Save Western Port Woodlands calls for protection of rare Western Port Woodlands from sand mining
New photos and recordings of the endangered southern brown bandicoot and powerful owl in forest areas designated for sand mining have reinforced calls for immediate protection of the Western Port Woodlands.
Southern brown bandicoots, which are nationally critically endangered and listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Protection (EPBC) Act, were detected via camera trapping at new sites in the Adams Creek area – where vast sand mines continue to rip out mature forest.
The camera-trapping survey, undertaken for the Southern Brown Bandicoot Recovery Group, confirms the populations there.
There is also new photographic evidence and sound recordings of the powerful owl in this same area and in the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve, where a large sand mine continues to operate.
“How much more evidence of rare and endangered flora and fauna do we have to put before a negligent Victorian Government before it calls a halt to sand miners ripping out their habitat?” Save Western Port Woodlands (SWPW) spokesperson Tim O’Brien said.
“The evidence of the southern brown bandicoot of the powerful owl in an area designated for sand mining shows the shoddiness of the mining approvals process.”
The State Government has designated around 70 per cent of the woodland area as an interest area for sand mining. Ten sand mines now operate in the Woodlands, with nine further mine approvals and seven more under application.
Mr O’Brien said that with each expansion and new mine opening, essential habitat for these endangered species disappears.
“The Andrews Government continues to mouth platitudes about its ‘action on climate’ while simultaneously driving this rampant environmental vandalism on Western Port. It is such hypocrisy,” Mr O’Brien said.
Other endangered and threatened wildlife photographed and identified within this forest corridor include the iconic koala (listed as endangered in Queensland and NSW) and the critically endangered Swift Parrot.
A report published last year by the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) showed the Western Port Woodlands was habitat for a raft of threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
Jordan Crook, lead author of the report, warned that sand mining risked driving localised extinctions of species such as the southern brown bandicoot, powerful owl, swift parrot and the critically endangered tea tree fingers fungus.
“What precisely is the point of legislation for the protection of rare and endangered species if it is blatantly ignored,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Or, worse, when government itself is the perpetrator and through its actions putting these species at increased risk.”
“In this vacuum of responsible practice, we call on Federal Minister for The Environment, Tanya Plibersek, to exercise her powers under the Federal EPBC Act and refer all sand mining activity, mine expansions and forest removal within the Western Port Woodlands for investigation under the Act.”
- We call on Federal Minister Tanya Plibersek to refer all sand mining activity within Western Port Woodlands for investigation and review under the Federal EPBC Act;
- We call for a Victorian Government to recognise that ripping out disappearing coastal forest for sand for Melbourne is no way to run an environmental policy;
- We call for a moratorium on any and all new sand mining work authorities, extensions or variations in the Western Port Woodlands;
