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Leading community representative group, the Redlands Institute has supported Redland City Council’s recently publicised concerns regarding clearing of land at Thornlands by the Queensland Government.
Redland City Councillors have expressed their outrage at the bulldozing of vital biodiversity corridors during the construction of a new school at Thornlands South, one of seven public-private partnership school projects announced by the Queensland Government this month.
Institute President, Gunther De Graeve said the loss of fauna habitat was “a great shame” and questioned the rigour of the State Government’s consultative processes.
“It is unusual and disappointing that the State did not enter into the levels of public consultation which would usually be expected for a project of this nature,” Mr De Graeve said.
“However, it is apparent Council did not take a pro-active step in the matter, knowing full well the State’s intentions for the land”.
As a result, the Redlands Institute has urgently called on the State Government and Council to make a stronger contribution to increasing the levels of fauna habitat in the Redlands.
“The State Government and Council are the two largest land owners in Redlands and we expect them to lead the way in environmental stewardship of their lands,” Mr De Graeve said.
“We all acknowledge the plight of the urban koala and other threatened species in our local area and we need to preserve as much habitat as reasonably possible.
“Redland City residents as well as the rest of southeast Queensland expect the two largest owners/managers of property to make a meaningful contribution to not only preserving habitat but increasing the existing levels of lands suitable for habitat,” he said.
As a result, the Institute has called on the Queensland Government to commit to rehabilitation of all State lands within Redland City and has focused the challenge on the unused road reserves through Alexandra Hills and Birkdale.
According to the Institute’s Environmental spokesperson, Biodiversity specialist Adrian Caneris, the identified road reserve is ideally located to act as a wildlife corridor and offers the potential to
provide a vital east-west fauna link between the predominantly north-south corridors that exist along the city’s waterways.
“By rehabilitating this precinct, we’d create a ‘Greenway’ for humans and wildlife alike and the Institute has already widely publicised its proposal to establish this important eco-infrastructure in our City ,” Mr Caneris said
“I can’t stress enough just how important the restoration of these linkages is to the long-term viability of koalas and other native fauna in this region. It is, without doubt, one of the most important things we can do right now in protecting our koalas in the long term,” he said.
Mr Caneris also challenged Redland City Council to undertake a significant increase in habitat restoration within all the Redland City urban areas.
“The Institute challenges the Redland City Council to commit to the planting of at least an additional 10,000 koala food trees per year on their lands within the urban footprint. It is only with a response of this magnitude we can realistically expect the urban koala to survive.
“We look to the Council to be leaders in habitat restoration in our municipality,” he said.
Mr Caneris said while there was merit in Council imposing requirements for landscaping and monetary contributions from developers, this was not enough to save the koala population.
“We must ensure the substantial contributions obtained from developers and Council resources are applied systematically towards a recognised and worthy purpose.
“In this way, Council can constructively respond to the issue of destruction of fauna habitat,” he said.
Further information: Bronwyn Hope - 3206 9213 or 0413 018 457.
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