Bulldozing the habitat of endangered species in NSW

"The Australian Conservation Foundation is alleging thousands of hectares of endangered species habitat has been illegally cleared in south-west New South Wales between 2021 and 2025."

"Experts say land clearing rates are unlikely to be reduced without education and effective enforcement..A lot more land is being cleared than grown back or restored which is unusual for a wealthy, developed country like ours."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/mallee-land-clearing-conservation-foundation-endangered-species/105098584
#biodiversity #EndangeredSpecies #NSW #LandClearing #farmers #landholders #crime #wildlife #birds #ClimateBreakdown #EPBCAct #regulation #enforcement #CostofDoingBusiness #extractivism

Conservation foundation alleges illegal land clearing on NSW properties
By Timu King

The Australian Conservation Foundation says vulnerable species like the malleefowl and pink cockatoo are suffering a "death by a thousand cuts" due to land clearing.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/mallee-land-clearing-conservation-foundation-endangered-species/105098584

Action on illegal deforestation and land clearing - somewhere
A Brazilian judge has ordered the seizure of private lands where forests have been illegally razed.

"A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed." >>
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/brazil-judge-deforestation-land-seizure
#deforestation #LandClearing #crimes #governance #biodiversity #Australia #NativeForests

The family farm - years of 'bashing and burning'

"I bashed the trees down and burnt everything … I was a bash and burner."

"It took about 200 years to transform a once wild island into an agricultural powerhouse,
farmers raised to conquer the land; slashing native vegetation to make way for agriculture.Much of King Island's native vegetation has been cleared for farmland."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-21/king-island-environmental-destruction-farmer-conservationist/104743516
#extinction #farming #FamilyFarm #Australia #LandClearing #culture #SettlerSociety #machinery #SlashandBurn #deforestation #meat #biodiversity

Quintessentially Australian:

"Bulldozers made quick work of the Murray Darling Basin landscape."
"Bulldozers flattened trees and grasses which were then burned"
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/satellite-photos-reveal-disturbing-change-to-iconic-aussie-landscape-065657701.html
#biodiversity #EPBCAct #nature #conservation #LandClearing #MurrayDarlingBasin #agribusinesses #PropertyDevelopers #governance #destruction #NSW #Australia #climate #incineration

"Digging dams in sensitive environments"

"A commercial farming company (Green Leaf Australia Group) and one of its directors have together been fined close to $300,000, for constructing and using dams without approval and impacting a "nationally significant" freshwater wetland in northern New South Wales."

"...The court found that some of the offences involved removing vegetation and clearing land, which caused harm to the environment, including nationally significant freshwater wetlands listed as endangered ecological communities.

"It's not just the environmental harm but also the Aboriginal cultural harm that's occurred though this offending, which Magistrate Scott Nash described as 'reckless and motivated for financial gain,'" Ms Stockley said."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-05/300k-fine-for-green-leaf-farming-company-and-director-over-dam/105006882
#wetlands #ecosystems #water #biodiversity #Ramsar #conservation #NSW #MidNorthCoast #ClybuccaAboriginalArea #harm #landclearing #irrigation #FinancialGain #extractivism

'Last chance to see' tourism: See rare or endangered species before they disappear
Bird-tracking apps turning sightings into stampedes
Chasing online alerts with a lot of fossil fuel.
"Almost one in six Australian birds are threatened with extinction."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-15/tourism-industry-twitchers-birdwatching/104919868
#birds #birdwatching #twitchers #overtourism #LoggingImpacts #landclearing #extinction #biodiversity #conservation #TheDrive #SUVs #Fossilfuels #cats #pets

Confronting devastating destruction

"Since Europeans arrived in Australia, much of the country has become severely degraded."

"Around 40% of our forests and 99% of grasslands have been cut down and cleared, and much of what remains is under threat. Thousands of ecological communities, plants and animal species are threatened with extinction."

"Australia remains a global logging and deforestation hotspot. We have the world’s worst record for mammal extinctions and lead the world in arresting climate and environment protesters. To top it off, a recent study estimated more than 9,000 native Australian animals, mostly invertebrates, have gone extinct since European arrival. That’s between one and three species every week."
>>
https://theconversation.com/in-2025-lets-make-it-game-on-not-game-over-for-our-precious-natural-world-245761
#LoggingImpacts #LandClearing #deforestation #mining #degradation #extractivism #SettlerSociety #coal #climate #FossilFuels #BiodiversityCrisis #extinction #EcologicalGrief #destruction #conservation #change #Australia #NYE

Discovery on satellite image halts Aussie construction site amid claims of illegal #landclearing #deforestation https://au.news.yahoo.com/discovery-on-satellite-image-halts-aussie-construction-site-amid-claims-of-illegal-land-clearing-234753705.html

'Farming'
"NSW farmer fined record $1m for wiping out critical koala habitat for private airstrip larger than Sydney airport. Ronald Greentree and his company Auen Grain cleared 1,262 hectares of land home to 30 threatened species, NSW government says."

"The 1,262 hectares (3,120 acres) of native vegetation cleared included critical habitat for 30 threatened species, including the koala and Glossy Black Cockatoo, to make way for a private airstrip, crops and cattle yards...Greentree has a history of destroying biodiversity."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/29/nsw-farmer-fined-land-clearning-koala-habitat
#NSW #LandClearing #farming #cattle #ThreatendSpecies #koalas #harm #crime #biodiversity #extinction makers

The Nature Positive deal: “The barbarians flexed their muscles and that was that.”

"Environment minister agreed detail with Greens but the PM intervened after lobbying from WA premier and miners. But sadly, until now, we have not been able to land an agreement, because it seems the miners and the loggers in this place have more influence than the environment minister, and that’s a real shame...The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which Plibersek’s bill would have amended, would have helped repair “a completely broken system”.
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/29/tanya-plibersek-deal-on-nature-laws-was-overruled-by-anthony-albanese
#Biodiversity #governance #NaturePositive #NatureNegative #NSWLogging #loggingIndustry #mining #deforestation #landclearing #extractivism #environment #laws #Australia #law

Approximately 39.3 million hectares (30.4% or almost one third) of Australia’s Eucalypt Woodlands have been destroyed since European settlement, mostly in the southern parts of Australia.

Much of the 89.8 million hectares of Eucalypt Woodland that remain have been degraded by high grazing pressure, inappropriate fire regimes and weeds. These threats all contribute to the loss of large, old trees, and can prevent younger trees from becoming large and old enough to form hollows.

Protection of the remaining areas of Eucalypt Woodland will allow the animals on this poster (and many other animal species that use hollows in this habitat type) to survive and thrive into the future.

'Tree hollows are animal homes’ is a series of designs inspired by the relationship between the many Australian animal species that use hollows and the trees that provide them.

This design is available on posters, art prints and other goodies from https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/164719392

Bulk orders of the detailed poster design can be arranged by emailing paula.peeters@paperbarkwriter.com

A simplified version of this design is also available as a Organic Cotton Tea Towel from https://www.paperbarkwriter.com/product/tree-hollows-are-animal-homes-3-organic-cotton-tea-towel/ or from my Beechmont Market stall.

Thanks to Prof Don Butler for providing the vegetation map and data.

Read more about this design here https://www.paperbarkwriter.com/tree-hollows-are-animal-homes-3-eucalypt-woodland-south-eastern-australia/

Locals
"Conviction of a Dundurrabin
landholder in Coffs Harbour Local Court on 30 August, for damaging vegetation and unlawfully clearing more than two hectares of Chaelundi State Conservation Area, northwest of Dorrigo.The Court heard that between January and November 2021, the landholder unlawfully cleared vegetation with a bulldozer, felled mature trees, and extended a fence line into Chaelundi State Conservation Area to increase his grazing area." >>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/landholders-urged-to-respect-neighbouring-conservation-areas

Boambee Headland
to remove both a picnic table and bench. “The unauthorised repositioning of the table setting – and the laying of some 20 square metres of mulch and gravel at the cliff site – led to environmental damage in an Endangered Ecological Community of Themeda grassland.” >>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/surfers-in-wrangle-with-council-over-bench-move

The Nambucca Valley Conservation Association
has lodged an objection to scheduled logging in Little Newry State Forest (SF), claiming it is home to key koala habitat and that planning requirements have not been fulfilled.>>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/forest-campaigners-rally-for-little-newry-ahead-of-logging-start-date
#Conservation #NPs #LandClearing #filibusterism #Nambucca #biodiversity #MidNorthCoast #NSWLogging #LittleNewry #koalas #biodiversity

Study finds environment laws are failing to curb nature destruction in Northern Australia

"New research led by The University of Queensland has added to the case for federal nature law reform after finding existing laws in Queensland and the Northern Territory are not working to protect nature or curb deforestation."

“The results were very different for the federal environment law, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act or EPBC Act."
>>
https://biodiversitycouncil.org.au/news/study-finds-environment-laws-are-failing-to-curb-nature-destruction-in-northern-australia
#EPBCAct #laws #biodiversity #conservation #governance #failure #enforcement #LandClearing #Deforestation #meat #EUDR

“When it ends up being cheaper to illegally clear and provide an inadequate ‘offset’ as remediation rather than follow the law, it’s a clear sign the law is broken and needs urgent reform,” says Dr Megan Evans on #Australia’s environmental laws. FOI docs released on the #JamLand case from 2017 involving Senior Liberal Party MP Angus Taylor #Auspol #threatenedecosystems #grasslands #landClearing #Environment
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/sep/09/angus-taylor-jam-land-endangered-grasslands-ntwnfb

Who can clear the most land (biodiversity) for beef Australia or Brazil

"US demand for Aussie beef soars 75 per cent, as drought leaves US herd at lowest level since 1950s.. What's happening, is the United States is importing beef from other nations like Brazil, which is undermining the value of Australian beef."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-27/beef-trade-with-china-slow-but-united-states-buying-big/104136078

"Land clearing: two million hectares of Queensland forest destroyed in five years, new analysis shows. Research finds almost all land cleared in the state between 2016 and 2021 in areas where threatened species habitat ‘likely to occur’."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/06/queensland-land-clearing-deforestation-data-analysis
#Meat #beef #Australia #LandClearing #Amazon #climate #biodiversity

'Repair' much of the past two centuries of degradation
Australia’s environment could be fixed and threatened species saved for just 0.3% of GDP

The "Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists estimates $7.3bn a year for 30 years could avoid most extinctions, repair soils and restore rivers."

"Australia’s spectacular and unique landscapes and beloved wildlife were a drawcard for domestic and international tourists alike, bringing billions of dollars into the Australian economy every year ... Many Australians did not realise that “all of this is genuinely under threat”.
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/24/australia-environment-endangered-species-fixed-gdp
#biodiversity #BiodiversityCrisis #ExtinctionCrisis #degradation #NatureCrisis #conservation #repair #environmentallaws #ClimateAction #Australia #LandClearing #sprawl

10,000 trees illegally cut down as Aussies fall for firewood scam https://au.news.yahoo.com/10000-trees-illegally-cut-down-as-aussies-fall-for-firewood-scam-073123146.html https://au.news.yahoo.com/10000-trees-illegally-cut-down-as-aussies-fall-for-firewood-scam-073123146.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcHBsZS5uZXdzLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABXAwHd-MenWbUGjHIsPuNCL9iOhJsz4lIer8bR0x-d79qV33WFQntZIYjn7Zsu5JYMZ2384Ta0lPeKLLd7wVwXcGH5vuj7iP0MlXAy2pPMdeveLZJWNlj0HZ9Xj0rYlIJkd4La82T5iIWECJwvdkOM30VuCO5MOPq56gIKb4y5g

“With nearly 10,000 trees destroyed last year alone, the impact is far-reaching, threatening the survival of native species and damaging irreplaceable Aboriginal cultural sites.”

The new Koala Burger
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J908bP2vHoo&t=2s

McDonald's: Take deforestation off the menu
"In the heart of Australia, forests are vanishing at an alarming rate – an area equivalent to a football field is destroyed every two minutes and a native animal is killed every second. That's the grim reality of Australia's deforestation crisis, fueled mainly by the beef industry, with precious forest and bushland destroyed at an alarming rate."

"130,000 hectares of endangered koala habitat destroyed each year for beef production.

https://www.greenpeace.org.au/act/mcdonalds
#deforestation #LandClearing #Biodiversity #koala #meat #beef #Australia

NSW government says state’s biodiversity ‘in crisis’ as it pledges first steps to reverse decline
"Government will also overhaul state laws after Guardian Australia uncovered serious problems with biodiversity offsets scheme."

"Henry’s review found the state’s environment laws would not succeed without substantial changes and warned half of the species under threat in NSW were on course to become extinct within the next 100 years"

End native forest logging and land clearing now!
>>.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/17/nsw-government-says-states-biodiversity-in-crisis-as-it-pledges-first-steps-to-reverse-decline
>>
https://1earthmedia.com/minns-responds-to-dr-henrys-biodiversity-conservation-review/
#Biodiversity #conservation #restoration #ecosystems #destruction #NSWlogging #offsets #LandClearing #NaturePositive #transparency #NSW #law #legislation #extinction #BiodiversityCrisis #EndNativeForestLogging