A range of environment-based projects is planned for the City of Logan to ensure a greener, sustainable and more carbon-neutral city.
More than $8.5million from the 2019/20 Environmental Levy will fund the projects.
Some of Logan City Council’s key ongoing environment-based programs include:
- Albert and Logan River Vision projects
- Slacks Creek and Scrubby Creek Recovery projects
- Land for Wildlife and Habitat Connections projects
- Environmental grants and incentives
- Carbon reduction and energy management projects
- Bushland maintenance and Bushcare
- A range of free and low cost environmental events and activities
- Maintenance of over 300 environmental parks and reserves
- Aquatic and environmental weed control
Council has been an active, contributing member of the Healthy Land and Water organisation since its inception in 2001.
The City of Logan places an extremely high priority on its responsibility to manage and improve the health of the Logan and Albert Rivers which traverse the city and flow into other council areas.
To ensure the delivery of the Waterways Ecosystem Health Monitoring program, the annual Healthy Land and Water Report Card, Water by Designs projects and Healthy Water Play resources, the Budget allocates $836,610 to allow Council to enter a new three-year membership with Healthy Land and Water from 2019-2022.
An additional $239,054 has been set aside to ensure Council has representation in the Council of Mayors South-East Queensland’s Resilient Rivers Program.
The program includes the Logan-Albert Catchment Action Plan that encourages and supports private landowners to take riparian restoration along the river banks to reduce erosion and sediment being washed into the waterways.
It also includes the removal and management of exotic vines, in particular the invasive Cats Claw Creeper, and the planting and restoration of native habitats.
Council also continues to support the City of Gold Coast’s investigation into the removal of Luscombe Weir to the construction of a fish-way to allow fish to migrate into the upper reaches of the Albert River catchment.
The health of the Albert River upper reaches continues to improve with a recent study scientifically proving the presence of platypus at seven different sites.
Council, in collaboration with the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, used environmental DNA (eDNA) technology to test water samples in the Albert River and its tributaries, with a particular focus on the Cedar Creek, Wolffdene and Bannockburn reaches.
Data confirmed that platypus are living in three stretches of the river – two sites at Wolffdene and another at Cedar Creek – while samples at four other sites – two at Wolffdene, one at Cedar Creek and another at Tamborine – contained small amounts of platypus DNA.
The City of Logan has 2362km of waterways, 2633 hectares of wetlands and 930 parks.
In the last financial year, Council planted more than 78,000 trees and 5130 native plants, shrubs and grasses across a range of projects that reinforced the commitment to create an improved and sustainable environment.
In the coming year it is estimated more than $2.4million will be available from the Environmental Levy reserve balance to fund strategic environmental land acquisitions to further preserve natural bushland spaces and fauna habitats.
To fund 2019/20 projects, the city-wide Environmental Levy will increase $2 per rateable property.
