Noosa District Landcare members with Phil Moran

Landcare – it’s all about nurturing and cherishing the land and making sure it’s in a fit state for our descendants. It began in Australia in 1989 as a collaboration between government, business and the community to tackle some serious environmental concerns – erosion, salinity, and loss of biodiversity to name just a few. Now there are over 4500 Landcare groups, with over 60,000 people involved in Landcare activities in Queensland alone.

The Noosa and District Landcare Group – based in Pomona in the Noosa hinterland – has been around since 1991 and has some impressive statistics of its own.

With 28 staff it’s the second largest employer in town, and it has well over 150 volunteers.

Their work seems to cover the spectrum of on-ground environmental repair work. Water quality monitoring, revegetation, weed control, Greenhouse abatement measures, coastal rehabilitation, nurseries for propagating native plants (120,000 last year) and education – Noosa Landcare does it all and more.

Phil Moran is the Natural Resource Manager and is passionate about the bush as well as involving the community in its protection.

One current project is running a Green Army programme, under the auspices of the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. It provides work in local National Parks for 14 unemployed people, repairing flood damage and removing weeds.

Phil sees much value in this type of project.

“There’s the obvious environmental benefit,” said Phil.

“Not only that, it’s better for the community to have more people in work, and the value for individuals is enormous.

“Long term unemployed people develop more confidence and better self-esteem. Younger people gain a work ethic. For all, there’s an opportunity to acquire valuable skills.”

Contracting services out to landholders is another part of Noosa Landcare operations.

There is a consultancy service, and an experienced crew who deal with weeds, plant the trees and make sure they keep growing.

“These are the guys and girls who do the hard work,” said Phil. “They’re out there in the heat and rain helping property owners repair the land.”

Phil himself began with Noosa Landcare as a volunteer in 2000. He lives on a 13 hectare bush block, where he’s done much revegetation and pulled lots of weeds. He was the first in the old Noosa Shire to have his property covered by a Voluntary Conservation Agreement, thus protecting it in perpetuity.

Noosa Landcare has water care firmly in its sights too.

With financial help from the Federal Government and Sunshine Coast Council, they’re running the Cootharaba Community Erosion Awareness Project – this is a detailed study of sediment, water and nutrients in Lake Cootharaba, Kin Kin Creek and the Upper Noosa River.

Solid data about threats to the waterways is essential to guarantee their long term protection.

The project has a multi-disciplinary team with people from universities, government bodies and community groups all contributing their energy and expertise. They’ll be using the latest technology to pinpoint sources of pollution, and relying on a lot of well-trained and well-supported volunteers.

Then there’ll be workshops to inform the community, look at the research and help prioritise management issues.

Projects like this are all part of Noosa Landcare’s multi-faceted approach to caring for our patch of country.

They offer education programmes – learning the difference between native and exotic plant species is popular – and run talks and walks for schoolchildren, even the tiny pre-schoolers, as well as presenting at universities, State Government agencies and community group meetings.

Noosa Landcare coordinates the Community Nature Conservation Programme. Residents from the coast to the hinterland gather each weekend at their local bushland reserve for a working bee, learning much about local plants and animals in the process.

The group has won many awards, and in 2010 were themselves sponsors for the Conservation for Biodiversity Award at SCEC’s Froggies, the Sunshine Coast Environment Awards. (The winner was Beverley Hand for the Bunya Dreaming Festival.)

The Sunshine Coast Environmental Council (SCEC) is the umbrella organisation of more than 50 community groups. In this issue of ECO, we feature the Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group and its role in supplying a vital asset – clean water.

Caring for the Catchment

“Water water everywhere  …” – not in Australia unfortunately, this is the dry continent, water worries are predicted to worsen with climate change and managing this most precious of resources is a must.

Much of the Sunshine Coast relies on Lake Baroon, also known as the Baroon Pocket Dam, for its water supply.

The dam, with a catchment area of 74 sq kilometres, was built on Obi Obi Creek in 1988. Big problems soon surfaced. Excessive clearing had removed protective vegetation from the banks of many streams and gullies in the catchment. As a result, large quantities of sediment and nutrients from built up areas as well as farmland found their way into the lake with dire consequences for water quality – an outbreak of the potentially toxic blue green algae in 1990.

Lake Baroon

Another outbreak in 1991 prompted action, and community members got together to set up the Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group (LBCCG) in the following year – one of the first catchment care groups in Queensland.

Only a small percentage of land in the catchment is “locked up” for conservation, so not much can be done to restore the environmental health of the catchment unless farmers and other private land owners are on side.

Developing good relationships with landholders is crucial, according to LBCCG President Peter Stevens.

“We need a proactive approach in catchment protection. Our current policy is to identify the most pressing problem areas and target landholders accordingly.

“We supply funding and resources to help landholders with on ground projects such as revegetating riparian areas, weed removal, fencing waterways to keep cattle away, helping with dairy effluent disposal, and hardening stock laneways and dairy aprons.

“Many of the farmers in the catchment operate on slim profit margins, they recognise how their land can become degraded, but need financial help for the remedial work which we promote.”

Funding is a perennial problem for community groups. SEQ water, the government body which manages catchments and water storage areas, saw the advantages of working closely with a well supported community group such as LBCCG, and in 2007 agreed to fund a ten year programme enabling the group to employ a full-time Catchment Coordinator and to subsidise on ground projects.

“Sometimes we can fully fund a project, “said Mr Stevens.

“We’ve found that once farmers become involved in a particular project, they tend to continue with other projects which are also beneficial for catchment health.

“More and more farmers realise the value of a partnership with LBCCG – as well as good environmental outcomes, our on ground projects help farmers become more efficient, thus more profitable.

“For example, clean watering points for dairy cattle reduce stream bank erosion as well as reduce contamination of milk from mud.”

“While we target particular farmers, we also find that others are voluntarily approaching us as the benefits of catchment care become clear.

“We make it easy for land owners by minimising paperwork for project funding and looking after documentation and accountability.”

LBCCG has completed almost 100 individual water quality improvement projects over the years.

The group also helps land owners develop property plans.

President Peter Stevens (left) with Catchment Coordinator Mark Amos. Photo by John Burrows

“We advocate a whole-farm approach to managing the business, taking into account economic, social and environmental factors. We’re committed to supporting large landholders who want to keep their soil and nutrients in the paddocks where they belong,” said Mr Stevens.

Controlling weeds in the catchment is important too – LBCCG is working with the CSIRO in developing a biological control programme to deal with mistflower, potentially a major threat in riparian areas.

Community involvement is also part of business for LBCCG, operating a Green Jobs Corp programme which provides local unemployed youth with work that gives them bush regeneration skills and helps them gain a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management. They’re done environmental work on three properties so far.

LBCCG operate from offices in a refurbished house on a 40 hectare property adjoining Lake Baroon. The property was purchased by Seqwater, who provided the house as well as guaranteeing funding for the group – the sort of partnership which LBCCG hopes will be a template for the public utility to work with other community catchment care groups.

For more information about LBCCG, contact  Catchment Coordinator Mark Amos on 5494 3775 or visit the Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group website.

Decisions in the 80s gave the green light to high rise development

Survey after survey has confirmed the sentiment of most Sunshine Coast residents — “We don’t want another Gold Coast.

With some predictions that the population here may reach a half a million by 2030, restraining the aspirations of developers and property marketeers is important for residents, and there are many examples of how the community has worked to prevent the urbanisation of the Coast from top to bottom.

One group of Coolum residents gathered in 2004 and set up Development Watch Inc, its spur to action being an inappropriate development proposed for Mount Coolum. They were perhaps inspired by the bulk of Mt Coolum overlooking this coastal suburb. The prominent peak is now protected as National Park instead of hosting a major development involving chairlifts and restaurants – this was an odious proposal of the late 80s defeated by an irate and determined community.

Coolum itself is far from being the sleepy village that attracted so many who live there. It suffers the ignominy of high rise on the beach as a result of shoddy decision-making by Maroochy Council in the 80s. Now it’s faced with fast-growing industrial and commercial precincts and expanding suburbia.

Development Watch fights to keep it all at bay by making sure that the community is well informed and has a strong voice in making its views known.

The group has about 50 members, they meet in Coolum bi-monthly and take a close look at any applications for development that are inappropriate not just for the Coolum area but also for the wider Sunshine Coast.

Careful monitoring of development proposals is very important, to make sure that they’re in line with the various State Acts and Policies and the planning schemes of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, and also compatible with community aspirations. Members are adept at reading and understanding the fine print and negotiating the bureaucratic maze.

They keep a keen eye on Council’s website and PD Online – the Council’s self-help service – and pick up development applications of interest at the application stage.  They then monitor the application’s progress through the system and will usually know when the white signs go up.? The group involves the wider community with letter box drops, by getting petitions signed and holding public meetings. They formulate detailed submissions to local and state government to make sure that community views are represented.
Their involvement may not end even when Council rejects an application. Developers will often appeal the decision to the Planning and Environment Court.  Development Watch may then elect to co-respond with Council to provide them with support and to reinforce the community view.  Current applications now before the court range from an application for commercial offices in a residential area at Coolum Beach to a 950 dwelling residential development at Pacific Paradise.

President Brian Raison says that while the primary aim is preventing inappropriate development in the Coolum area, it’s important to have a regional perspective.

“Any major development proposal north of the Maroochy River could have an adverse impact on Coolum residents and businesses.  Even residential developments further afield can affect parking, traffic congestion and liveability in Coolum,” he said.

“Take for example the proposed Caloundra South development – the Coast’s population jumps by 50,000 if it goes ahead. Creating a city the size of Gladstone so close to existing towns will really have a serious effect on liveability along the coast and in the popular hinterland towns.”

Unsustainable population growth is the key threat, according to Mr Raison. With a State Government determined to accommodate huge population increases in South East Queensland, and much the same outlook at the national level (both the Federal Government and Opposition seem to favour a forecast population 60% increase by 2050, which outstrips all other industrialised nations) what’s the best way deal with this?

“For starters, the Federal Government has to be convinced to have a population policy,” said Mr Raison.

“It has given no indication as to how it will stop the ever-increasing tide once its absurd target of 35 million by 2050 is reached.  The country’s post-secondary education system needs serious overhaul so that skilled workers for Australia’s future needs are sourced from within, rather than relying on an unacceptable level of immigrants.

“This is an arid country and we will become a net importer of food unless the Federal Government can think beyond the ballot box and can also dampen the drivers of immigration.?“The Federal view is unlikely to change unless the States understand the problem.  I don’t have a positive view of that happening.  Development Watch is focussed on convincing our Council to maintain its publicly stated policy of determining carrying capacity before committing to development.  With the Department of Infrastructure and Planning having the power to impose development on our Council, this conflict may only be resolved in the courts. That is, if our Councillors have the courage to pursue this course of action.”?Development Watch also sees unrestrained tourism growth as a threat to community liveability and well-being.

“We must have tourism, of course, but there is a limit to the number that can be accommodated,” said Mr Raison.

“Tourist blight – the disease that sees the very things that attract tourists to an area destroyed – is a serious concern of ours.  As an example, Council plans to construct a new airport runway.  Accommodating and amusing the increased number of tourists that will be required to justify expenditure on this project will exacerbate this blight.

“Remember, the Queensland Government requires the Sunshine Coast to have, in 20 years time, the same population that the Gold Coast has now.”?We are keen to hear from residents in the Coolum area who would like to assist in ensuring Coolum remains a great place to live and visit.

Phone Brian on 5446 4493 if you would like more information.

More information about Development Watch

The latest community group to become a member of SCEC, PAGE is fighting to protect community members and at the same time playing an active role in reducing carbon emissions on the Sunshine Coast.

PAGE – the useful acronym doubling for the Powerline Action Group Eumundi and People Advocating Green Energy – was formed in 2007 in response to a proposal which threatens the communities west of Eumundi with high voltage powerlines and pylons marching across an idyllic landscape.

What to expect - transmission towers, power lines and their easement cut a swathe through Beerburrum State Forest. Photograph: John Burrows

The proposal comes from Powerlink, the government agency responsible for Queensland’s power transmission network, and involves power lines connecting a present substation at Woolooga, up past Gympie, with a new substation close to Eumundi.

It’s all part of a larger scheme to extend new transmission lines on wide easements the length of the Sunshine Coast. Exact details aren’t readily available, but it’s clear that the scheme will lock the Coast into a carbon dependent future.

Most of the new line from Woolooga is planned to run alongside an existing easement, but it’s the final nine kilometres, running through Eerwah Vale, which will have a profound effect on community and environment.

PAGE has been fighting the proposal from the outset. They make the compelling point that it’s just another large-scale old-world engineering solution to current climate change challenges and argue strongly for alternatives.

Demand management could see power use by many businesses and households reduced by up to 30 per cent. During Brisbane’s water crisis, a public awareness campaign plus regulation resulted in water use being cut dramatically – up to 54 per cent in 18 months. Why not try the same approach with power?

Powerlink also seems to disregard renewable energy. PAGE promoted a plan by Sanctuary Energy Ltd to provide power on the Sunshine Coast using solar thermal generators, a plan which our Transmission Network Service Provider casually dismissed.

PAGE also supports SCEC’s 1000 Solar Roofs Project, a successful community initiative to provide solar panels to roofs on the Sunshine Coast – there are over 800 households signed up at the time of writing, demonstrating the huge potential for renewable energy.

Recognising that political support is vital, PAGE has met with the Minister for Mines & Energy and the Opposition. They also organised a State Election candidate’s forum, held at Eumundi which was very well attended. There was support from the former Noosa Council, and PAGE is planning a presentation to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council for its backing.

PAGE has an informative website, and has held community meetings and information days. Affected residents had the benefit of workshops to help them respond to documents required under the community consultation process – the draft Terms of Reference and recently the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The draft EIS was 1900 pages long and widely seen as being too complex, not to mention daunting in size, for most people to digest.

Community members got together with an environmental scientist and other specialists to respond to the draft EIS, and produced a comprehensive and hard hitting document, concluding that the assessment and the assessment process were fundamentally flawed.

“The draft EIS can be characterised as misleading, incorrect, inadequate and lacking in critical detail,” said PAGE coordinator Graham Smith.

“It clearly lacks any independence in its analysis, conclusions or recommendations.

“Unfortunately, this is consistent with the woeful consultation and poorly detailed studies undertaken by Powerlink and their paid consultants.”

In their response to the draft EIS, PAGE emphasised their desire to one day make clean, sustainable energies a reality in the power profile of the Sunshine Coast and Queensland.

Along with many other crucial issues, the assessment of environmental impacts was seen as totally inadequate.

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly - a local colony faces extinction if Powerlink has its way. Photograph by Jennifer Broomhall

A case in point — the beautiful but endangered Richmond Birdwing Butterfly has only a few small pockets of suitable habitat remaining, and the most northern of these, right in the path of the proposed powerlines, could be compromised if Powerlink gets its way.

Koalas too are set to suffer – a loss of 20 hectares of koala habitat at a time when their numbers in SEQ are plummeting.

Both of these species have special interest for photographer Jennifer Broomhall and husband Fred who live on a property which will be affected if the powerlines come through.

Registered under the Land for Wildlife programme – along with 21 other properties which will be affected – the Broomhall’s block straddles a ridge which is a watershed for the Mary and Maroochy River catchments. There is high plant diversity with areas of riparian rain forest and remnant vine forest.

Koalas are seen (or heard) frequently, thanks in part to koala food trees planted since the couple moved there 32 years ago.

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly occurs there as well, and like the koalas is much photographed. It only has one food source – the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly vine. There’s a fine specimen of the vine on the next door block, unfortunately right in the path of Powerlink’s easement.

The draft EIS recommends that this vine be translocated, even though scientific opinion is adamant that it doesn’t survive replanting. So the local population of the butterfly is doomed if the Powerlink proposal goes ahead.

PAGE has found many deficiencies like this in the draft EIS. With the final EIS due by the end of this year, the group plans to continue campaigning and gaining community support, and intends to lobby the Minister for Mines & Energy highlighting the many inadequacies in the process.

SCEC is the umbrella organisation of more than 50 community groups. In this issue of Eco, we look at a member group from the beleaguered Bribie Island.

Members of the Bribie Island Environmental Protection Association

Rampant development can be a juggernaut that crushes eco-systems in its path, but on Bribie Island a community group is managing to apply the brakes.

The Bribie Island Environmental Protection Association Inc (BIEPA) has been fighting to keep the island’s natural assets safe forever, and has notched up some impressive wins in its 30 year history.

Bribie Island is the only island in Queensland connected by bridge to the mainland, and being close to Brisbane, it is well in the firing line of creeping urbanisation. Housing estates and canal developments have had a huge ecological impact. Much of the interior is a monoculture of sterile pine forest, and a far cry from what artist Ian Fairweather described as Bribie’s “friendly bush” where he painted many masterpieces.

BIEPA’s role in protecting some of this friendly bush has been crucial.

A good example is the preservation of Lot 402. This 37 hectare block of untouched bushland in the island’s south had the highest conservation rating of any block in the Caboolture Shire. It’s a beautiful mosaic of eucalyptus, tea-tree and banksia forest and wallum heath. Then in 1998 a developer persuaded Council to rezone – to change its classification from Open Space to Urban Designation.

Galvanised by a strong community spirit and representing themselves in court, BIEPA lodged a successful appeal with the Planning and Environment Court. Lot 402 was saved from urbanisation, and this year, along with other parts of Bribie totalling 3690 hectares, was gazetted as national park. This took the total area of national park to nearly 10,000 hectares, or about half the area of the island.

Another notable victory involved Buckley’s Hole, a freshwater lake close to the ocean, and one of Queensland’s top birding sites with over 280 species recorded. Just the place for a marina, some thought, until BIEPA managed to have the Hole and surrounding area protected as a conservation park in 1992.

Strong community participation is the key to the BIEPA’s effectiveness, according to President Ian Bell.

“We have over 240 members who are passionate, determined and contribute all sorts of skills, such as technical expertise, which has given us credibility and some influence with government ministers and bureaucrats.

“We also link with other organisations including the Bribie Island Community Association and Friends of Woorim Beach on issues of common concern.

“BIEPA’s vision for Bribie is a special natural area where a vibrant and cohesive community can live in harmony with the wonders of our national parks and marine parks and Ramsar areas.

“A community-led approach to development and proper community consultation is essential if we are to achieve this.”

As part of community engagement, the group sponsors a wildlife carer on the island, as well as environmental awards to local schools.

BIEPA’s regular meetings often feature a guest speaker. Recently dugong authority Dr Janet Lanyon gave a talk on the plight of this threatened creature. Where Pumicestone Passage was once home to huge herds, now a mere dozen remain, and they may soon be as impossible to sight in the Passage as the mermaid, the legendary creature described by early European sailors when seeing a dugong from a distance.

Harassed by speeding boats and jet skis, dugongs face a major threat from the algae lyngbya majuscula, commonly known as fireweed or mermaid’s hair. It’s a toxin best avoided by swimmers, and can blanket sea grass beds, the dugong’s food source.

There was an unprecedented outbreak of the deadly algae in Pumicestone Passage last year, with Council harvesting 6000 tonnes and trucking it to landfill sites. It’s thought that high water temperatures combined with massive nutrient loads – phosphorous, nitrogen, iron and dissolved organic matter, are responsible.

Many more threats to Bribie’s environment keep BIEPA busy.

Coastal erosion, especially on the southern side of the ocean beach, is a significant issue, and likely to increase as climate change generates rising sea levels and more storm surges.

As part of the SEQ Water Grid Plan, Caboolture Council last year began the Bribie Bores project, which involves extracting fresh water from underground aquifers. Community consultation was zero and no environmental impact studies were done.  BIEPA has identified risks of seawater intrusion and lowering of the water table, with possible devastating consequences for plant communities and associated fauna of Bribie’s delicate wetlands.

Another disturbing proposal involves a desalination plant on the eastern shore. BIEPA is concerned with high tension power pylons creating an ugly blight on Bribie’s holiday skyline, and the effect of concentrated saline discharge on marine life.

Challenges for the future revolve around Moreton Council’s Town Plan, which doesn’t effectively recognise Bribie’s unique features, according to Ian Bell.

“Moreton’s growth rate of 3.3 per cent is a real concern. If maintained it will cause the population to double within 21 years,” he said.

“If environmental impacts double as well, how can we retain dugongs and other iconic marine species such as turtles in Pumicestone Passage?

“Exponential population growth must be curbed if we are to successfully manage environmental threats in the region,” said Mr Bell.