Logan and Albert Conservation Association

Invitation to attend Save Bahrs Scrub public meeting

The Bahrs Scrub precinct has been known for more than two decades to be a biodiversity hotspot, containing threatened wildlife, including koala and platypus, and rare vegetation including newly discovered species.

Despite this knowledge, Bahrs Scrub has been fast-tracked by the SEQ Regional Plan as a Local Development Area within Logan City Council, projected to accommodate 11,000 residents.

Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council (Gecko) , Logan & Albert Conservation Association (LACA), Brisbane Region Environment Council (BREC) and Wildlife Logan invite you to attend this important public meeting.

Unique Bahrs Scrub conservation values and other development constraints will be discussed at a public meeting to be held at

Windaroo Valley State High School (Beenleigh Beaudesert Rd, Windaroo)

Thursday November 5, 2009

6:30 to 7:30 pm.

For further information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 3287 4377

Albert and Logan News 4 November 2009 cover the story of this development online in this article.... Activists combine to ban houses.

IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW KOALA PLANNING INSTRUMENTS DEFERRED

Australian Koala Foundation said recently that Queensland government's new planning laws to protect dwindling koala numbers in the state's southeast are laughable. Although Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones announced a raft of new measures to protect the marsupials' habitats - what is proposed is not enough. For years concerned citizens campaigning to raise awareness of the plight of the koala and protect them by protecting and preserving the essential habitat with an easy to remember slogan  -  NO TREE NO ME.

MAPPING has placed a triangle-shaped patch of zero-development koala protection area directly over that same patch developers have planned as the central heart of the town centre.

Further to a letter from the Director-General which was circulated  to  members (of UDIA Qld) on Wednesday, the Government has now deferred the implementation of koala planning controls to replace the interim controls until 28 February 2010 and they will not come into effect as at 1st January as previously  proposed.  Further opportunity for consultation on proposed changes and  a  draft State Planning Policy is being provided. The UDIA (Qld) is  engaging  with the Government and a forum will be held in the new year to  discuss  practical implementation issues associated with the draft  instruments.

Gold Coast Bulletin, Friday 11 December 2009, page 3  "States koala chaos on map"

As Logan City Council  explained on their website the South East Queensland Regional Plan 2009-2031 has identified the Bahrs Scrub locality as a Local Development Area. Council residents and land owners had an opportunity to input into the SEQRP and the area of Bahrs Schub has been selected by state government and targeted or 'identified' as an area to be developed for urban purposes and in doing so help Council achieve the dwelling targets allocated to it in the regional plan. It is not council that set those targets - but state government which is heading down the path towards bigger population targets for SEQ - and Logan City Council is very supportive of the state's targets.

Council must now prepare a more detailed Local Development Area Plan for this locality. This plan will identify those areas suitable for urban purposes and those areas required to be conserved or managed for a variety of purposes.

The plan will also identify the range of necessary infrastructure needed to support development of this locality.

Council has now commenced this plan making process. The final plan and its statutory components will then need to be integrated into Council's planning scheme.

Council is currently in the initial scoping stage. This stage is intended to identify the range of issues that need to be addressed during the plan making process. As part of this process Council is consulting with a range of stakeholders, including State Government Agencies and landowners as to what they see as the significant issues for developing this locality. These issues will then be feed into consultancies briefs for further studies to be undertaken. The outputs of these studies will then be used to formulate a range of land use options that can then be further tested and refined.

The big questions to be asked  here are - what are the benchmarks for sustainable development?

The Save Our Koalas rally held in Brisbane City on Friday 25th September 2009, Save the Koala Day was a great turnout! Many said there were over 1000 people on the streets. Fantastic! We were inspired by the effort made by everyone on the day and just how many passionate people there were willing to let our Governments know that we've had enough and want our Koalas protected. That message was tabled in Parliament on Thursday 8th October 2009 by Mr. Glen Elmes, state Shadow Minister for the Environment. As usual there is silence from our politicians at both the State and Federal levels.

It is now up to us collectively to keep the pressure on our Governments to act and act now!

On 10 November 2009, scientists from around Australia will meet to decide on the Australian Koala Foundation's nomination of the koala as ‘vulnerable' under the EPBC Act, Australia's threatened species legislation. If the Koala is protected then it will mean that all developments in koala habitat will have federal oversight, something that hasn't happened since white settlement 200 years ago.

So what can you do?

Andy Grodecki invites us all to join with him to participate in an international event hosted at www.350.org. This s a new global campaign focused on making sure the world takes the kind of big, bold, fast action that we need to solve this crisis.

Our action will be at Jubilee Park, Beaudesert -

12 noon this Sunday 25 October during the 'Our habitat, our home' event

 Hope you can make it.

Here's the situation:
- The science of climate change is getting darker by the day. The Arctic is melting away with astonishing speed, decades ahead of schedule. Everything on the planet seems to be melting or burning, rising or parched. No surprise there--scientists tell us that the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million, and we're at 389 and rising.

- But there's good news: we're not cooked yet, and THIS YEAR we have an opportunity to make a real impact. In December, the nations of the world will be meeting to craft a global treaty designed to help the world act together to solve global warming. The terms of this treaty may well determine whether we actually save the planet from climate change, so it's up to all of us to make sure we get it right.

350 Species are Threatened by Global Warming

Saturday 24 October 2009 is the International Day of Climate Action. The Center for Biological Diversity launched a massive new interactive Web site today providing accounts of 350 plants and animals threatened by global warming. Climate change bills require deeper, faster cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, or we won't succeed in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million, dooming these 350 species and many, many more to extinction.

Check out the website here . Of particular concern are the two turtles which inhabit the Pacific Ocean - Loggerhead sea turtles and the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.

Keep your eyes open for koalas on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October.

In an effort to get an up to date picture of koala distribution and also to raise awareness of koalas in urban areas the survey is principally targeting Beaudesert, Boonah, Brisbane, Esk, Gatton, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan and Toowoomba. However LACA and RSPCA Qld would like to hear about any koala sightings throughout the State.

"It's important for us to get an accurate idea of numbers so that we can monitor if there's a growth or decline," said RSPCA Queensland's Wildlife Coordinator Janet Gamble. "As our population grows we're pushing further and further into their habitat."

This habitat destruction means koalas have to travel on the ground as they hunt for suitable eucalyptus leaves or mates. They then face the additional threats of motor vehicles, dogs, road barriers and fences, all of which have an impact on their lives. However Ms Gamble said the situation was not total gloom and doom. "I believe we can live together. All we need to do is show a little common sense consideration and compromise." Said Janet Gamble

Ms Anne Page, President of the Logan and Albert Conservation Association who have joined with the RSPCA to organise the census, said "We have very little information on where koala are, particularly in the south west and this a great opportunity for anyone to help koala conservation by simply going out into their backyard or nearby bush and looking and listening and letting us know if they see any koala."

The census is an ideal opportunity for all Queenslanders to participate in a vital conservation project. People are asked to phone in their koala sightings (dead or alive) to 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625) or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Koala Phone In

When: Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October.
Where: Throughout Queensland, but principally targeting

Beaudesert, Boonah, Brisbane, Esk, Gatton, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Maroochy and Toowoomba.

Phone: 1300 ANIMAL ( 1300 264 625) or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The QPP has been developed to significantly improve the way planning schemes are prepared and implemented throughout the state, delivering the following benefits.
They are supposed to deliver for the community both greater certainty and clarity for users and the community  and enhanced community involvement and understanding of planning schemes.

As a community member please review, evaluate and report back to the government body how you feel about these proposed changes. The feedback form which is available here guides to measure your level of agreement with a series of statements..

Closing date for feedback: Monday 23 November 2009  Your completed response form is to be returned to

Draft Queensland Planning Provisions feedback
Department of Infrastructure and Planning
PO Box 15009, City East Queensland 4002
Fax: 3234 1279  Phone: 1800 153 262
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A public memorial for passionate Queensland naturalist Ric Nattrass will be held at the Queensland Museum at South Bank on Saturday morning, 24 October 2009.

Ric founded the Queensland Frog Society in 1990, also the Australian Dragonfly Society and the Ipswich Koala Protection Society.

Ipswich City Council named a stand of old growth forest at Bellbird Park the Ric Nattrass Environmental Park in honour of his advocacy work and recognition of his enormous contribution to conservation and the environment.

The Australian Frog Society's president Glen Ingram paid tribute to him in the society's Spring newsletter. "Over his life Ric has made thousands just as passionate about the living world as himself," Mr Ingram wrote.

The memorial will be held in the Whale Mall at the Queensland Museum from 11am.

Copies of his book and posters will be available, with proceeds going to his estate.

Ric was held in very high regard by the many individuals, groups, associations, and government bodies he met with on a regular basis. People from diverse walks of life - indigenous, government, conservation, science, tourism, as well as the wider community - will miss Ric's incredible depth of knowledge, larrikinism, laughter and sense of ethics. Read more at his website http://drivingyouwild.net.au/