Logan and Albert Conservation Association

SLOW Food is an international not-for-profit organisation founded in 1986 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions, people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world - people, communities, animals, plants and the environment. There are branches in SEQ and locally at Mt Tamborine. Contacts for Queensland are available here.

As the name suggests, Slow Food represents everything that fast food does not:

fresh, local, seasonal produce;

recipes handed down through generations;

sustainable farming practices (including organics);

small scale artisan food production; and

relaxed, leisurely dining in the company of family and friends.

Convivium (local Slow Food groups) activities introduce local foods and producers to both members and non-members, while Taste Workshops offer guided tastings with food experts. Find out more about the local Mt Tamborine group at their website linked here.

SLOW FRUIT is a current campaign to locate and capture images and information about sentinel fruit and nut trees and old orchards for Slow Food Australia's national Slow fruit register.

During the 1980s botanists ecologists and other environmental scientists discovered the beauty rarity and majesty of the Bahrs Scrub area - home to many unique rare or now endangered species - both flora and fauna.  A  proposal was made to the government of the day to declare it as a National Park. This unfortunately did not eventuate.

Those of us who value and respect landscapes with rare and endangered species will always look for lawful ways to protect preserve and enhance those species. As we work towards this end we will try to take the reader on a journey to discover the history of this special area of Bahrs Scrub and look to preserve it for posterity. Veresdale Scrub - a nearby now denuded dry vine rainforest - is almost extinguished by development encouraged by governments of the time.

Unless and until a ground truthing exercise to map all plants and animals and slopes has been conducted then it is irresponsible to plan for high density housing developments which could obliterate much of this biodiversity hotspot.

The Quest newspaper from Enoggera reports this week that almost one million hectares of Queensland has become nature refuge as more private property owners agree to set aside land for conservation. Environment Minister Kate Jones, also the State Member for Ashgrove, said 14 new conservation agreements had been signed with landholders this week, protecting an extra 172 thousand hectares across Queensland. The massive Toko Range, southwest of Mount Isa, is the largest among the latest nature refuges in the state.
Ms Jones says the new agreements bring the state's total land covered under the nature refuges program to more than 900 thousand hectares.

Wouldn't this be a great option for the current landowners of Bahrs Scrub? Better of course if the area became a National Park. However, landowners who join the nature refuge program are helped financially to maintain and enhance the landscape.

Major conservation councils, GECKO - Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council, and BREC - Brisbane Region Environment Council, and peak groups, Logan & Albert Conservation Association and Wildlife Logan have come together to promote responsible outcomes for Bahrs Scrub which preserve the area's unique, extremely high conservation values and acknowledge multiple development constraints.

In addition to multiple development constraints we are keen to work with Logan City Council  landowners and developers to achieve an ecologically sustainable development for human settlement. As yet we have seen little on ground evidence that this concept is understood by those making decisions for us.

YOU CAN HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE WAY WE LIVE IN OUR  COMMUNITIES.

Join one of the groups to learn more about sustainable developments.

Join one of the groups to help repair some unsustainable developments.

ALBERT AND LOGAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 page 13 article reads as follows

Activists combine to ban houses [at Bahrs Scrub]FOUR conservation groups are joining forces to fight a 4000-lot housing development proposed for sensitive bushland at Bahrs Scrub.

Spokeswoman Petrina Maizey said the Logan City Council plan to allow 10,000 more people into a 510ha zone bordered by Wuraga and Sharton roads was

''irresponsible''.

She said the area housed endangered wildlife and flora and was unsuitable for development as it had serious soil and slope stability problems.

Last call for volunteers as catchment crisis deepens

In the wake of the 'fail' report cards for the Logan Estuary and the Southern Bay, the Logan-Albert Rivers Catchment Association (LARC) is also heading for a 'fail' if a new executive cannot be found at its forthcoming AGM. LARC is the peak organisation that speaks for and works to improve the health of the Logan-Albert catchment that drains into the failing Logan Estuary and Southern Bay.

Save Bahrs Scrub

Public Meeting Invitation

Do you want to lose unique bushland with koalas, platypus and rare plants to yet more urban development?

This is the proposed fate of Bahrs Scrub.

If your answer is NO!, Gecko, LACA, BREC and Wildlife Logan invite you to attend an important public meeting to be held at:

Windaroo Valley State High School  

Beenleigh Beaudesert Rd, Windaroo

Thursday November 5, 2009 6:30 - 7:30 pm.

The four peak environment groups are determined, with your help, to protect for all time this important and unique area, and hope to establish the Save Bahrs Scrub community group. The Bahrs Scrub precinct, once proposed as a National Park, has been known for more than two decades to be a hotspot for a variety of 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.

Major conservation councils, Gecko - Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council, and BREC - Brisbane Region Environment Council, and peak groups, Logan & Albert Conservation Association and Wildlife Logan have come together to promote responsible outcomes for Bahrs Scrub which preserve the area's unique, extremely high conservation values and acknowledge multiple development constraints.

We need your support to Save Bahrs Scrub!

If you are interested and unable to attend this meeting please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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?