changing. That’s true of trees,…Read More
- Rofe Park Turramurra was not on Wikipedia before now – there is an entry for Rofe Park in Hornsby that has…Read More
- The concept of a Tiny Forest was developed in the early 1970s by the Japanese forest ecologist, Akira Miyawaki, as…Read More
- What is being overlooked in current international climate policy under the Paris Agreement is the crucial role of biodiversity in…Read More
- Please go and see the documentary The Koalas to get a graphic view of the ridiculous situation in NSW where…Read More
- Rainforests in Britain? Surely not! What have you been smoking? Well, please buy and read this book and blow your…Read More
- National Tree Day is on Sunday 28 July. It was co-founded by Planet Ark in 1996 and it has since…Read More
- The Great Southern BioBlitz (GSB) is an exciting international initiative that embarks on an intensive biological survey during the vibrant…Read More
- We don’t tend to associate bats with winemaking except to consider that flying foxes or fruit bats might happily eat…Read More
- We made only one submission in the last two months. This was in relation to a public hearing on a…Read More
- The prolonged process of applications to redevelop the Lourdes Retirement Village in Stanhope Road, Lindfield (explained in (explained here) culminated…Read More
STEP Matters 220
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- At the time of finalising an article for our last issue of STEP Matters we were still waiting for the…Read More
- In Issues 217 and 219 of STEP Matters there was some information about the proposals for development by Hornsby Council…Read More
- The draft Berowra Valley National Park and Berowra Valley Regional Park Plan of Management was exhibited for public comment way…Read More
- The Centre for Population, part of federal Treasury, was established in 2019 to improve data collection on how Australia’s population…Read More
- We have been part of Ku-ring-gai Council’s microbat surveys for some time as part of the Pool to Pond program.…Read More
- The Albanese government has passed revisions to the Safeguard Mechanism legislation with the help of the Greens in the Senate.…Read More
- STEP members were sad to hear about the death of Harry Locke in February. Harry and his wife Neroli were…Read More
- One of Australia’s leading climate scientists, Prof Will Steffen, died in January. Steffen has been hailed as a brilliant climate…Read More
- Ever heard of Stockwellia? No? Well actually me neither, till reading this book! Stockwellia quadrifida is a rainforest giant found…Read More
STEP Matters 219
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- The Mirvac development of the former IBM business park at West Pennant Hills is proceeding. In September 2021 the application…Read More
- I have to admit I didn’t know anything about the location of Westleigh until the Westleigh Park Master Plan development…Read More
- Early in 2021 the owner of the Eden Gardens nursery complex on Lane Cove Road in Macquarie Park submitted a…Read More
- In November 2022 the Friends of Lane Cove National Park alerted us to the news that Naamaroo was on the…Read More
- Manly Warringah War Memorial Park Is an area of 375 ha that covers the Manly Dam, its catchment area and…Read More
- In October, at NSW’s Local Government Annual Conference, a motion calling for better protection of wildlife on development sites was…Read More
- In STEP Matters Issue 213 we commented in detail on the new draft NPWS cycling strategy. This is a highly…Read More
- Nothing has been happening with the Warragamba Dam wall raising proposal for some time. The idea was first raised by…Read More
- Victoria has legislated to enable backyard fruit growers who use the wrong netting and those who sell or advertise it,…Read More
- We are still waiting for the review of environment factors for Ku-ring-gai Council’s project to install synthetic turf at Norman…Read More
- As reported in STEP Matters Issue 216 Hornsby Council voted in favour of changing the zoning and other conditions in…Read More
- The Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment (FOKE) has initiated a fascinating project aiming to gain aspiring georegion status for the Ku-ring-gai…Read More
- The northeastern Sydney Basin is bounded by Sydney Harbour to the south, the Hunter River to the north, the coastline…Read More
- KCNP’s current plan of management is over 20 years old and its review is moving at a glacial pace. In…Read More
- The future of Barrenjoey lighthouse has long been a bone of contention. The submission summary reported that adaptive re-use of…Read More
- In 2018 the Powerful Owl Coalition highlighted the importance of reducing artificial lights near bushland in the publication Protecting Powerful…Read More
STEP Matters 218
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- The owner of Lourdes Retirement Village at the end of Stanhope Road in Killara have been trying for several years…Read More
- The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) has been struggling to cover demand for its services since 2013 when the Federal Government…Read More
- NSW has two million hectares of public native forests along the coast. They are home to diverse wildlife and myriad…Read More
- There is a plethora of international agreements that relate to the protection of the Earth’s biodiversity. The overarching convention is…Read More
- Australian cities are good at growing – for decades their states have relied on it. The need to house more people…Read More
- It's difficult to write a simple review of this book because it works at several different levels. But first of…Read More
- Welcome to the annual report on the 44th year of operation of STEP Inc. Our lives have, in theory, returned…Read More
- STEP has given a prize for environmental projects in the Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientists Awards now for…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council has a new way for you to check whether a permit has been granted for trees being removed…Read More
STEP Matters 221
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- The Chief Scientist’s report, Synthetic Turf Study in Public Open Spaces has finally been released but fails to give definitive…Read More
- We congratulate former STEP treasurer and councillor on Ku-ring-gai Council, Anita Andrew, on receiving the W.R. Browne Award for 2023.…Read More
- High net immigration is putting huge pressure on governments to get more housing built. But do we need to do…Read More
- There has been a lot of publicity about the proposed development of an area of land known as Lizard Rock.…Read More
- The local orchid Genoplesium baueri (endangered), also known as Bauer’s Midge Orchid, was added to the IUCN Red List of…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council has recently completed a recreation needs study. The June meeting agreed to put the study out for public…Read More
- Ku-ring-gai Council is developing a masterplan for the St Ives Showground and Precinct that will guide future improvements and define…Read More
- We are pleased to announce that the recipient of this years’ award is Margarita Gil-Fernández for her project entitled Mycorrhizal…Read More
- We have decided to expand our commitment to environmental education, and this year we have awarded our first ad hoc…Read More
- Have you ever wondered about all the little creatures that may visit your garden at night? A wildlife camera has…Read More
- STEP families may be interested in Country Town, a children’s picture book that will be coming out soon. Isolde Martyn…Read More
A fierce battle is being fought in the soil beneath our feet – and the implications for global warming are huge
As humanity continues to burn fossil fuels, the delicate balance of life on Earth is changing. That’s true of trees, many of which are growing faster as a result of increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in our atmosphere.
But not all trees are responding in this way. In particular, eucalypts – Australia’s iconic forest trees – haven’t benefited from the increase in CO₂ as they were expected to.
Why not? Our new research, published today in Nature, shows it comes down to a below-ground battle for phosphorus, a mineral nutrient in soils that is essential for tree growth. The results suggest in some parts of the world, increased CO₂ means tiny bugs in the soil 'hold onto' their phosphorus, making less available for trees.
This is alarming news, because according to current projections, global forest growth is meant to limit damage from global warming.
What our study involved
Our study used data from a Western Sydney University experiment known as Eucalyptus Free Air CO₂ Enrichment, or EucFACE. The experiment is located in a century-old Cumberland plain woodland in Sydney’s Hawkesbury district.
CO₂ is released into the woodland through a computer‐controlled system. Scientists then monitor the effects on trees, soils and the broader ecosystem. Over six years, CO₂ was raised to the levels expected around the year 2050 (according to the current business-as-usual emissions trajectory).
Our previous studies found the woodland trees did not show any extra growth at high CO₂ levels. We suspected the low availability of soil phosphorus was the cause, and set out to test this.
Phosphorus is crucial to the process of photosynthesis that makes trees grow. Phosphorus in soil is provided by bugs known as microbes. These micro-organisms break down dead and decaying matter, and in the process change phosphorus into a form that plants can take up with their roots.
Most Australian soils are naturally low in phosphorus, because they are derived from ancient, nutrient-depleted rocks. The same is true for most soils in tropical and subtropical regions. That makes the phosphorus service provided by microbes even more important.
We sampled phosphorus in all parts of the ecosystem, tracing its journey from the soil to the trees. We found under high-CO₂ conditions the microbes keep more of the phosphorus they produce, to aid their own metabolism. This left less available for trees to take up.
This occurred despite the trees trying to 'bargain' for phosphorus by releasing extra carbon into the soil to feed the microbes.
What’s more, trees are big 'recyclers' of phosphorus – they remove half of the phosphorus from any leaf before it falls. But this was still not enough to support extra tree growth.
EucFACE is designed to predict the effects of rapidly rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on Australia’s unique native forests.
Why this matters
Our study is the first to show how the phosphorus cycle is affected by high CO₂ – and in particular, the role of soil microbes.
The results are important to predicting soil phosphorus availability, and plant productivity, in woodlands and forests as CO₂ levels increase in the atmosphere.
Current climate projections assume increasing CO₂ will lead to more forest growth globally. Forests are a vital carbon 'sink' – that is, they draw down carbon from the atmosphere. So the increased forest growth was projected to go some way to limiting the effects of climate change.
If our results are taken into account, future warming would be higher than current projections. However, it’s important to verify our results in other locations, with other tree species. New experiments are being formed by overseas teams, including in the Amazon rainforest, to test the findings.
Importantly, our results don’t mean that forests are not a crucial sink for carbon. Forests hold a vast quantity of carbon. Avoiding deforestation and planting new forests are both valuable means of maintaining and adding to carbon stores.
Our research demonstrates the importance of considering soils when growing trees. We also hope our research stimulates further efforts to find phosphorus in ecosystems, especially in tropical rainforests where phosphorus is often greatly limited.
Rofe Park Turramurra is now on Wikipedia
Rofe Park Turramurra was not on Wikipedia before now – there is an entry for Rofe Park in Hornsby that has been there a while. I first submitted the article to Wikipedia in February 2024, after much change and back and forth with editors, the article was accepted and created on the 21 June.
My reason for getting Rofe Park Turramurra on Wikipedia was that it reaches much further and is more permanent than the website and domain created in 2022.
The disadvantage of a website is that it needs to be managed and a payment made for the domain yearly and obviously I won't be around forever! In the future the Wikipedia site can be edited by others.
During the last year, Councillor Jeff Pettett tried again to get Rofe Park heritage listed. This failed for the second time, the council heritage committee were not interested. I think we can give the idea a miss. The heritage listing is symbolic only and would have had no influence on development near the park. If the councillors were determined to vote for synthetic turf on Mimosa Park they would have done so regardless of a heritage listing. See for example, Gardiner Park, Banksia in the Bayside area.
I hope that eventually we can get a decent sign at the Mimosa Road entrance for Rofe Park. If anyone would like to make a bit of noise about this please feel free!
My next task is to work out how to add pictures to the Wikipedia article. Nothing is straightforward and everything must be a watertight public copyright to be on Wikipedia. My estimation of the information on Wikipedia has improved enormously now I know how difficult it can be to get published.
Here is an extract from the Wikipedia article describing how Rofe Park became council land:
Thomas and Minnie Rofe were living in Wahroonga, Sydney in 1927 when they gave the 50 acres of land to the Council of the Shire of Ku-ring-gai.
In the Sydney Morning Herald article dated 6 April 1927, Councillor Thistlethwayte, president of Ku-ring-gai Shire said:
This generous act on Mr Rofe’s part, is being consummated to-night in the transfer of the property to the council, and the execution of a deed of trust by the council, so that the area will for all time be an open space in which the preservation of the natural fauna and flora will be a dominant feature. The land is well wooded and includes a natural cave unsurpassed in the metropolitan area.
This article has been written by Trish Lynch, STEP’s Facebook manager, who lives near Rofe Park and has studied its history.
Tiny forest planted in West Pymble – how well will it grow?
The concept of a Tiny Forest was developed in the early 1970s by the Japanese forest ecologist, Akira Miyawaki, as a means of restoring degraded urban and industrial environments. The area to be restored can be as small as 3 m2 but is usually about the size of a tennis court.
The method involves the following steps:
- determine the plant species native to a given area;
- improve the soil by mixing in organic material;
- plant seedlings of native trees and understorey plants in a dense, mixed manner (about three seedlings per square meter) meant to simulate a natural forest;
- remove weeds from the site for up to three years after planting, if necessary.
After that, the grove is left to its own devices. Due to the dense planting, the seedlings grow quickly as they compete for sunlight. It is claimed that growth is about 10 times faster than in a natural forest.
Ku-ring-gai Council worked with Earthwatch Australia in partnership with BUPA to establish a tiny forest at West Pymble Village Green. About 70 locals joined in the planting day on 17 June 2024. A site was chosen that was large enough for the forest to cover a small part of the open space and not impact on existing users.
Council’s nursery provided approximately 980 native plants to grow the tiny forest and the Indigo Native Nursery provided a further 490 native species. Nursery volunteers have propagated and cared for these seedlings, which all belong to the Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest ecological community. Seed and cuttings were collected from local populations to ensure the tiny forest is suited to Ku-ring-gai’s conditions and ensure the continuation of wild plants.
The results of the tiny forest will be monitored with the help of citizen scientists and local schools. The research data gathered by the Earthwatch Tiny Forest program will go towards a global research project that looks at tiny forests from around the world. School children and communities monitor biodiversity, growth rates, carbon storage, thermal comfort, water infiltration, soil condition, social benefits and learn about the importance of local biodiversity to our lives.
Will this forest thrive in Sydney’s conditions?
STEP member and experienced bushcarer Janet Fairlie-Cuninghame has expressed doubts about the Miyawaki concepts achieving the claimed benefits in the Sydney environment. She points out that we have a very diverse plant community and local ecology; with very different climate, geology, soil types and plant ecology. Janet cites examples of projects run by the NPWS rangers that are well versed in working with the community on planting days. They use local provenance for planting material and a diverse species selection which grows quickly and establishes a natural balance of diverse structure and layers. Ground covers, shrubs and understorey are all important components to make a sustainable balance.
There is extensive discussion that provides a broader perspective about the use of the Miyawaki method. It has been successfully used to restore industrial sites in Japan and to create greener urban environments but has not been so successful in other countries such as India.
Time will tell how successful the project will be in Sydney.
Adrienne McLean has provided us with a personal perspective of the event
On a beautiful Sunday morning, the community of West Pymble and Ku-ring-gai gathered for a remarkable event: planting a tiny forest. Hosted by Ku-ring-gai Council, in collaboration with horticulturists, community scientists, and Earth Watch, this event was a testament to the power of community action.
The tiny forest project is a scientifically managed initiative with three distinct sections: two planted by event attendees and one by local schools. Each section uses different fertilizers and levels, providing a controlled environment for scientific observation. Children, parents, and locals enthusiastically participated, planting native species that we can all watch grow and flourish over time.
I’m especially excited to watch the eight plants I planted thrive. It’s going to be a joy to pass by this tiny forest and see how our collective efforts have taken root and grown.
Ending native forest logging would help Australia’s climate goals much more than planting trees
What is being overlooked in current international climate policy under the Paris Agreement is the crucial role of biodiversity in maintaining healthy ecosystems and their integrity, which keeps carbon stored in forests, not the atmosphere. Healthy ecosystems are more stable and resilient, with a lower risk of trees dying and lower rates of carbon emissions.
The way we currently count carbon stores risk creating incentives to plant new trees rather than protect existing forests. Yet old-growth forests store vastly more carbon than young saplings, which will take decades or even centuries to reach the same size.
Can ending native forest logging help the climate?
We’ll need to go further and ban logging in all native forests in Australia to help meet our net-zero emissions target, while meeting timber demand from better-managed and increased plantations.
Stopping native forest logging avoids the emissions released when forests are cut and burned. It would also allow continued forest growth and regrowth of previously logged areas, which draws down carbon from the atmosphere and increases the amount held in the forest ecosystem.
The natural biodiversity of our native forests makes them more resilient to external disturbances such as climate change. These forests have larger and more stable carbon stocks than logged areas, newly planted forests and plantations.
If we compare forests protected for conservation with those harvested for commodity production in the Victorian Central Highlands, research shows conservation delivers the greatest climate benefits through continued forest growth and accumulating carbon stocks.
There are growing calls to create the Great Forests National Park to the north and east of Melbourne, which would protect a further 355,000 hectares and more than double protected forests in the Central Highlands.
Net zero: deep, rapid, sustained cuts needed
The world’s nations are aiming to reach net zero by mid-century. Meeting this target will require deep and rapid cuts in carbon dioxide emissions as well as pulling carbon out of the atmosphere into land sinks, especially forests.
The land sector is unique in that it can be both a source (logging, agriculture) and a sink (forest regrowth, for instance) for carbon. The natural way forests take up carbon can be increased through natural regrowth or plantations.
Unfortunately, the current approach, based on IPCC guidelines, to counting this type of natural carbon storage can lead to perverse outcomes.
The carbon sink from forest regrowth only counts towards the “removals” part of net zero when it results from changes we make, such as ending native forest logging. It doesn’t count if it’s regrowth after a natural event such as a bushfire. It’s important to count only human-induced changes in our climate targets.
Tree planting, on the other hand, can be counted towards net-zero targets, despite the fact that newly planted trees will take centuries to sequester as much carbon as found in an old-growth forest.
This type of accounting – known as flow-based accounting – can mean a premium is placed on planting and maintaining young forests with high carbon uptake rates, overlooking the substantial benefits of protecting larger trees in native forests.
That is, this approach favours carbon sequestration (the process of taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in wood) over carbon storage (the total carbon stocks already contained in a forest).
A comprehensive approach to forest carbon accounting would recognise both flows of carbon (as sequestration) and carbon stocks (as storage) contribute to the benefits that native forests offer for reducing emissions.
Carbon accounting needs more clarity
This becomes a problem when forests and fossil fuels are included in a net accounting framework, such as the one used in Australia’s national greenhouse gas inventory.
In net accounts, emissions (from fossil fuel and land sectors) within a year are added to removals, which includes the sequestration of carbon into forests and other ecosystems.
Because this type of accounting only counts the flows of carbon – not existing stocks – it omits the climate benefits of protecting existing forests, whose stored carbon dwarfs the amount Australia emits from fossil fuels each year.
But if we separated out targets for the fossil fuel and land sectors, we could properly treat forest carbon stocks as an asset, giving us incentives to protect them.
Another problem with net accounting is it treats all carbon as equivalent, meaning a tonne of carbon sequestered in trees compensates for a tonne of carbon from burned fossil fuels. This has no scientific basis. Carbon dioxide emissions are effectively permanent, as the buried carbon we dig up and burn stays in the atmosphere for millennia, while carbon in trees is temporary in comparison.
As trees grow, their carbon storage compensates for earlier logging and clearing emissions, which is an important climate benefit. But we’re not comparing apples and apples – forest carbon doesn’t compensate for fossil fuel emissions.
Logging bans are important – but no substitute for ending oil and gas
While ending the clearing and logging of native vegetation is vital for both climate and biodiversity, it’s no substitute for preventing emissions from fossil fuels.
To make this clearer, we must urgently set separate targets for emissions cuts for fossil fuels and increased carbon removal in the land sector. This will ensure phasing out fossil fuel use is not delayed by planting trees, and that the carbon stocks of biodiverse and carbon-dense native forests are protected.
Kate Dooley, Research Fellow, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Stopping the destruction of NSW’s native forests is urgent
Please go and see the documentary The Koalas to get a graphic view of the ridiculous situation in NSW where koala habitat destruction is being sanctioned by the government and our planning laws. It is not only koala habitat under threat, native forests all over the state that are essential for our welfare are still being destroyed. There are screenings of the film in many locations.
For many years conservation groups have been attempting to make the government accept the reality that the native forestry industry cannot continue to destroy our biodiversity, wildlife habitats and carbon sinks. Victoria and WA have finally ceased logging in native forests and have initiated transition plans for the forestry industry. However, all along the coast of NSW, state forestry operations are continuing and they are flouting the regulations under the Regional Forestry Agreements that are intended to provide protection of the biodiversity of these forests.
Glider populations ignored
It is not only koalas under threat. The Forestry Corporation of NSW is flouting regulations by failing to do proper surveys of wildlife to ensure they avoid cutting down habitat trees. Earlier this year South East Forest Rescue published evidence that Forestry has failed to comply with the most basic of regulations – to survey for the nocturnal greater gliders at the time when they are emerging from their dens.
The Environment Protection Authority, the body meant to be enforcing these regulations, has refused to prosecute or extend stop work orders in response to this clear violation of the law. Instead, they have weakened the regulations even further. The new requirements have significantly reduced when and where Forestry must survey glider dens during the periods they are active.
Logging of koalas’ forests accelerated
Our koalas are now declared an endangered species with a prediction that they will be extinct in the wild by 2050 if current habitat destruction continues.
The Minns government made an election promise to create the Great Koala National Park in the north-east, an area that would contain one-fifth of the state’s koala population. But the government is stonewalling on putting this into action. It has established a long-winded process to determine the boundaries of the park leaving most of the area subject to ongoing intense logging by Forestry in the meantime.
Based on Forestry’s own maps as at 25 June 2024, of the 20 active logging operations on the north coast from the Hunter to the Queensland border, more than half were in the Great Koala National Park footprint. That’s despite the proposed park area containing just one-fifth of state forests in the region. Dalian Pugh from North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) said:
The Minns Government is allowing the state owned logging company to target the proposed park to take as many trees as they can, degrading the proposed park before it’s even established.
Forestry’s planning portal shows the forest compartments on the chopping block before the Great Koala National Park boundaries are finalised.
The NCC has developed an interactive map showing past and planned logging. Their analysis shows that up to 19,000 hectares of forest in the proposed Great Koala National Park is at risk of destruction by Forestry before April next year.
This situation is outrageous. Taxpayers are paying for this environmental destruction. The public native forest hardwood division of Forestry is also costing millions to keep it afloat. It made just $400,000 profit in 2019–20, and in 2020–21 it ran at a loss of $20 million. Forestry is predicted to lose $15 million a year between 2022 and 2024.
Until now legal action has been unsuccessful
Legal action by citizen groups against Forestry operations has been limited by the existence of the Regional Forestry Agreements as they bypass normal federal environmental scrutiny. This situation may have changed when in November 2023, the Land and Environment Court rejected that position when a case brought by NEFA, with the help of the EDO, was successful.
NEFA lodged an application for an urgent injunction to stop Forestry logging vital koala habitat in two state forests in north-east NSW. While NEFA was not ultimately successful, the court confirmed for the first time that the Forestry Act does not prevent persons with a special interest from taking legal action over forestry operations, including disputing logging approvals.
This decision has emboldened the South East Forest Rescue to sue Forestry over their inadequate protection of glider populations referred to above.
Sydney’s koalas are also threatened
Lendlease is currently developing 3,300 homes on the Gilead Estate, south-west of Sydney near Campbelltown. Their website claims that:
Our proposal prioritises areas for environmental conservation upfront providing a unique opportunity to improve biodiversity and conservation outcomes throughout the life of the project and into the future.
The Planning Panel that assessed the development imposed a condition for a wildlife corridor along Menangle Creek that the Chief Scientist advised should be at least 425 m wide in order to facilitate movement between the Georges River and bushland along the Nepean River and underpasses under busy Appin Road. Most of the clearing has occurred without the underpasses being built and the corridor is less than the required width.
Book review: The Lost Rainforests of Britain
Rainforests in Britain? Surely not! What have you been smoking? Well, please buy and read this book and blow your mind in other ways – on some astonishing facts collated by a sharp and inquisitive mind. This book will appeal especially to anybody with British or European links or interests, including ex-Poms like my wife and I who grew up in the manufactured English landscape and hardly thought otherwise that this wasn't how it had always been.
The word ‘rainforest’ usually evokes images of the Amazon Basin, or North Queensland's tropical rainforests, though it hopefully may also conjure images of our local coachwood canyons and valleys, or of the Antarctic Beech forests of Barrington Tops or Western Tasmania. The latter are temperate rainforests of course but they're just as much true rainforests. So surely forests growing in similar climates, in rain soaked Western Britain, are likely also to be rainforests. Britain hosts different native trees to down here of course, but ‘English oaks’ and other tree species like hazel, ash and rowan grow happily festooned in lichens, mosses and ferns in rain-drenched glens and hollows in South West and North West England, Wales and Scotland.
Such forests once covered vastly bigger areas, and this is where the author has put his body and mind into tracking and collating a huge amount of current and historical data to create a full picture of survival and losses, even exploring ancient Celtic myths and legends. This has involved interacting with professional and amateur botanists and ecologists, environmentalists, local historians, landowners, governing and management authorities and the media.
In May 2016 we made a point of visiting one of the best known rainforests or Atlantic oakwood remnants featured in his book – Wistmans Wood near Two Bridges on Dartmoor. Dartmoor has many connotations, from wild moorland and its famous prison to Arthur Conan-Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles. However it seems it wasn’t always like today – its open granite terrain of 400 to 600 m elevation was once extensively forested. Wistmans is a gentle 2 km walk from Two Bridges Hotel (nice place to stay) and is classic rainforest, absolutely, but just a surviving remnant of only 3.2 hectares. Look at the top picture: it might appear straight out of Tolkien but they’re actually pedunculate oaks, Quercus robur, the same English oak of Sherwood Forest and tall ships fame, but gnarled and supressed by the bleak Dartmoor climate – though richly festooned by rainforest mosses and lichens.
The heart of Wistmans is fenced in, so look closely at the bottom picture – at the vegetation contrast on either side of the boundary fence. This striking difference is largely down to sheep grazing! The trees outside the fence can’t propagate because sheep eat the seedlings and saplings – then the parent trees eventually die and the rainforest retreats! Shrubsole highlights this, and that of deer grazing (deer, native and introduced, are out of control) as one of the most damaging causes of rainforest decline in Britain.
Clearing of forest by man going back past the Bronze Age is even bigger of course, but there are many modern man-made scourges. Rhododendrons, highlighted by the author, are widely planted, some say beautiful in flower, but highly invasive to rainforest – seeding, layering and suckering to create dense, dark, impenetrable thickets suppressing all other vegetation. Scottish landowners (many are actually wealthy English ‘pseudo-lairds’) have planted them widely as shelter for their precious grouse (which they then shoot and call it sport).
So why review this book? Britain has a very different landscape and flora to down this way. But domestic grazing by stock is hugely damaging to natural vegetation here too. So are invasive plants – not rhododendrons but multiple other nasty species. So what’s the big deal with rainforests? Well it isn’t just cutting and burning the Amazon – rainforest loss is a huge issue everywhere, all the more so given climate change. This Sunday Times best seller may well be one of the most important works on British ecology ever written, and it reflects and stimulates thinking on rainforest status everywhere. And it has strong messages for anywhere that European (or Asian) style ‘fell, clear and farm’ land management has been adopted or imposed.
Guy Shrubsole, William Collins, 2023
Paperback, 326 ppReview by John Martyn
The Lost Rainforests of Britain won The Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Richard Jeffries Award in 2022. It was also the Sunday Times Science Book of the Year for 2022.
National Tree Day
National Tree Day is on Sunday 28 July. It was co-founded by Planet Ark in 1996 and it has since had more than 5 million people participate and plant over 27 million native trees and shrubs. National Tree Day is Australia’s biggest community tree-planting and nature care event.
Tunks Hill, Lane Cove National Park, 10 am to 2 pm
Tunks Hill is just off Riverside Drive (accessed via Delhi Road or Ryde Road). It is a flat easily accessible site with picnic tables and toilets.
The planting will help contribute to screening between the park and the development on the Eden Gardens site. There is still no news on the outcome of the Land and Environment Court case about the proposal to build an 18 storey commercial tower on the site.
The organiser, Friends of Lane Cove National Park, will provide a delicious sausage sizzle and refreshments.
If you are able to help with catering or planting contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or register here.
St Ives Showground, 10 am to 1 pm
Ku-ring-gai Council will oversee the planting of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, grasses and vines to expand the endangered Duffys Forest ecological community. Many areas of Duffys Forest at the showground are badly degraded due to overuse.
Tools will be provided but please bring gloves and wear closed shoes. Free BBQ afterwards!
No booking required but you can register here.
Great Southern BioBlitz
The Great Southern BioBlitz (GSB) is an exciting international initiative that embarks on an intensive biological survey during the vibrant spring season of the southern hemisphere. The GSB was established in 2020 during the global pandemic by a group of bioblitz enthusiasts in Australia. The goal of the GSB is to document the flora, fauna, fish and fungi of the southern hemisphere while providing a platform for groups, associations, local governments and individuals to encourage engagement in citizen science. This collaborative effort is facilitated through the online platform iNaturalist.
In the past three years, GSB has proved to be a resounding success in engaging individuals with nature and expanding their knowledge of local flora and fauna.
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is one of the world’s most popular biodiversity observation platforms. It is an online, biodiversity-focused, citizen science platform and app. Its main goal is to create a nature-based social network where like-minded users can share photos of interesting organisms they've observed. iNaturalist has evolved over time to become a valuable biodiversity database tool and is used by more than 2.5 million people globally, including amateur naturalists, museum curators, and world experts in their field.
Every observation you upload becomes a valuable data point representing an encounter with a species at a point in space and time. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with a smartphone can download the app and start posting images and descriptions of their observations. Artificial intelligence narrows down the ID first, and you can share your findings with others to confirm it. A large community of identifiers helps to confirm the species observed, after which it becomes labelled as ‘research grade’. Research grade observations are then piped into databases like the Atlas of Living Australia and the Global Biodiversity Facility where they can be used by scientists, schools and more for research.
Want to learn more about iNaturalist?
- Join the Introduction to iNaturalist workshop
- Detailed guide to iNaturalist for Australia
- Getting started guides on iNaturalist
Participate in the Great Southern Bioblitz 2024
- Join the iNaturalist community – download the iNaturalist app or upload your photos onto iNaturalist Australia. After you have signed up by entering a username and password your observations will be automatically recorded under the project for the locality where the recording occurred.
- Make nature observations from 20 to 23 September. You can upload your observations until 7 October 2024.
- Register as a Great Southern BioBlitz participant to receive project updates and a certificate at the end of the bioblitz.
- Join your local council Great Southern BioBlitz project page, see what has been observed and help identify species:
Microbats and vineyards
We don’t tend to associate bats with winemaking except to consider that flying foxes or fruit bats might happily eat grapes. But microbats wouldn't – they're insectivores – so I was fascinated by an article in AgJournal, a supplement published in The Weekend Australian and taken from The Weekly Times. This featured a vineyard in the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria which is one of several involved in a research project with University of New England (UNE).
The vineyard, a significant producer of 2,500 t of grapes per year, is Fowles Wines and the business mantra of proprietor Matt Fowles is ‘to farm in nature's image’. The partnership with UNE was triggered by his observations that the vines and fruit in locations with microbat populations were thriving and healthier than those elsewhere on the property.
The UNE research is led by Dr Xenon Czenze and Dr Heidi Kolkert whose research had already established that bats play a vital role in pest control in New England vineyards. Fowles Wine has more than a dozen acoustic detectors arranged around the vineyard, a significant bat-monitoring system, and also has a partnership with Euroa Arboretum, with insectariums established to catch and monitor insect comings and goings. Not all insects are bad, and information on the good ones is also essential! All this is capped by attention to and encouragement of the native flora, from bordering bushlands and forests to grasses growing beneath the vines to cool the soil and roots.
The Secret Garden
We made only one submission in the last two months. This was in relation to a public hearing on a Ku-ring-gai Council Planning Proposal to change the classification of land at 1192 Pacific Highway, Pymble from community to operational.
This land is commonly known as the Secret Garden. It is a small block (974 m2) that contains several mature trees such as Blue Gums and Blackbutts. It is classified as Blue Gum High Forest, a critically endangered ecological community. About half the land is subject to easements for Sydney Water infrastructure. To get access one has to go down several steps that were installed for Sydney Water’s use. According to council the land is not suitable to be used as public open space.
The land itself is weed infested but could quite easily be regenerated with a native shrub layer. Apart from the steps the land is inaccessible with the railway line below and private land either side. On the northern side the apartment block residents benefit from the views over the forest in contrast to the heavy traffic of the Pacific Highway. On the southern side there is an old house that is ripe for redevelopment in line with the high density zoning.
Council argues that retaining the site as community land will be a continuing expense with little benefit to the community. If the land were to be classified as operational, council could sell the block. Its value would be realised if it could be amalgamated with the block next door and allow a larger apartment development of the old house using a floor space ratio combining both blocks. For this reason council has been keenly supporting the reclassification.
Land reclassification process
The land reclassification involves several stages. We won‘t go into the detail. The proposal has reached the stage of being considered by an independent commissioner. The commissioner has to consult affected agencies (eg Sydney Water and Transport NSW), invite public submissions and hold a public hearing. The commissioner then writes a report that is reviewed by council that then decides whether the proposal should go to the Department of Planning that will make the necessary amendment to the local environment plan.
Seventeen public submissions were received opposing the reclassification and one in favour.
Outcome of the consultation process
The commissioner’s report recommended that the proposal should not proceed for several reasons including:
- it would risk compromising Sydney Water’s access to these critical assets for maintenance;
- a development application or subdivision/ amalgamation could negatively impact the values of the site state heritage registered water reservoirs in nearby Telegraph Road (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
_1_and_No._2); - the majority of the site is mapped on the biodiversity values map, which identifies land with high biodiversity value that is particularly sensitive to impacts from development and clearing;
- the site assists with urban cooling in the vicinity due to shade from the mature trees which contributes to Ku-ring-gai’s urban tree canopy in the Urban Forest Strategy.
Commissioner’s recommendation
The commissioner recommended that the land remains in council’s ownership and as community land, and that it is ‘improved’ as a rest area and wild garden. This would ensure:
- the land is available to the whole community for informal recreation
- retention of the Sydney Water easements
- no structures are placed on the land
- the elements of the land that the local residents and community value, ie the leafy green outlook and wildlife habitat, would be retained
- minimal maintenance required by council because interested local residents could assist with maintenance
What happens next?
It is still up to council to decide whether the planning proposal for the reclassification should be submitted to the Department of Planning, but they have to consider the submissions and the commissioner’s report that concluded that it should be withdrawn.
Good news – Lourdes development rejected
The prolonged process of applications to redevelop the Lourdes Retirement Village in Stanhope Road, Lindfield (explained in (explained here) culminated in a Planning Panel hearing in December 2023. The panel rejected the proposal so the next stage was for the Minister for Planning to consider the panel’s recommendation.
It has now been announced that the minister has accepted the panel’s advice that the proposal was not appropriate because issues such as bushfire risk and ecological impacts had not been adequately addressed.
Nevertheless, the owner, Levande, still has the right to develop the land. The most telling evidence against the proposal came from Ku-ring-gai Council. The Department of Planning has acknowledged this by stating that any new proposal should only be developed in close collaboration with council to address the unacceptable risks.
Large old trees are vital for Australian birds. Their long branches and hollows can’t be replaced by saplings
When we make roads, houses or farmland, we often find large old trees in the way. Our response is often to lop off offending branches or even cut the tree down.
This is a bad idea. The more we learn about large old trees, the more we realise their fundamental importance to birds, mammals, insects, plants and other inhabitants. More than 300 species of Australian birds and mammals need large old trees to live.
Why focus on mature trees? It’s because they have many features that younger trees simply don’t have: cracks, hollows, dead branches, peeling bark and large quantities of nectar and seeds. The limbs and leaves that fall on the ground make excellent homes for many small creatures.
Our new research sheds light on the importance of such grand old trees for birds. We used lidar (scanning using lasers) to map small, medium and large tree crowns in unprecedented detail. On average, we found large old trees had 383 metres of the horizontal or dead branches preferred by birds, while medium trees had very little and young trees none. Some old trees had almost 2 kilometres of branches.
Why are branches so important?
If we think of long, overhanging branches, chances are we may think “threat”. Some large trees can drop limbs without warning, although some arborists have pointed out the threat is overstated. To reduce the risk, councils and land managers may remove the limbs of large old trees.
But if you cut down a 300-year-old river red gum, you can’t simply replace it with a sapling of the same species. It will take centuries for the sapling to take up the same ecological role as its predecessor.
In our research, we mapped more than 100,000 branches from many millions of laser samples and recorded how birds use branches through years of field observations.
When we spot a bird using a branch, we can safely infer the bird has chosen it for a reason, whether resting, socialising, feeding, hunting or nesting.
What our data shows is that not all branches are equal. Birds find it easier to perch on horizontal or slightly inclined branches. Branches with few or no leaves offer clear vantage points for birds to land, hunt or see predators. You may have noticed crows and currawongs choosing dead branches for these reasons.
As trees mature, their branches begin to grow horizontally. Some branches may die due to lightning strikes, fire, wind damage, or attacks by insects or fungi, while the rest of the tree continues living. These long-term patterns of growth, decay and random events are necessary to produce the horizontal and dead branches prized by birds. For a large eucalypt, that process can take up to 200 years.
Mapping the canopy with lasers
Until recently, it’s been hard to map the tree canopy. Traditional methods rely on researchers visually assessing this vital habitat. But we know eye observations don’t do well at capturing parts of trees such as branches.
That’s where lidar comes in. Lidar sends out laser pulses, which bounce back when they hit objects. By recording the time taken for the light to return, we can build very detailed three-dimensional models. It’s a little like echolocation, but using light rather than sound.
This laser-scanning technology has been used in the jungles of Central America to find the ruins of lost Mayan cities. But it can do much more.
In forests, lidar is now increasingly used to estimate how dense the tree cover is, and how variable. This useful data feeds into how we assess a forest’s ability to store carbon, how much timber is present, and the current fire risk. We can even use it to spot animal pathways.
To get the canopy detail we wanted, we used lidar on the ground rather than from the air, and processed the data with algorithms that can recognise and describe about 90% of branches in even the largest trees.
We mapped trees in an area near Canberra. We chose this area because it represents the plight of temperate eucalypt woodlands, which have shrunk by up to 99% since European colonisation.
What should we do?
The very things that make branches good real estate for birds can make them seem dangerous or aesthetically displeasing to us. We tend to cut dead or long, horizontal branches and leave the living or more upright ones. But for birds, this is a disaster as many cannot live without such branches.
Young trees are no substitutes for their older counterparts. Planting saplings or installing nest boxes cannot replicate the ecological value of large, mature trees.
We can live alongside large old trees. To reduce the chance of injury or worse from falling limbs, we could use exclusion zones, add artificial supports for branches, and install devices to catch or redirect falling limbs. We can also look at emergency solutions such as prosthetic hollows on younger trees or even artificial replicas of old trees.
We should preserve these trees wherever we can and aim to keep them intact with their complex crowns and dead branches. We should also make sure there is a pipeline of young and medium trees to make sure there will be old trees in the future.
Alex Holland, Researcher at Deep Design Lab and PhD Candidate at Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne; Jason Thompson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne; Philip Gibbons, Professor, Australian National University, and Stanislav Roudavski, Founder of Deep Design Lab and Senior Lecturer in Digital Architectural Design, The University of Melbourne
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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New nature laws announced but the most important parts are missing
One of the Albanese Government’s promises was to take action to halt the alarming decline in our biodiversity and rewrite the ineffective laws that were highlighted in the Samuel Review into the Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act. In December 2022 the government announced what was dubbed the Nature Positive Plan with a comprehensive list of actions that are intended to be implemented.
The key part of the plan is to implement national environmental standards that will set the outcomes that the laws are seeking to achieve.
The timing of the introduction of the plan was to carry out consultation in stages and release an exposure draft of the legislation by the end of 2023. We are nowhere near that objective; in April the Minster for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, announced that legislation will soon be presented to parliament to set up two new agencies:
- Environmental Protection Agency, to act as a national watchdog for nature
- Environmental Information Australia so everyone has access to authoritative data on our environment
But these are the easy parts. The major parts of the plan have been deferred with no time frame.
What use is a watchdog with no standards to enforce? The government appears to have given in to the mining lobby. There are also reports of warnings from the Western Australian Labor government of a backlash in the electorally critical state. This is so frustrating when the need for comprehensive action is so urgent.
The major environment groups that were involved in the consultation process are worried that the process will be drawn out for a long time. The government has made a promise so we must be optimistic that the steps outlined in the Nature Positive Plan will be implemented. But how much more destruction will occur in the meantime?
Currently several coal mine expansions are up for approval that will cause loss of important habitat. An example is the Moolarben mine near Mudgee owned by Yancoal. The expansion application before the NSW government would make the mine one of the largest in Australia. Even according to the mine manager it would destroy 113 ha of critical koala habitat. The company says they will create offsets on their own land. Development assessments should be made in the context of the total cumulative impacts on habitat.
Multiple threats to koala habitat
Koala habitat is under multiple threats from forest logging, mining and urban expansion. The promised Great Koala National Park is one area where logging is continuing. Plus, there is a sustained attempt by the logging industry to ‘redefine’ the borders of the park. Little is known about koala habitat being cleared on freehold land – there is no accurate data or independent assessment required.
Actions that are being taken
Nature repair market
Legislation to roll out a ‘nature repair market’ was passed in March 2024. This legislation aims to facilitate voluntary or philanthropic investment in conservation projects by giving them a definable value with government-backed quality assurance of processes to manage the market for these biodiversity credits.
To make these credits worthy of investment and tradeable, they need a governance framework, measurement systems, certification, registration, contracting, trading, monitoring, reporting, accounting, auditing, and a bureaucracy for administering, consulting and advising on all of it. All this is still in the process of being established. The CSIRO has been engaged to lead a research collaboration to design and pilot an ecological knowledge system for the market.
This all sounds like an offset system that has a bad reputation from the experience of the biodiversity offsets that enable destruction of habitat under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Greens made sure the legislation prevented the credits from being used as offsets.
Environment Protection Agency
This authority will be responsible for:
- issuing permits and licenses
- project assessments, decisions and approval conditions
- compliance and enforcement
It would be able to issue stop-work notices, fines and be able to audit businesses to check their compliance with developments approvals. It will also oversee enforcement of other environmental laws such as animal trafficking, recycling and sea dumping.
Environment Information Australia
This agency will:
- provide government and public with authoritative data and information about the environment
- develop an online database to help give business quicker access to data
- publish State of the Environment reporting every two years
- report on progress towards environmental outcomes
Confusing messages on NSW government TOD proposals
The NSW government’s Transport Oriented Development (TOD) plans came into effect on 1 April. We provided an outline in the previous issue of STEP Matters. Ku-ring-gai Council has been trying to negotiate a softening of the impositions imposed by the plans with little success. Basically, the TOD means that 6 to 7 storey flat buildings can be built in all residential zones within 400 m of the Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville stations or 8 or 9 storeys if an affordable housing component is included.
Council has been trying to negotiate with the Minister for Planning, Paul Scully, and the Department of Planning to reduce the impacts, particularly on heritage conservation areas and tree canopy. The specifications for the building size (floor space ratio of 3 to 1) and minimum land area mean that here is no room for any trees in addition to the building footprint.
Council has argued that they need 12 to 18 months to plan a housing strategy properly and in accordance with guidelines from the department – a 6 month extension has been offered. Ideally planning should also encompass the other part of the announced changes to provide for low to mid-rise housing within 800 m of all railway stations and St Ives centre. An idea of the target for new housing numbers would also be a help.
Council also tried to take one of the TOD stations, such as Killara, off the list and shift the numbers to the other TOD stations. The 400 m radius around Killara is the area with the greatest proportion of heritage houses and it doesn’t have any shops.
Paul Scully would not consider any of these arguments. So there is now a stalemate.
The current situation is that the TOD State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) is being imposed on Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville from 1 April. Council has still not received a copy of the document (the SEPP) that acts as the regulation of the planning rules that are supposed to guide the implementation of the policy.
Meanwhile the developers are ready to pounce from the middle of May.
The low to mid-rise housing changes are due to come into effect later this year. Targets are yet to be revealed although the 42-page Explanation of Intended Effect provides sufficient detail to conservatively anticipate the doubling of Ku-ring-gai’s population as a combination of both the TOD and low to mid-rise housing SEPPs.
The standoff continues on the major issues with the TOD plans:
1. Heritage conservation areas
There are still conflicting statements being made about the application of the new housing to heritage conservation areas. The government has stated in the media that current council heritage provisions under the LEP and DCP can continue to apply. Demolition would not be permitted of heritage buildings or those that contribute to the heritage value of the conservation area. They optimistically state that there will be opportunities to build new housing consistent with the heritage values of the TOD area. How can that be possible in an area like Killara with 80% of the TOD area being heritage conservation areas?
Many high rise buildings will be required to achieve the target of at least 4,500 to 5,000 new homes over the next 15 years in each TOD area. The minister states that council will still be the consent authority and will be able to conduct merit assessments of development applications. But these assessments will have to comply with the new standards that conflict with the Ku-ring-gai DCP specifications. It doesn’t make sense!
2. Traffic
The mayor’s concerns about local traffic are dismissed. The minister seems to think that the railway line is all that is needed. What about all the people that need to travel to the north along Mona Vale Road or Warringah Road and to the south via Lane Cove Road or Mowbray Road? They have to use the already highly congested Pacific Highway to get to these roads that are located some distance away from the TOD stations.
3. Local services
As the mayor points out in his letter, the people living in all these new dwellings require amenities such as parks, libraries and community spaces. It is unlikely that developers will include space for health and education needs. So, the council has to cover the cost but the government has not offered any funding. The council had almost finalised plans for the Lindfield Village Hub when the government withdrew its agreed contribution.
There are various development contribution schemes but no certainty about how the money raised will be distributed.
Land values have already increased markedly since the new housing plans were announced making it more difficult for council to buy land to be used for new amenities.
4. Tree canopy
State and all local governments are proceeding with tree planting activities in the hope of achieving the target of 40% urban canopy by next decade. Ku-ring-gai is trying to better this target. However the TOD mid-rise housing specifications leave no room for trees. The low to mid-rise housing specifications require only 15 to 20% deep soil space so the 40% target would not be achievable.
There will be no room for trees unless there is room on the nature strip but with all the disturbance from construction of these buildings and their underground car parks trees of any size large enough to provide shade are unlikely to survive.
The Urban Forest Strategy points out that 70% of urban trees are on private land. Council has limited capacity to increase tree cover to meet the target and the housing proposals make this even harder or impossible.
Upper House enquiry
The Legislative Council initiated an enquiry into the TOD proposals that is due to report by 27 September. This has called for submissions on the investigations and consultations prior to the TOD announcement into the appropriateness of the chosen locations and the impacts on heritage, capacity of infrastructure and on local amenity and environment.
There are already over 180 submissions on their website pointing out problems with the proposals. The committee has a big job on their hands to distil these submissions. How much notice will the government take?
Norman Griffiths Oval synthetic turf installation has become a debacle
Construction of the synthetic turf field at Norman Griffiths Oval in Bicentennial Park, West Pymble commenced in August 2023. You will recall the controversy about the use of this site for synthetic turf with its proximity to Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest and Quarry Creek, the waterway that runs under the field and flows through to Lane Cove National Park. The bushland along the creek has been transformed by bush carers working over many years.
One major issue with the choice of this location for synthetic turf is that the field acts as a stormwater detention basin. Water from rainfall events runs from the surrounding slopes into the field and into pipes and a detention system then would gradually drain ultimately into Quarry Creek at various locations. There was also a pipe running under the field taking water from the nursery on the other side of Lofberg Road into the detention system.
The installation of synthetic turf creates an area where rainwater can seep through but heavy rain will flow rapidly across the field and into Quarry Creek. Flood models were commissioned that determined that a new drainage system was required. This comprises a large area of porous aggregate which allows for vertical, filtered drainage and stormwater detention. Once the water has filtered through this detention basin it will go into a bio-retention basin where it then flows gradually into the current stormwater pipe system under the aquatic centre carpark.
There have been repeated incidents of muddy water running down Quarry Creek usually after rain since construction started. It seems the runoff from the field is not being controlled. A broken pipe is blamed so the detention system is not working. The EPA is investigating.
Now the stage of construction has been reached where there are large piles of aggregate and dirt across the site. Then there was very heavy rain on 5 and 6 April with over 200 mL. The construction site became a lake as it seems there was too much water for the drainage system (see image at the top of the page).
There have been repeated episodes of muddy water in Quarry Creek but the latest incident is the worst. A solution has to be found to pump out the water from the muddy lake. It can’t go down Quarry Creek. There is already a build-up of silt on the bed of the creek. We are trying to find out who is responsible for cleaning this up.
Meanwhile construction activity has ceased.
Muddy water flow into Quarry Creek, 150 m from oval, 6 Nov 2023
Synthetic turf guidelines released at last, but a big disappointment
In Issue 221 we reported on the Chief Scientist’s report into Synthetic Turf Study in Public Open Spaces. One of the recommendations was a call for an accessible and reliable source of verified information that distilled the vast amount of data that is available. It also called for further research on the impact on human health from heat generated by the plastic surface and chemicals in the turf/infill and environmental impacts such as microplastic loss into waterways and the loss of habitat for local wildlife.
The government’s response was a promise to produce guidelines to assist decisions about the installation and use of synthetic turf. Nine months later they have been released but they are a huge disappointment. Submissions were invited up to 29 April so we hope for a significant rewrite.
The announcement on the Department of Planning website states that:
The guidelines will help decision-makers, planners and sports field managers who may be considering synthetic turf as an alternative to natural grass.
There are lots of lists of what to consider but little actual guidance and references to sources of information plus many important matters are missing.
Lack of information about natural turf alternative
The first issue is the lack of information about natural grass practices to enable comparison with synthetic turf. There should be information on where to find data on modern science-based techniques for soil and drainage preparation and grass choice. The guidelines say these techniques are not well known but this statement is false. There are references in the guidelines to management guidelines that was produced as long ago as 2007 but nothing about construction.
There should be a moratorium on new installations
The Chief Scientist’s report highlighted the multiple areas where further research is needed into the environmental and health impacts of synthetic turf particularly under the Australian climatic conditions. This includes the breakdown and escape into waterways of plastic blades and infill that include PFAS and microplastics. Many countries overseas that have been using synthetic turf for many years are starting to phase out its use particularly with rubber tyre crumb as infill.
Organisations like the Total Environment Centre (TEC) are calling for a moratorium on synthetic turf installations for five years until more data is available. The TEC has been working with Macquarie University on the AUSMAP: Australian Microplastic Assessment Project that is monitoring microplastic pollution in waterways.
Information missing from the guidelines
- There are many aspects of the current use of synthetic turf where the data is clear that practices should be changed. This includes the use of rubber tyre crumb as infill and the need for collection systems for microplastic runoff.
- The government has not taken action to develop standards for materials used in synthetic turf and infill, particularly imported products. There are standards in place for most other materials for public use but this essential consideration has been neglected in respect of synthetic turf.
- There are Australian standards in place for installations that impact surrounding wildlife such as the lighting systems but the draft guidelines do not mention them. The Australian government's Department of the Environment has lots of information.
- There is no clear statement of locations that are unsuitable for synthetic turf such as areas with bushfire and flooding risk and environmentally sensitive areas with nearby endangered vegetation and wildlife.
- There is little coverage of the approval process required under the planning legislation. Given all the environmental and social impacts of synthetic turf the standard for project approval should be an Environmental Impact Statement.
- There is insufficient emphasis on the need for consultation with local communities that will be affected by the installation of synthetic turf that is usually fenced off and restricts future use to specific sports so that casual recreational use is no longer possible.
- There in no mention of planning regulations requiring consultation with NPWS for developments near a national park.
- Impact on local environment from a large area of plastic that excludes wildlife (birds and insects) and amplifies the heat island effect is not covered.
Finally, the structure of the guidelines is not useful. For example, there are long explanations of how to plan the demand for sporting fields and development of council strategies that are irrelevant to the actual analysis of whether to use synthetic turf. It would more useful to have checklists of actions and considerations with references to sources of information.