Logan and Albert Conservation Association
Why is it so difficult to live in harmony with our wildlife?
It happens in Logan on a small scale if 200 acres /90 hectares is small. Here a family property was established in 1930s and some generations later the same family continues to live in harmony with nature and all its species. The property has recently registered with a voluntary conservation covenant to become part of Humane Society International (HSI) / Wildlife Land Trust (WLT). It is also part of Logan City's Land for Wildlife.
Deborah Tabart OAM, CEO of the Australian Koala Foundation spoke to the group who came together to celebrate Save the Koala month and pledge ongoing support to actions to gain changes in legislation to protect the koala and its habitat.
It is unconsionable that both DTMR and Logan City believe that a future road though this properties - and others - is in the best interests of the community.
The KOALA ARMY NEEDS US ALL. ENLISTING is easy.
Support this action from Australian Koala Foundation. Go to the following linked page https://www.savethekoala.com/koala-army/send-letter and using information provided there, send a letter to your politicians. Phone them also for extra emphasis. Spread the word with your friends and family. Let them know you are joining the Koala Army to ask for a Koala Protection Act. This is especially inportant as our current legislation and policies have failed and will continue to fail to protect the koala's essential habitat.
It is particularly worrying that big business has had the government's ear and through COAG there are plans to give the EPBC Act 'powers' to state governments.
You might also like to go to the koala army shop to purchase a dog tag or army tee shirt?
Bag It is a film by Suzan Beraza, which looks at the very real problem of plastic consumption in society. However, unlike other anti-plastic pics of this calibre, Bag It manages to convey its point effectively by appealing to a broad audience. You want to do your bit for the environment, but it's often easier not to think about it.
Deborah Tabart OAM, CEO of Australian Koala Foundation will spend the morning of Save the Koala Day, this Friday 28 September visiting Ms Barbara Robinson, a local Berrinba resident concerned about the potential loss of Koala habitat around her property - as a result of a new road.
Ms Robinson will be presented with a Koala Habitat Atlas Map of her surrounding area. Deborah believes the map will justify Ms Robinson's argument in her bid to not only protect her personal property from fragmentation but to protect the immense amount of Koala habitat in surrounding areas which are under considerable threat from powerlines and urban expansion. Ms. Tabart – The Koala Woman – says this is a classic example of where Government maps are wrong and the developers are just allowed to bulldoze their way though sensitive habitats.
"Government maps say the land is not worth protecting, but I challenge Minister for the Environment; Andrew Powell, to show me why this road should go ahead" said Ms. Tabart.
Read AKF media release here. 
save_the_koala_day_deborahs_footsteps26-09-2012.pdf
Read more about Deborah Tabart – The Koala Woman
Sign on tree above indicates that this particular tree is favoured by resident koalas and is marked by scats and tracks ie koala poo under and many scratch marks on tree trunk. Book Tracks, Scats and Other Traces is an indispensable tool for bushwalkers, naturalists, students, zoologists, and anyone wanting a better understanding of Australia's unique mammal fauna. Details here.
Protecting and preserving our habitats and ecosystems is essential to the survival of all wildlife. Every acre left unexploited safeguards wildlife that desperately needs our help to survive. The role of private lands has now become an integral part of the solution, and private landholders with a concern for wildlife and habitat protection are in the unique and important position to make a very real contribution to conservation efforts across the country. Read more about donating your land here.
It is unfortunate that planning for Logan and South East Queensland has happened - and is still happening - before sufficient data is known about biodiversity values. What is worse is that an imaginary line drawn on a map such as in SEQ Reginal Plan 2009-2031 and Connecting SEQ 2031 could lead to such extreme fragmentation of the landscape sliced and diced by roads without provision for wildlife that local extinction of many species will be inevitable.
LACA is a member of the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative a landscape-scale conservation corridor that stretches from the Grampians in Victoria to far north Queensland.
The World Bank has published an educational graphic explaining the main challenges faced by biodiversity conservation efforts, as well as the value of biodiversity for humankind.The infographic presents species decline rates, main threats to biodiversity, why biodiversity matters, and signs of hope, which derive from the declaration of protected areas around the world and private sector investments in biodiversity.
Click on image aside to see infographic.
Biodiversity conservation, protecting vulnerable landscapes and sustaining livelihoods in developing countries are all projects to receive funding from World Bank.
Overexploitation, habitat destruction, introduced invasive species all contribute to loss of biodiversity - worldwide - and especially in SEQ South East Queenland - a biodiversity hotspot.
Clearing greenfield areas to replace with human settlement preceived needs - housing, roads, hard infrastructure items will destroy the values that draw people to SEQ.
We are paving paradise to put up a parking lot in the words of Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.
A healthy functioning ecosystem depends on the long term survival of the species which have adapted to live in the area. Maintaining these healthy ecosystems is esssential for human health and well being.
Bushland areas and wetlands provide more than visual amenity. Clean air, clean water and productive soils with their living creatures provide the comfortable liveability of our human places.
At a local level LACA has been alerted to proposed changes to extend the urban footprint in SEQ. This is alarming and LACA's immediate response has been to send a letter to the Premier, and Deputy-Premier Hon. Jeff Seeney MP Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. Our already endangered koala could face further threats.
Read our letter here.Amendments-to-SEQRegionalPlan_Sept9-2012__letter.pdf231.33 KB09/09/2012, 18:41
Which wildlife group would endorse government policy to cull Flying Foxes - even as a last resort?
Queensland Bat Advocacy and campaign group Don't Shoot Bats certainly does not. Speaking for the Don't Shoot Bats campaign, Dr Carol Booth condemned the move as retrograde, anti-conservation and cruel and remarked on the irony of releasing the statement on National Threatened Species Day. Grey-headed and Spectacled flying-foxes are listed as vulnerable under national environmental laws.
LACA cannot agree when the Environment Minister says he is taking a 'balanced' approach. Species are listed as threatened when their future is in the balance, so what is balanced about shooting them? There is nothing balanced about sanctioned cruelty.
Great suffering will result from the re-introduction of shooting: it is inevitable that some of those shot will die slowly of their wounds, and young deprived of their mothers will die of thirst or starvation.
Fruit growers have cost-effective alternative methods of crop protection. Most do the right thing and protect their crop by nets and other non-lethal means. It should be expected of all.
Just three months ago the Queensland Agriculture Minister said 'It's important every Queenslander understands animal cruelty is never acceptable.' See his statement here.
Read Shooting threatened flying-foxes legalised on Threatened Species Day media release here.
, Policies and Campaigns Manager, Wildlife Queensland reports that shooting has been demonstrated to be ineffective and Horticultural experts advise that netting is the only effective method to prevent significant economic loss.
"Killing listed species, particularly when population numbers are not known with any certainty, is a major concern. Where will it stop? What will be next?" Read Wildlife Queensland here
You can help by completing online survey and writing to your local council and state representative.
We can also become more informed of issues relating to threatened species.
This is an opportunity to comment. What will be the impact with culling policies for fruit growers now introduced?
Click on image to left to complete survey online or phone 132523
Biosecurity Queensland is calling on members of the general public to participate in an online survey about flying foxes. The survey aims to gain a better understanding of public opinions, attitudes and knowledge of flying foxes and possible flying fox management options.
Due to the number of Hendra virus incidents in recent years, some communities have become more aware of the presence of flying foxes and the viruses that can be carried by these animals.
In areas where dispersal of flying foxes has either been proposed or has occurred, there has also been some concern about possible increased virus excretion from flying foxes as a result of dispersal.
Survey link from this page and research link here
Hendra virus - the facts is a balanced report from tourism interests in Port Douglas
This is an opportunity to comment. Will there be a measurable increase with culling policies for fruit growers now introduced.
Click on image to left to complete survey online or phone 132523
Biosecurity Queensland is calling on members of the general public to participate in an online survey about flying foxes. The survey aims to gain a better understanding of public opinions, attitudes and knowledge of flying foxes and possible flying fox management options.
Due to the number of Hendra virus incidents in recent years, some communities have become more aware of the presence of flying foxes and the viruses that can be carried by these animals.
In areas where dispersal of flying foxes has either been proposed or has occurred, there has also been some concern about possible increased virus excretion from flying foxes as a result of dispersal.
Survey link from this page and research link here
Hendra virus - the facts is a balanced report from tourism interests in Port Douglas
This factsheet from CAIRNS REGIONAL COUNCIL is also very informative and busts 10 BAT MYTHS
The announcement on Threatened Species Day of a permit to kill flying-foxes is not well received by concerned wildlife groups and animal welfare groups. It is unbelievable spin by Environment Minister Andrew Powell that "This is about giving greater control to farmers over managing their crops while striking a balance with animal welfare and conservation."
Humane shooting [at night], agreed limits with quotas per species, no impact on the long term survival of the four flying-fox species, DMPs only issued as an absolute last resort.
The Australasian Bat Society (ABS) condemned the move, saying that it is worrying that native species can be considered as pests and subjected to inhumane methods for control. The ABS does not support the shooting of flying foxes in any situation.
Dr Booth, a biologist from the Don't Shoot the Bats Campaign, says flying foxes are nocturnal feeders and most shootings are likely to occur at night. You can't patrol an entire orchard all night with a shotgun. Proper netting, with tiny holes, is a much more humane and far cheaper solution.
The correct netting is essential as many flying foxes die an agonising death trapped in loosely draped black throw-over netting . There were more than a million gray-headed flying foxes on the east coast last century but numbers had fallen to about 300,000.
Each bat spreads 60,000 to 90,000 seeds in our national forests so without these guys our forests are in big trouble.
Read about importance of flying-foxes here and damage mitigation permits here both on EHP WEBSITE.
Fruit growers may be happy but non compliance of any policy is usually up to community being the watchdog. The future of our flying-foxes and forests they pollinate are now in jeopardy.
According to Minister Powell these new laws have been developed with input from growers, conservationists and animal welfare advocates and he is confident they've got the balance right. this writer is very sceptical of that spin.
Learn more abouts bats at Australasian Bat Society and their facebook page
September is month allocated to Save the Koala Month, the annual awareness and fundraising initiative of the Australian Koala Foundation AKF. This year Donation Boxes will be on counters for you to donate at your local Newsagents, CUA branches and other outlets across Australia. However, this won't be enough, KOALAS, AKF and LACA need your help. We need people to order a donation box and place on a counter at your work, local gym or school.
Alternatively you can hold a fundraising event to help save koalas. Contact The AKF for advice and support.
All funds raised during the month of September will go directly to the instatement of the 'National Koala Act', a one-page piece of legislation which basically says:
"You cannot harm it, you cannot harm its joey and you cannot harm its habitat."
The AKF believes this is the only way to fully protect the koala and to stop the decline of koala numbers in the wild. LACA agrees that without protective legislation, koala populations will decline. Management Plans alone will not work as they include offsetting and mitigation. Great policy must be supported with legislation.
YOU CAN HELP by joining the AKF KOALA ARMY and by writing a letter. This page https://www.savethekoala.com/koala-army/send-letter has a sample letter and contact details for state and federal ministers. You can also talk to your local members.
We must all do our bit to keep a healthy koala population in the wild. Survival in a zoo must not be the fate of our national icon the koala.