The Hon. Colin Barnett, MEc, MLA,
Premier, Minister for State Development,
Government of Western Australia.
Dear Premier Barnett
Undoubtedly, you are aware of the critical state of our iconic black cockatoos and the loss of 100,000 hectares of bushland due to fires in the South West this summer. Today, logging has started in Warrup Forest near Bridgetown. This is a critical refuge for black cockatoos, numbats and so many other creatures; one of the few remaining areas where black cockatoos can feed on a natural diet.
The Hon. Bill Marmion, BE, MBA, MLA, Minister for Environment; Water is not available for meetings until February 16, 2012, to discuss placing any kind of ban on logging in viable feeding areas. To allow our threatened black cockatoos to be at further risk for the next three weeks, while logging continues unrestrained, simply because the Minister is not available is not acceptable to the community.
We will not stand silently by and see their vestigial remaining habitat destroyed without you, as the Premier of Western Australia stating your position on this.
It is of the utmost importance that NO FURTHER LOGGING continues in areas known to be the habitat of black cockatoos, until a full environmental study ascertains the impact of bushfires and other causes of forest loss on their long-term recovery.
With respect, Mr. Barnett, you must intervene to ensure our black cockatoos survive. You cannot allow logging their last remaining food and nesting sites to continue – in the face of the environmental devastation they have already experienced in the past twelve months.
With the utmost respect
Lesley Dewar
51 Beatty Avenue, East Victoria Park, 6101
This is the message I have posted today to the Premier of Western Australia, through his Parliamentary Website. You are invited to do the same, using this official link to his office: Website Contact Page for the Premier of Western Australia The email address details are also available at his site. You can find a link to your own local Member of State Parliament from this link and I urge you to make your voice heard – whether your MP is in Government or in Opposition. Current Sitting Members Of State Parliament In Western Australia
I am a student at Murdoch University, I live on campus, every day i see the Carnabys cockatoos as they fly in for their morning feeding ritual in the strand of pines, soon these pines will be decimated from the many hungry birds, then what are these birds going to eat, its not just about the logging, its also about the uneccesary land clearing that is happening around perth…
Enough is enough….
Thank you, Robin. You recognise the real issue here – it’s a combination of loss of habitat in the forests (where the highly endangered red tailed cockatoos live) as well as land clearing around the city with absolutely no regard for its value as a food source for bushland (Carnabys) cockatoos. In truth, we should rarely see red tails – but they are being forced by hunger out of their natural habitat in the tall timber by a combination of issues: drought; Marri canker; dieback; logging; clearing and other factors. There is an issue in the Shire of Cockburn we need to get people talking about: a property with the best food source for Carnabys is a natural bush block which is currently under offer to a religious organisation that proposes to build an enormous place of worship, inclusive of 125 car parking bays with overflow parking for another 100! They will clear the entire block to build a mosque and function hall………….incredibly wrong, when we have a number of priority 4 protected species on this property. I had to share this as I am unsure just how long we will be blessed to witness these iconic birds feeding there. Incredibly beautiful, intelligent, inquisitive birds, unique and wonderful
The other day, the cockatoos had left my neighbour’s trees, but one bird was shrieking; to me, it sounded like a young one, very distressed. When I went outside, it and one other bird were sitting together on a branch.
I believe that we underestimate the abilities of other species to have emotions. It seemed to me as if the one bird was trying to comfort the other. I just felt so unable to help, I wanted to cry.
I’ve emailed my local sitting member, and hope he will present my concern to parliament. Unfortunately, Australia is known for contributing to the extinction of so many species in the alst 200 years
Thank you Diana and you are NOT wrong about their emotional abilities. If you happened to read my blog post about the white tail who drank from a honkey nut he used as a cup, and his behaviour, they clearly have a range of emotions : humour, grief, joy, pain. They are flock birds and clearly recognize stress in each other. Your representations to your Member of Parliament are valuable and much appreciated. They are certainly not wasted. Thank you for your support. We will be asking for it, again.
From: Workflow@dpc.wa.gov.au [mailto:Workflow@dpc.wa.gov.au]
Sent: Monday, 23 January 2012 1:13 PM
To: WA-Government
Subject: DPC web Site Comment
This was sent using the Contact Us Form.
This is an automated email. Do not reply. To respond, email to lesleydewar@bigpond.com
Sender: Lesley Dewar
Email: lesleydewar@bigpond.com
Phone: 0417 915502
Address: 51 Beatty Avenue East Victoria Park 6101
________________________________________
Reply Requested: Yes
Question or feedback: Dear Premier Barnett Undoubtedly, you are aware of the critical state of our iconic black cockatoos and the loss of 100,000 hectares of bushland due to fires in the South West this summer. Today, logging has started in Warrup Forest near Bridgetown. This is a critical refuge for black cockatoos, numbats and so many other creatures; one of the few remaining areas where black cockatoos can feed on a natural diet. The Hon. Minister for the Environment is not available for meetings until February 16, 2012, to discuss placing any kind of ban on logging in viable feeding areas. To allow our threatened black cockatoos to be at further risk for the next three weeks, while logging continues unrestrained, simply because the Minister is not available is not acceptable to the community. We will not stand silently by and see their vestigial remaining habitat destroyed without you, as the Premier of Western Australia stating your position on this. It is of the utmost importance that NO FURTHER LOGGING continues in areas known to be the habitat of black cockatoos, until a full environmental study ascertains the impact of bushfires and other causes of forest loss on their long-term recovery. With respect, Mr. Barnett, you must intervene to ensure our black cockatoos survive. You cannot all logging their last remaining food and nesting sites to continue – in the face of the environmental devastation they have already experienced in the past twelve months. With the utmost respect Lesley Dewar
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On 23/01/2012, at 3:58 PM, WA-Government wrote:
Dear Ms Dewar
Thank you for your email with regard to logging at Warrup Forrest.
In the absence of the Premier your email has been forwarded to the Hon Bill Marmion, Minister for Environment for his consideration of the issues you have raised.
Regards
Western Australian Government
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From: Lesley Dewar
Date: 23 January 2012 11:02:04 PM AWST
To: WA-Government
Subject: Re: DPC web Site Comment
Dear Premier’s Office
Thank you for your reply.
I understand the Minister for the Environment will be absent from his office until February 16. The urgency of this matter requires it not be pigeon-holed for three weeks because the damage the logging will cause will be irreparable in our lifetime.
To see such a serious matter being sidelined as being of little importance or urgency does not recommend your Government to me and I will continue to raise this in the media and with other public figures.
With respect
Lesley Dewar
http://StoriesMyNanaTells.com
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This is the reply received from The Minister for Environment; Water. Date 19 March 2012 Ref: 42-12483
Ms. Lesley Dewar
51 Beatty Avenue
EAST VICTORIA PARK WA 6101
Dear Ms Dewar
I refer your email dated 23 January 2012 to the Premier which was forwarded to me for reply regarding the conservation of black cockatoos. I can assure you that the State Government has a number of strategies to conserve our three species of black cockatoos,.
Recently there have been extended drought conditions for some parts of the south-west of Western Australia, including forest areas. This is likely to have affected flowering and fruiting activity for some plant species in the short term, however these conditions, particularly drought in 2010 and recent forest fires, are not considered likely to cause major long-term impacts on the conservation of the cockatoo species. I am advised that additional loss of breeding sites through tree decline, and competition with feral honey bees and invasive native species such as galahs and corellas, are significant issues. Other concerns include the loss of birds through illegal shooting, poaching and being struck by vehicles. There is no evidence that the three cockatoo species inhabiting the south-west are starving,
A number of programs are underway or have recently been undertaken by the State Government through the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) to assist in the conservation of black cockatoos and in particular Carnaby’s cockatoo. A number of these are described on the DEC website (under the Threatened Species tab) at https://www.dec.wa.gov.au/carnabys. They include investigations into the habitat of the species in the south-west and their food requirements which should provide some of the answers to the issues that you have raised.
The State Government has made a special allocation of $800,000 under the State Natural Resource Management program between 2009 and 2011 for investigations into management issues for Carnaby’s black cockatoo, which include extensive studies that have been completed, or are in progress, for mapping and assessing the value of Carnaby’s cockatoo habitat in the south-west outside of the forest areas.
Recovery plans have also been prepared for the three species of black cockatoo, and a revised recovery plan for Carnaby’s cockatoo is currently being drafted. These recovery plans provide strategic direction for recovery actions, and are implemented with the guidance of a recovery team that includes professionals and land managers from both the public and private sectors.
The Forest Management Plan 2004-2013 includes strategies to maintain fauna habitat, and in particular habitat suitable for black cockatoos, in forest areas. At a whole of forest scale, there are a range of conservation measures, including an extensive network of national parks and other protected areas. At a landscape scale, informal reserves are set aside from timber harvesting, such as stream zones, patches of old-growth forest and a network of fauna habitat zones.
At an operational scale, habitat trees are retained in forest coupes. The preferred food of the forest red-tailed black cockatoo is the marri, and through the silviculture guidelines under the Forest Management Plan, very few marri trees are now removed during timber harvesting.
Timber harvesting activities occur in around 0.4 per cent, or 8,800 hectares, of the Forest Management Plan area per year. There is no evidence to suggest that harvesting activities at this scale are impacting on black cockatoo populations.
While historical clearing has had a significant impact on the habitat of black cockatoos, especially on the Swan Coastal Plain and in the agricultural zone, amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1986 in 2004 have provided a more robust mechanism for protecting black cockatoo habitat. Vegetation clearing assessments must now take the habitat of these species into account, and either protect areas of significant habitat, or where this is not possible for essential development purposes provide for the loss to be offset through the improved protection of other areas, revegetation or other management actions.
Also, in regard to the Swan Coastal Plain, the State Government is working with the Commonwealth Government on a strategic assessment for land development in the metropolitan Perth and Peel regions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The objective is to enable clear guidelines to be developed for development proposals that may impact on black cockatoos and other matters of national environment significance under the EPBC Act, and reduce duplication in the State and Commonwealth assessment processes.
Thank you for your interest in the conservation of black cockatoos.
Yours sincerely,
Hon. Bill Marmion MLA
Minister for Environment; Water
19 March 2012
As i try to write this i can hear carnabys flying over,close to perth airport,how long before we wont be able to hear these magnificent birds,i know there are lots of people out there who are aware of the desperate situation.
We have to stop logging,clearing their habitat,Peet and all this other homebuilders,they don’t bring land to life as said in the add,the kill and destroy,Australia has to realize that all its uniqueness is dissapearing,educate the newcomers to this country about our wildlife as well!
Its heartbreaking to see that the environment always seem to lose it from the dollar.
Thank you for this comment and your observation about land developers is spot on! I watch that Peet & Co advert with horror – as it shows the native environment being swallowed up with “development”. We can build housing that includes our standing trees and maintain bushland areas as nature reserves within subdivisions. Let’s start targeting the property developers as well as the politicians.
Hi Lesley,
Congratulations on a brilliant campaign, you have strung together all the things that are important and need to be forced down some political throats. It looks like another inept environmental minister. We at the SJ Landcare, as you know, are manufacturing and installing Cockatubes ® which, in part, is helping to replace lost habitats, but we are in no way keeping up with the trashing of native habitat by FPC and the others.
Alan
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Thanks, Alan. This is going to be a long campaign, when we have such a luddite of a Premier who thinks a blind moth with a short lifespan is probably wishing for extinction. Colin Barnett disgusts me with his stupid wilful ignorance of bio-diversity.
I agree. What a fantastic campaign Lesley. I also agree with Willeke regarding developers. The speed at which the Swan Coastal Plain is being decimated to is very frightening! Not just the developer mentioned but all of them. All they are interested in is having the highest lot yield to maximize their profits. If any of the trees are saved, then they are treated so poorly that they end up dying anyway a few years down the track. The sad thing is that the State Planning Department (WAPC) is helping to support the population growth at the expense of the environment and all of the animals that rely on it. Yes we do have Bush forever and State and regional parks, but in in the end this is piecemeal and will be land locked by houses.
The Challenge is enormous but the benefits of success are worth it! Not succeeding will result in future generations only having a sea of houses with little contact with the environment and local extinctions of some species….is this what we want for our kids/ grand kids???
Thank you for your comment, Vanessa and it think we need a “name and shame” letter campaign to local newspapers, community groups and local MP’s to build awareness of how much more can be done with good planning and saving local vegetation. Local groups which will support the viability of local groups for native parks are essential. Weeding and protecting from vandalism needs community pride and local input. It will be wonderful when every school has its own patch of local bush to protect, nurture and in which they can take pride. It’s a challenge but one we can meet.
It all sounds like the paperwork is more important than the wildlife! Is it reasonable to expect a Hold on forest clearing until the results are in? If not, it may be too late once the drafts, and the amended recovery draft, are actually finalised AND put into action.
The Coal Seam Gas industry is another problem in Qld, with the “let’s just see what happens” attitude – too late once they realise the damage is can do to the underground water supply for some of our best agricultural areas.
Keep up the good work, and the pressure on the government/s.
Cheers and good luck
Loris Callier