Category Archives: urban sprawl

Media Release: WILDLIFE PLANNING OFFICER SAYS “DON’T’ CULL ROOS; PLAN WILDLIFE CORRIDORS!”

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 “Avoid culling roos for development by planning wildlife corridors,” says Craig Thomson, AWPC’s new Wildlife Planning Officer.

Today, 7 December 2015, the Australian Wildlife Protection Council (AWPC) announced its appointment of Mr Craig Thomson, of Wildlife Ecosystems Retention and Restoration, as their Wildlife Planning Officer.

“It’s a great privilege to work with AWPC,” said Mr Thomson. “Currently with land clearing for development, councils require ‘offsets’. But offsets very rarely consider what happens to displaced wildlife, except for ‘managing’ it, which is a euphemism for conducting ‘cull’ or ‘fertility’ programs.

Craig-Thomson-Wildlife Planner

Maryland Wilson, AWPC President, said she was shocked to read of Ian Temby’s recent call to cull kangaroos ahead of development as the only option for roos displaced by Melbourne’s expansion. (“Call for kangaroos to be culled along Melbourne’s urban fringe,”by Simon Lauder, ABC, 30 Nov 2015).

“There is another non-violent solution,” she said. “It is a scandal that we have suffered through a succession of planning documents for Melbourne, without any allocating land for habitat with interconnecting continuous wildlife corridors that would enable safe passage for native animals. They have also failed to provide more than a tiny handful of animal bridges and underpasses at significant points on roads where wildlife often cross. Kangaroos, koalas, and other wildlife are increasingly road accident victims. As Melbourne expands to accommodate its human population growth program, suburban development pushes them out onto roads. This is planning negligence. “

AWPC says it has repeatedly engaged with councils in devising detailed plans for wildlife corridors. To date, however, no state government has cooperated with these plans, despite obligations to protect wildlife under the Fauna and Flora Guarantee Act.

“Instead, we have been repeatedly stone-walled. The result is the carnage Mr Temby suggests can only be avoided through culls. AWPC will be seeking a meeting with the Andrews State Government to negotiate for wildlife corridors instead of culling,” said President Maryland Wilson.

Mr Thomson spoke of an imminent campaign to buy land on the Mornington Peninsula through crowd-funding. The aim is to create a private land reserve system for a wildlife corridor between national parks to sustain wildlife in the future. He says the matter is urgent as suburban development and a recent spate of farm-fencing are blocking the kangaroos’ natural behaviour on the Peninsula.

Mr Thomson added, “It is ironic that some farmers are paying a lot of money for services that kangaroos would provide for free. For instance, vineyards spend much time and money keeping grass and weeds down between the vines. But, if they took down the fences and let the kangaroos in, the roos would not eat the vines, but they would keep the grass short.”

CONTACT: Mr Craig Thomson, Wildlife Planning Officer, AWPC: 0474651292; Maryland Wilson, President, AWPC: 61359788570

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My response to the original draft by Dr. Jeff Yugovic, Jan, 2012: “LOOKING AFTER THE BUSH: ECOSYSTEMS NEED PREDATORS”.

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My response to the original draft by Dr. Jeff Yugovic, Jan, 2012: “LOOKING AFTER THE BUSH: ECOSYSTEMS NEED PREDATORS”.

Dr. Jeff Yugovic, a highly respected botanist, insists that “Ecosystems need predators”, as he is seriously concerned that the browsing by ring-tail possums threatens to destroys all of the tree canopies on the Mornington Peninsula and declares it to be a looming disaster. He states in his draft “that there is a “possum plague” and tree health has seriously deteriorating”. He is also concerned that swamp rats are devastating orchid colonies which coincides with intensive fox and cat control, hence, his message, “Ecosystems need predators”.

This statement was true before white man arrived on the Mornington Peninsula. But now, after the original ecosystem has been severely fragmented into small and isolated and mostly weed infested reserves and where the native predators have been replaced by dogs, foxes and cats, the true function of the original ecosystem has now been adversely altered.

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(image: ring tail possum - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Possum_Ring-tailed444.jpg)

Firstly about tree loss:

In a study: “Survey of Tree Die-back on the Mornington Peninsula, Vic.

(School of Forest Ecosystems Science, Heidelberg, 2006)” seven reserves were examined for the causes of tree die-back.

They were:

Lorikeet Reserve, Mt. Eliza Regional Reserve, Mt. Martha Foreshore, Mt. Martha Park, Woods Reserve, Warringine Park and Tyrone Reserve.

Causes detected by them for tree die-back:

-Phytophtora, a root disease

-Armillaria, root rot and fungai

-Bell Miners Associated Die-back

-Other insect defoliaters (six species)

-Mycospheralla, leaf disease

-Bark and Wood Borers ( Longhorn Borers )

-Mudulla Yellows

-Salt, chloride toxicity

Other reasons for tree loss: (My addition)

* Climate change with more hotter and longer heatwaves and longer periods of droughts plus severe storms where many trees are blown over.

*More severe droughts, (in high temperatures stomas close, prevent CO2 uptake causing the trees to starve and gradually die.)

* More frequent wild fires

* Weeds under trees makes leaves more palatable to possums.

* Suitability of soil types and altered water tables especially in built up areas.

* Removal of trees for fire clearing, road widening and urban expansion.

* Also see on Internet “Catalyst-Tree death-ABC TV-Science”

Of the seven above reserves examined by the School of Forest Ecosystems Science, only in one, Mt Martha Park, was possum browsing mentioned and subsequent banding of trees recommended.

In all of the other reserves, tree die-back was only associated with a combination of all their identified causes. In spite of this, Jeff still insists that beside possums browsing “ Other forms of tree fatalities are only minor”

It is therefore important to consider all of these factors that contribute to tree die-back and tree loss, and not just blame the ring-tail possums? If we want to prevent tree die-back we surely have to seriously consider all of the factors that will cause it. One other of these reasons is the smothering and killing of trees by the exotic Ivy and several other tree-climbers. I have observed this on many dead trees, especially in the Sweetwater Creek area in Frankston.

Possums have evolved with trees and are part of the natural ecosystem. If they kill all the trees, they will kill themselves. I therefore don’t believe that there are too many possums and, especially, that they are a threat to the total loss of the tree canopy on the peninsula. Proper surveys to study the extent, and all of the causes of tree death and loss, are needed to clear this up.

His concern is that the Mornington Council is putting too much effort into fox and cat control, and that this is “head and shoulder above the rest of the state”. This must be for good reasons and should therefore not be regarded as a problem. Foxes and cats do kill a lot of all types of native wildlife!

Re: Swamp Rats:

swamp-rat

(image: https://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/discovery-centre-news/2007-archive/is-this-a-native-or-an-introduced-rat/)

The numbers of swamp rats naturally fluctuate but, due to predation by foxes and cats, large colonies of swamp rats have of late been lost in many isolated reserves (personal observation) so that they are definitely not overabundant. As to the loss of orchids due to swamp rats, orchids grow manly in open areas while swamp rats live in dense ground cover of gahnia where orchids are not doing well. All species of orchids have survived in the presence of swamp rats for thousands of years, so what has changed? Have contents of scats from swamp rats ever been examined for remains of orchid bulbs in order to proof that they are the actual culprit or that they could be eaten by introduced rats or rabbits? Science please.

As to the effects of the original native predators, to which there is so much reference in his lecture, here is what was described by some of the early settlers on the Mornington Peninsula in “The men who blazed the track”

History tells us that “Kangaroos were formerly so plentiful that they resembled flocks of sheep. At Sandy Point they erected yards for a big kangaroo drive. Messrs Clark, White, Benton and others got 1500 in the first drive. ….. In the last drive they got 800 kangaroos. On the plain they were in thousands as also were the possums. One night they shot 95 possums in two hours. bandicoots and goannas were also very numerous.”

And yet, there was a full compliment of native predators.

There were lots of dingoes as the top predator as well as two species of quolls and large goannas as meso-predators and several species of birds of prey while the eastern quoll was the most commonest animal observed. This was the original, natural balance of a predators/prey relationship in the ORIGINAL and UNDISTURBED environment which was described as teaming with wildlife.

But, so much for the effects that these native predators were supposed to have had in reducing the numbers of kangaroos and especially of the thousands of possums and swamp rats. In spite of these enormous numbers of herbivores, including the large numbers of possums and swamp rats, all of the vegetation, including trees and orchids thrived well. Remember, herbivores keep on fertilizing the bush and nothing is lost in the long run.

In contrast, since dogs, foxes and cats were introduced and the wildlife habitat on the Mornington Peninsula now fragmented and reduced by 82%, at least nine species of mammals have already become extinct on the peninsula and in the Frankston area including the nationally endangered southern brown bandicoot while another six species are critically endangered and the rest remain only in relatively low numbers. The present combination of the impacts by man, by predation, by heatwaves during which now thousands of possums die, and through habitat loss and further isolation of habitat, it continues to decimate our wildlife including possums and swamp rats. To give more freedom to foxes and cats will only exacerbate this tragic loss. I therefore strongly support the various governments who see fox and cat control important in order to protect the remaining and endangered wildlife.

In my research in the diet of foxes, ring-tails occurred only at an average 11% in scats while 89% of the rest of their diet on the Mornington Peninsula contained mostly remains of endangered native mammals and birds. This does surely not justify the use of more foxes for the possible reduction of ring-tails.

In the Frankston City News, they reported: “Pet cats kill an estimated 600.000 animals each year including sugar gliders and ring-tail possums. Cats also impact heavily on frogs and lizards, This alarming figure does not include wildlife killed by feral cats. A feral cat kills between 5-30 animals each night”. Adding the predation by foxes exacerbates this disaster and could at least double these losses. Why then is it so urgent in this situation that “Ecosystems need predators” and especially so on our wildlife depleted peninsula. I believe that our wildlife needs urgent protection from predators instead.

It is not only predation by foxes and cats that is a concern. Foxes also spread the seeds of blackberry and bone-seed as well as the disease of mange, while cats disperse the disease called Toxoplasmosis which causes death to many native mammals. Thankfully, Jeff has mentioned some of this as well.

We should also not forget that ring-tail and brush-tail possums are an important and staple source of food for the locally endangered powerful owl.

If there is such a concern that possum browsing by ring-tails will destroy all of the tree canopies and that swamp rats destroy orchids, it would be useful to have a clear and detailed action plan as to what exactly should be done if it were true, and especially what type of predators we seem to need and how and where they should be employed. This was not spelled out clearly then.. I hope it does not also include the removal of under-story vegetation in order to provide easier access to ring-tail possums by foxes and cats as this would exacerbate the loss of even more native mammals, insects, birds and reptiles. It could, of course, provide extra habitat for swamp rats.

It is worth to consider that in “The men who blazed the track” they stated that “The land was then very heavily timbered , the trees being so densely grown that possums could run from tree to tree. Captain Balmain’s paddocks were then very thickly wooded. At Sandy Point you could not see daylight through the dense foliage” also, “There were hundreds of trees to the acre” and, “They hunted in the thick scrub”. So, why should we now suddenly have to remove the under-story when these trees were so healthy IN SPITE OF LOTS OF POSSUMS. To suddenly declare war on ring tails and brush tail possums is definitely not justified!.

In Germany and Switzerland they re-introduced the Wolf after one hundred years of absence. Now the numbers of native deer and other wildlife has been seriously reduced and farmers are loosing sheep and other life stock while people are afraid of encountering them. Do we need this here? To re-introduce some of the original predators into our remaining few forests and reserves would surely just be a further risk to the rest of our wildlife and life-stock. And why were these predators lost in the first place…..? What type of predators would have to do the job now?

If there is such a concern about the loss of trees on the peninsula through possum browsing, Jeff should instead recommend to have most of the thousands of pine trees replaced on the peninsula with types of eucalyptus trees, that are not too palatable for ring-tail possums.

Finally, Jeff’s problem should be addressed to the State Government for a response rather than seeking support from local environmental groups who have no real say in the matter. Reducing the number of ring tail possums on the peninsula and the way it should be done, if thought to be necessary, can only be resolved at the State Government level.

Is “Ecosystems need predators” the answer here ?

Hans Brunner.

Hansxx

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Not Just Bandicoots! – Hans Brunner

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Not Just Bandicoots.

Bandicoots are a unique marsupial abut the size of a young rabbit and are closely related to the much adored bilby. Females have a pouch like kangaroos but their pouch is opening backwards so that the young have to get in and out through the “backdoor”. This is because bandicoots dig in the soil for grubs and, hence, would fill their pouch with soil.

They have a long nose with a highly developed olfactory system. Their long nose is lined with lots of sensitive receptors and neurons in order to detect food buried deep in the soil. They can detect the exact location of a grub 20 cm deep under the soil and pin-point exactly to it when digging for it.They dig very rapidly with their long fore-claws and within seconds they find their meal.

bandicoot

In addition, their conical diggings left behind are of great importance to the environment (Patricia Flemming etal). These diggings increase soil turnover, alter plant community composition and structure, trap rainwater for better water infiltration, capture bio-mater for nutrient cycling, and add to fungal and seed dispersal.

The presence of diggings can also prevent tree mortality and tree-die-off while the dispersal of fungal spores will speed up leaf-litter break down and so reduce the fire hazard.

littledigger

(image: Little Aussie Digger, from Backyard Bandicoots)

Sadly, bandicoots are extremely vulnerable to the introduced predators such as dogs, foxes and cats as well as the reduction and fragmentation of their habitat. They are now on the national endangered list. One would think that the extreme usefulness and aesthetic value of these cute animals would be enough to want them to be protected at all cost but thus is not the case.The problem: they are not as popular as a kangaroos, or a koalas and are not quite like bilbys.

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(image: ecologist, Hans Brunner)

Featured image: Eastern Barred Bandicoot – Parks Victoria volunteer program.

The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is one of Victoria’s most endangered marsupials, with over 99% of their native grassland habitat cleared for agriculture and urban development. The species in Victoria is now classified as ‘Extinct in the Wild’, and small Eastern Barred Bandicoot populations only exist due to captive breeding programs in wildlife parks and key locations around the state.

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Petition:Protect koala habitat in an effort to better ensure koalas will not die off.

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Koalas are declining in rapid numbers because the trees where they spend a majority of their time are being quickly chopped down.

Roads are being built where there were once trees, increasing the risk that the animals will be hit by cars. In addition, when houses are built in place of the trees that once covered the particular land, the animals are in greater danger of being attacked by the dogs of the people who now live in the newly built houses.
Cutest_Koala

Up here in Queensland and New South Wales, they’ve got koalas that are declining rapidly, population’s dropping off the face of the Earth right on their doorstep and we’re not able to do anything about it, seemingly. In South East Queensland, the human population is increasing by more than 1000 people a week. This rapid population growth and increased need for houses is placing considerable pressure on the limited remaining koala habitat.

Currently, about 80 percent of the koalas’ habitat is almost completely ruined due to human encroachment. Only a small portion of this land is now protected. This is ironic when one considers that the koala is a protected species. Yet, because the koala’s habitat is constantly being destroyed, about 4,000 of these animals are killed by cars and dogs every year.

The human population of the narrow strip between Noosa and the Gold Coast – South East Queensland’s “200km city” – will swell by 2.2 million to 5.5 million in 30 years. It’s all part of the “big Australia” policy! That extra development will finally get rid of koalas in SE Queensland, something governments been working very hard to achieve for decades. Massive immigration coupled with a PM who doles out infrastructure funding not on need but only to those who follow his radical political ideology on asset sales.

Urge officials to protect larger areas of the eucalyptus forests where these animals live in order to help save them. If we don’t do something now, koalas may soon have no place in the wild that solely belongs just to them.

Sign the Petition

The Redlands koala population, estimated in 1999 to be 6,200 animals, has plummeted by approximately 75% (in 15 years). The koala was recently listed by your government as ‘vulnerable’ in Queensland with South East Qld suffering the greatest loss of koala numbers.
Habitat loss (to property developers and infrastructure) is the greatest threat to the koala’s survival followed by disease, vehicle strikes and domestic dog attacks.

On Line Petition to save koalas in the southern area of Redlands

Since European settlement, hundreds of species have become extinct in Australia, including at least 50 bird and mammal, 4 frog and more than 60 plant species. It is likely that other species have disappeared but without our knowledge. Many other species are considered to be threatened and are listed under Australian Government legislation as endangered or vulnerable. More than 310 species of native animals and over 1180 species of native plants are at risk of disappearing forever.

As long ago as 1994 the Australian Academy of Sciences advocated a maximum population for Australia of 24 million, a figure we are fast approaching and will soon exceed. In 2010 the National Institute of Labour Studies at Flinders University looked at different levels of net overseas migration – from zero up to 260,000 p.a. – and found that all levels lead to worryingly unsustainable positions, which worsen the higher the levels become.

(featured image: koala dead at Redlands- Queensland government)

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Protect Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos from destructive urban sprawl

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Half the remaining Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos would be wiped out under WA’s State Government land-use plans to meet the Perth-Peel region’s population growth over coming decades, a leaked report shows.

The draft Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan is designed to meet the challenge of supporting a projected 3.5 million people by 2050.  This “projected” growth is about promoting housing growth, and urban sprawl!

carnaby'sBlackCockatoo

(image: photo by Ralph Green https://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphebgreen/5645567429)

The plan proposes ways to cut red tape by obtaining Commonwealth environment pre-approvals and fast-tracking state environment approvals for developments.  Cutting “red tape” would also mean land clearing and sacrificing these native cockatoos deliberately to the endangered species list!

“The Plan gives certainty to developers that they will make profits and gives certainty to thousands of cockatoos that they will be killed or die of starvation.

“The population of these beautiful and unique birds has been rapidly declining over the last decade and the Green Growth Plan would fail to address that decline.

“If our environmental laws can allow endangered wildlife to be decimated in this way clearly those laws are failing our environment and need to be changed urgently.

Green Growth plan spells disaster for Cockatoos – Conservation Council of Western Australia.

Carnabys cockatoos exist nowhere else in the world. They are a totem for Noongar people and are part of our shared cultural and environmental heritage.  The State Governments Green Growth Plan would decimate the population of these beautiful birds.

The Noongar people lived in balance with the natural environment for at least 45,000 years. Their social structure was focused on the family with Noongar family groups occupying distinct areas of Noongar Country.  Now, this balance would be destroyed, due largely to mass immigration.

The 23,000-hectare Gnangara Pine Plantation would be cleared to preserve the vital underground water source which lies beneath.  Thousands of cockatoos would die through starvation as their vital food sources are bulldozed to make way for more unsustainable urban sprawl.

There is no economic, environmental, cultural or social reason for more urban sprawl, or this population boom in WA.  There’s nothing “green” about urban sprawl, or this population growth!

Protect Our Cockatoos From Urban Sprawl- Make a submission to the State and Commonwealth Environment Ministers to let them know that the Green Growth Plan must not be approved in its current form. Your impact will be greater if you personalise the message.

Click Here to make you submission

Conservation Council of WA

 

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Ringtail Possum and tree decline Western Port News, December 1

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Eucalyptus trees (in particular Eucalyptus radiata & Eucalytus ovata) across the Mornington Peninsula and beyond are undergoing decline, and Ringtail possums are to blame, according to Dr Jeff Yugovic.  The “overbrowsing” of the possums is being declared the reason for the trees’ demise, with little scientific data and other alternative causes have barely considered.

Our indigenous native herbivores are easy prey when it comes to being accused of causing environmental flora destruction, and as “pests”.  Kangaroos are blamed for “over-grazing”, koalas are accused of over-populating, and possums are accused of any demise of native trees – because they eat them!

Yugovic says that, “Without predators, entire tree canopies can be lost to folivores such as monkeys and possums and whole areas can be denuded by grazers such as goats or rabbits. Also, without top predators the mid-size mesopredators such as raccoons or foxes are more abundant and take more small fauna than before”. 1

Wonder what evidence there is of these mid-sized mesopredators  in the Mornington Peninsula?  There is evidence of a sustainable number of Powerful Owls and a full compliment of avian predators, snakes, roads and introduced species such as cats (domestic, feral & stray) and dogs.

Other forms of tree mortalities are considered, and dismissed, as being “minor”.  Dense scrubby undergrowth is allowing possums to hide from their predators, foxes.  Yugovic says that major predators of the Ringtail possum are locally extinct, so there is an “overpopulation” of the former.

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(image: Mornington Peninsula showing heavy urbanisation.  Nick Carson)

Environmental Care, Mt Eliza, agrees that the Ringtail possum is the problem. However, wildlife experts such as Mal Legg, Hans Brunner and Craig Thomson disagree.  Their concerns are dismissed as they “don’t live in the area”!  However all three live, work and volunteer on the Mornington Peninsula. Besides ecologists and naturalist don’t have to live in the areas they study.

Ecologist Hans Brunner has already written a response in Candobetter.net.  He says that “the expectation that an increase of predators may reduce a few possums would surely be badly out-weighed by the risk of losing proportionally even more of our rare, native wildlife species”.

While researchers found few brushtail possums in bushland reserves, Dr Yugovic said brushtails browse significantly on trees in gardens where they are near buildings with shelter.

“Brushtails eat adult leaves which thins the foliage throughout trees, while ringtails are more damaging by being smaller and able to reach their preferred shoots and young leaves at the end of branches,” Dr Yugovic said.2

The simple answer, according to Yugovic, is to thin the understorey, and the trees will recover!  Possum numbers will thus decline, as the possums will need to come to ground, where the foxes will predate on them. Possums might be at the scene of the crime, but not necessarily the criminals.

Foxes are everywhere and partly replace the dingo as predator? What evidence is there that dingoes and foxes provide the same ecological function on the Peninsula? It would be a fair comment to say dingoes are an apex predator, while foxes are a more opportunistic predator.

There are other possible and likely alternative reasons for the dying of the trees.

  • -spraying herbicides, such as metsulfuron, that is a broad leaf herbicide that adds salt to soils. This can persist in the soil for up to 18 months
  • -soil pathogens like cinnamon fungus that have previously tested positive on sites in question
  • -overload of weeds that poison the soil and reduce natural regeneration
  • -highly urbanised environment, Removal of vegetation for sub-divisions and house extensions. Impacting on the hydrology and fragmentation of vegetation.  This means roads, power-lines, cars, emissions and the edge-effect
  • -climate change and drought, with heat stress predicted to be a major cause of native species’ deaths.

The study, written in 2014 by Ecology Australia, commissioned by the Mornington Peninsula Shire, was meant to rectify the problem.  There seems to be little examination of other alternative causes, or refined research, to reach the conclusion to the guilty verdict for Ringtail possums.

Ecology Australia provides services for environmental management, ecological services, and planning and approvals!  They sound ominously like their focus is on corporate services, management of native vegetation and species to fit human activities, rather than conservation, wildlife rescue or holistic, custodianship of our unique natural heritage – and concern for the welfare of native animals.

1 http://www.berg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/alien_vs_predator_native_predator-prey_imbalances_in_south-east_australia_october_2015.pdf

2.Fox seen as answer to possum problem

Australian Wildlife Protection Council, committee

Ross house, level 3

247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000

(featured image: Common Ringtail possum, Brisbane 2007, by Glen Fergus)

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