Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

jennifer

How Many Dugongs Are Killed Each Year in Northern Australia?

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Last month I suggested about 1,000 dugongs are killed each year in northern Australian waters and that this is too many. Today, ABC Online is quoting fisherman Peter Manning suggesting a figure of 1,600 dugongs. Mr Manning says all Australians should be concerned about the impact of Indigenous hunting on dugong stocks.

Read more from Peter Manning here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/06/2155453.htm

My blog post of January 21, 2008, can be found here: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/002704.html

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Dead River Red Gums (Part II)

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Yesterday I posted some photographs of healthy Blue Gums in the Grose Valley.

I suggested in the comment thread that followed, that River Red Gums are more suseptible to fire, and that a fire in October 2006 in the Barmah forest destroyed many trees.

River Red Gums are also susceptible to drought.

The following photographs were taken in the Murray Valley last November.

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West of Koondrook before the Kerang turnoff, November 21, 2007

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West of Koondrook before the Kerang turnoff, November 21, 2007

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West of Koondrook before the Kerang turnoff, November 21, 2007

Trees along the Murray River were healthy, but this isolated stand of trees on a farmed section of the floodplain appeared mostly dead – I assume from drought.

Blue Gums in Grose Valley Healthy After Back-Burning

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Just over a year ago media reports indicated the Blue Gum Forest of the Grose Valley was “hanging in the balance” because of a wildfire made “more intense, unpredictable and extensive by massive backburning operations”.

I trekked into the forest today and was surprised and pleased to see a beautiful forest with little evidence of fire damage.

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The Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia, February 3, 2008. Looking to the south-east.

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The Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia, February 3, 2008. Looking to the north-west.

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The Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia, February 3, 2008. At junction of Grose River and Govett Creek, looking to the north.

As I struggled up the steep escarpment on my way out of the valley, I passed a couple descending into the valley and I asked if they were planning to visit the Blue Gum Forest.

“Yes,” replied the women, “At least what is left of it”.

Like me, and so many Australians, she believed the media reports that the forest had been badly damaged. As we passed I suggested she would be pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

Why has reporting in the popular press been so negative? Was the state of this iconic forest misrepresented as part of a wider campaign against back-burning?

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Additional Notes and Links

Link to picture of burnt forest in Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-ghosts-of-an-enchanted-forest-demand-answers/2006/12/10/1165685553891.html

Link to earlier blog post with a question from Bill in Melbourne about the state of the forest:
https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/002620.html

The Blue Gums in the Grose Valley are Mountain Blue Gums Eucalyptus deanii, here are some links to the more common Tasmanian Blue Gum, Eucalptus globulus:
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s1702968.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Eucalyptus+globulus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_globulus

Moving to the Cliffs

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I sold my home in Brisbane last year and I’ve now decided to live in a part of Australia known as The Blue Mountains.

According to Wikipedia the mountains are not as the name suggests, a range of mountains, “but rather a series of cliffs surrounding a plateau with rugged eroded gorges of up to 760 metres depth”.

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This view over Jamison’s Valley is a short walk from my new home

The town of Katoomba, where I live, is surrounded by national park or conservation reserve and I’m enjoying the great diversity of birdlife in my garden.

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Gang-Gang Cockatoo, Katoomba, January 31, 2008

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Satin Bower Bird, Katoomba, January 27, 2008

And along with the new house and garden, I’ve got a new hair cut and hair colour. The glasses are old, but I usually take them off for photographs!

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Jennifer with new hair colour, Katoomba, January 31, 2008

Would Nathan Dam have Stopped Reef Flooding?

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There has been a lot of rain in central Queensland over the last month. Water has been flowing over the Fairbairn dam spillway and the Nogoa River has flooded the town of Emerald with over 2,000 residents seeking emergency accommodation. The Nogoa River flows into the MacKenzie River which flows into the Fitzroy River which flows into the Great Barrier Reef.

According to environmental researcher Alison Jones floodwaters flowing down the Fitzroy River to the Great Barrier Reef will kill off masses of coral around the Keppel Islands.

So, according to Jones, floodwaters are bad for the reef.

The Dawson River, also flows into the Fitzroy River, and was to have a massive dam built in its headwaters. But development of the Nathan Dam was blocked through a court action brought by the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

If the Nathan dam had been built on the Dawson River would there now be less flooding of the Great Barrier Reef, or would there be not enough flooding? Is there such a things as just the right amount of flooding?