need for reserve for rare Sunshine Coast birds

I have today written the following letter to Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson about the need to protect former cane farmland as a reserve for rare and threatened bird species in the region. Anyone wishing to do the same can email Mayor Jamieson at mail@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au. Mayor Jamieson, I draw your attention to the urgent need for the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to give consideration to the acquisition of privately owned former cane farmland for environment purposes. There presently exists on the market an excellent property on River Road, Yandina Creek, that would make an ideal wildlife reserve. Several rare and threatened bird species have adapted to the grasslands and wetlands created in areas once planted with cane. Many of these species once occupied the wallum heaths and swamplands that originally occurred in the region. We have a unique opportunity to restore much of the fauna that formerly frequented the Maroochy River flatlands. My understanding is that the council has dismissed suggestions for the property acquisition in River Road because the land is not natural and is human-modified. There are numerous examples around Australia and the world of excellent wildlife reserves being created from human-modified land. There is no reason to believe that cannot be the case here. In the property presently for sale in River Road, I have recorded rare and difficult-to-find birds such as Eastern Grass Owl, Lewin’s Rail, Spotless Crake, Brolga, Black-necked Stork, Black-tailed Native-hen and Australian Painted Snipe. There has been some media coverage of this issue: http://tinyurl.com/q5r2nc9 I have also written about some of the damaging developments that have taken place in the area: http://tinyurl.com/olnqwse Unfortunately, my representations to your council’s environmental officers have been ignored. I hope you will give urgent consideration to council acquiring the property available for sale before the opportunity is lost. Greg Roberts =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================