David Norris, Pottsville.
I wish to respond to Ms Lorraine Vass’ recent letter. Contrary to her experience, many koala experts claim that koalas are vulnerable to stress-related disease as a result of human-related disturbance. A paper by Dr Steve Phillips will be released later this year which provides evidence that stress-related disease skyrockets in koalas living at the human interface. His recent peer-reviewed paper on the aversive behaviour of koalas to noise has established a link between the impacts of noise and koala death.
According to Pottsville and District Men’s Shed minutes, in 2014 the Lot 3 Centennial Drive site was the preferred option of council and P&DMS. Why was there no problem in regard to impacts on threatened species and their habitat then, but there is now?
It appears that Ms Vass has been provided with misinformation by council regarding the Lot 3 site. There are many inconsistencies between the council report for the September 15 council meeting and the Landmark Flora and Fauna Assessment for the Pottsville Pre-school extensions on the Lot 3 site.
The council report claims: ‘The proposed alternative location on Lot 3 DP1062338 Centennial Drive at Pottsville does not offer any ecological advantage’. The Landmark FFA provides evidence and conclusions that completely contradict this assumption.
The council report states, ‘The exact suite of threatened species that were a consideration at Black Rocks occurs at Centennial Drive’. The Black Rocks sports field site supports Koalas, Bush stone-curlews and Ospreys. However, the Landmark FAA states: ‘Three species were considered likely to occur on the subject (Lot 3) site, ie Bush Stone-curlew, Grey-headed Flying Fox and Eastern Blossom-bat…but there is no certainty as to the presence or absence of these species…The proposal (Pre-school extensions) will have small to negligible adverse impacts on the threatened species and their habitats.’
The Landmark FFA further states that there are ‘no signs evident’ of koalas on the Lot 3 site and ‘As Potential Koala Habitat has not been identified at the (Lot 3) site, a determination of Core Koala Habitat is not required…A Plan of Management for Koalas is not required based on this assessment…Endangered Ecological Communities are not present at the site.’
There are no primary koala food trees on the Lot 3 site, and the Landmark FFA proves that there is no core koala habitat which would need to be cleared to accommodate a men’s shed. The land which is already cleared on the Lot 3 site is approximately 3,000 square metres (see attached map). The area required for a shed is approximately 250 square metres with adequate roadside parking facilities available.
Conversely, at the Black Rocks sports field a men’s shed facility has been approved only 20 metres from core koala/primary koala habitat where koalas have been evidenced in the middle of a ‘significant koala activity site’ at the junction of 3 koala corridor linkages as identified in the 2011 and 2015 Koala Studies. The Black Rocks sports field site is surrounded on all sides by core koala habitat and endangered ecological communities, supporting a resident koala population. As a consequence it is protected by an Individual Koala Plan of Management as required by State Environmental Planning Policy 44.
An Osprey nest is located 430 metres from the Lot 3 site, and the Landmark FFA states that Ospreys may fly over the Lot 3 site. However, the Black Rocks sports field site supports the only naturally-occurring Osprey nest on the coast.
Dr Steve Phillips recently wrote: ‘I have read the Landmark Report…I find it difficult to accept the conclusion of “No ecological advantage” when the Black Rock site is a known connectivity hub that is currently supporting a resident koala population, while the Pre-school site is not located in a connectivity hub…and does not appear to be currently supporting a resident population’.
The Lot 3 site is centrally located in Pottsville in a community hub adjacent to the State Emergency Services, Rural Fire Service and Pre-school and sandwiched between the Tweed Coast Road to the east, the primary school to the north, Pottsville bowls club to the south and Cudgera Creek to the west. It sits outside of the koala linkage corridor and distant from any significant koala activity identified in the Tweed Coast Koala Habitat Study 2011. Attracting koalas to this area would subject them to significant threat of vehicle strike, dog attack and disturbance leading to disease, which are 3 of the major threats to which Ms Vass has referred.
Could Ms Vass please name the ‘at least three other similar suggestions made that would also require clearing koala habitat’? The Threatened Species Conservation Society and other environmental groups are committed to protection, not clearing, of koala habitat.
If the recent decision to install koala signage instead of an underpass (even though an underpass was found to be viable) at Coronation Avenue, Pottsville is an example of the level of koala protection afforded by the Tweed Coast Koala Plan of Management, I have little faith in the Plan’s success to save our endangered local koala population from extinction.
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