Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

National Parks

People and National Parks: Are They Compatible?

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The total area of land now under conservation protection worldwide has doubled since 1990, when the World Parks Commission set a goal of protecting 10 percent of the planet’s surface. That goal has been exceeded, with over 12 percent of all land, a total area of 11.75 million square miles, now protected. That’s an area greater than the entire land mass of Africa writes Mark Dowie in the latest issue of Orion magazine.

Mark writes that he was curious about “this brand of conservation that puts the rights of nature before the rights of people” and visited with tribal members on three continents who were grappling with the consequences of Western conservation and found an alarming similarity among the stories he heard.

Maasai.jpg

He concludes:

“Many conservationists are beginning to realize that most of the areas they have sought to protect are rich in biodiversity precisely because the people who were living there had come to understand the value and mechanisms of biological diversity. Some will even admit that wrecking the lives of 10 million or more poor, powerless people has been an enormous mistake – not only a moral, social, philosophical, and economic mistake, but an ecological one as well. Others have learned from experience that national parks and protected areas surrounded by angry, hungry people who describe themselves as “enemies of conservation” are generally doomed to fail.

More and more conservationists seem to be wondering how, after setting aside a “protected” land mass the size of Africa, global biodiversity continues to decline. Might there be something terribly wrong with this plan – particularly after the Convention on Biological Diversity has documented the astounding fact that in Africa, where so many parks and reserves have been created and where indigenous evictions run highest, 90 percent of biodiversity lies outside of protected areas? If we want to preserve biodiversity in the far reaches of the globe, places that are in many cases still occupied by indigenous people living in ways that are ecologically sustainable, history is showing us that the dumbest thing we can do is kick them out.

I don’t think it is as simple as Mark suggests.

There are instances where even recent arrivals, for example foresters in the Pilliga-Goonoo region of north west New South Wales, have been excluded from forest areas they were sustainably harvesting. While there are indigenous groups who have access to, for example, power boats for hunting dugongs, and appear to be harvesting beyond the sustainable capacity of these populations.

I have some sympathy for Duke University’s John Terborgh position which is, “My feeling is that a park should be a park, and it shouldn’t have any resident people in it,” he says.

According to Mark Dowie, John Terborgh bases his argument on three decades of research in Peru’s Manu National Park, where native Machiguenga Indians fish and hunt animals with traditional weapons. Terborgh is concerned that they will acquire motorboats, guns, and chainsaws used by their fellow tribesmen outside the park, and that biodiversity will suffer.

I hope that the Machiguenga people do acquire guns and motorboats. I don’t suggest that this be a reason for preventing their access to Manu National Park, but there will be a need to determine quota for sustainable harvest. And the only way to be sure any system is working is to have a proper monitoring program in place.

National Parks to be Baited with 1080

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I was recently faxed through a summary of research findings on the impact of aerial baiting on spotted quoll populations. The report is now available at the NSW National Parks website here.

There seems to have been a collective sigh of relief that baiting with 1080 for wild dogs will now occur in some National Parks and that baiting will now be considered for other parks on a case-by-case basis.

Report findings included that:

Although some analyses are still outstanding, the available results from each of the three separate aerial baiting trials conducted by the DEC during the 2004-05 period, and from the work undertaken in Queensland during 2002-05, have demonstrated that mortality among known quoll populations is much lower than that predicted by previous non-toxic trials. However, quoll mortalities due to 1080 poisoning do occur, albeit rarely.

It appears that quolls eat toxic bait at highly variable rates. More importantly, most quolls consuming 1080 dog baits survive. The consistency of these results across sites indicates little difference in the response to aerial baiting between distant quoll populations. Moreover, the observed low mortality rates due to 1080 poisoning are apparently not caused by an adaptation of quoll populations to repeated exposure to aerial baiting, but also applies to quoll populations in areas that have not had a recent history of aerial baiting.

Reasons for the lower than expected mortality of quolls in the wild are uncertain. It may be that, of the animals that consume baits, most have a higher tolerance of 1080 than would otherwise be predicted on the basis of laboratory-based trials (ie. they have a higher resistance). It is also possible that quolls regurgitate baits.

During any aerial baiting program, individual animals of a range of native species may be killed by 1080 baits including spotted-tailed quolls, brush-tailed phascogales and several species of dunnart and antechinus, native rodents, potoroos, brushtail possums and many species of birds. The recent research has shown that population level impacts on the species of greatest concern, the spotted-tailed quoll, is unlikely. However, it is possible that mortality due to aerial baiting may have significant impacts on small populations of quolls already suppressed due to drought, habitat fragmentation, disease etc. In addition, there is no information on the sub-lethal effects of 1080 on native species e.g. fertility and birth defects. On the other hand, aerial baiting which suppresses local fox and dog populations may benefit quolls in the area. Hence, the potential impact of aerial baiting on non-target species has to be assessed on a case by case basis.

After discussing the results and other published information, the Steering Committee agreed that aerial baiting can now be considered as an additional control technique where appropriate. However, in order to maximise effectiveness and minimise selection for bait-shy dogs, the Committee encourages the use of an integrated approach that employs a range of techniques e.g. ground and aerial baiting, trapping, shooting, exclusion fencing.

I read on Friday that a penguin colony off the coast of south-western Victoria is struggling to survive because of wild dog and fox predation. The breeding colony on Middle Island has been reduced from nearly 300 penguins to 60 according to the ABC Online report. A team from Deakin University are apparenlty monitoring population numbers. While I am all for more monitoring, it would be perhaps useful if the scientist also did some baiting, perhaps with 1080, when they return to the island in October?

Mountain Cattlemen Defiant

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There was movement at the station for the word had passed around that the mountain cattlemen will graze their cattle in the Alpine National Park this summer. The move, announced at a rally in Bendigo today, is in defiance of new Victorian legislation banning the 170 year tradition.

I have previously blogged on the ban on cattlemen in the high country at https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000668.html and also https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000635.html .

Whales, Dugongs & The Blue Pool

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The Indigenous community in south-east Queensland is divided over dugong hunting.

According to ABC Online today,

Three Indigenous groups in north Queensland have agreed to stop traditional hunting for dugongs. The landmark agreement has been welcomed by Butchulla elder, Marie Wilkinson, who says her people have wanted a similar arrangement on the Fraser Coast for years. But Dalungbara elder from Fraser Island John Dalungdalee Jones does not support the idea. “Well, that is their prerogative but do not impose those same restrictions on us,” Mr Jones said.

Following the thoughts and comments contributed at this web-log on whaling and my concern about the unrestricted indigenous hunting of dugongs, another marine mammal, I ended up writing something about dugongs and whales for Online Opinion last week.

You will see from the article that I am concerned that the hunting of dugongs not remain “the prerogative” of which ever indigenous community. Indeed Senator Campbell could learn from the Norwegians and the approach they take to regulating the harvest of minke whales. It appears much more sustainable than the approach taken by the Australian government to the harvest of dugongs, see
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3634 .

Neil Hewettt, a reader and sometimes contributor at this web-log, has also recently contributed a piece to Online Opinion on indigenous issues, see http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3594 .

[Read more…] about Whales, Dugongs & The Blue Pool

End of an Era

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The 170-year tradition of grazing cattle in Victoria’s high country is over according to the Victorian Shadow Minister for Agriculture Philip Davis. In a press release last Friday he said, “In one fell swoop, the Bracks Government this afternoon successfully displaced generations of mountain cattlemen and their families, simultaneously erasing an essential part of Australia’s heritage.”

The day before, on Thursday 16th June, I received the following poem from Duane L Langley.

It was dark and cool in the vast of night when God decided now to strike
From within the dense and massive clouds he threw his multiple lightening pike
It hit the ground with blinding speed and sought the tinder bush
The searing heat completed it’s feat and the flames headed North with a push

The stockman astride his well worn saddle saw this display of might
The sparks they flew from his horse’s shoe as he pounded down through the night
He knew at once that he must ride hard to his mates at camp below
At the camp he reined in hard and fast, with “fire!” being his only bellow

The stockmen knew what they had to do as they climbed their mountain steeds
They raced as a group on back to the coop where the cattle had had their last feed
Two thousand head were soon being led to a two mile wide burnt scree
For it was hear that the land had been burnt as a plan for needs be the animals can flee

With the smoke and the sparks filling the air from the South the cattle were again on the move
For the flames were high on the ever glowing sky, but the cattlemen were now in a groove
They cracked their whips with lightening speed and drove their charges to flee
By mornings light by way of their flight they were all in the lea of the scree

For here the grass was green and lush and fire was stopped in it’s tracks
The cattle were safe and horses relieved as the mountain men alighted their backs
All around wildlife roamed, safe from the wild red steer
Thanks to man and his managing hand, the fire was no longer a fear

2003 came another lightening spree, but the cattlemen were no where to be found
The wildlife headed again to the scree where safety and sanctuary abound
But a sign here stood from a greenie hood that lambasted the Mountain man caste
Wilderness area is now proclaimed for this spot so damaged in the past

As the animals read with a feeling of dread, the sign from modern man
They mourned the day that had passed their way, of the man with the management plan
They hunkered down, too tired to hop, knowing that all was lost
Their last thoughts as they burnt to death, where’s the Mountain man, oh! what cost

Noongars Knew Best

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The following essay is from, and by, David Ward of Western Australia. Thanks David.

Before Europeans arrived, Noongar people managed our south-west dry forests and woodlands very well without fire trucks, water bombers, helicopters, television journalists, concerned politicians, the Conservation Council, hundreds of firefighters, or the Salvation Army to give them all breakfast. They did this by burning frequently, in most places as often as it would carry a mild, creeping fire.

Even where there were no Noongars, most of the bush would have burnt frequently by unimpeded lightning fires, trickling on for months. Such large lightning fires continued up to the 1920s, before there were any Bushfire Brigades. They could travel a hundred kilometres before autumn rain doused them. Most of the landscape would have burnt as often as it could carry a fire. Fire suppression and exclusion are unnatural, new fangled notions.

Frequent fire made the bush safe, and promoted grass for yonka (kangaroo), and a host of bush tucker plants. It produced byoo, the red fruit of the djiridji, or zamia. Frequent light smoke germinated seeds, and provoked flowering of kangaroo paws and balga grasstrees.

Kangaroo paws and byoo are increasingly rare, under a muddle headed advocacy which claims that we should exclude fire from large bush areas for long periods. This phoney idea makes the bush very dangerous, as we have recently seen. Fire cannot be excluded indefinitely, and the longer it has been absent, the fiercer, and more damaging it will be.

Ecomythologists claim that, left alone, the litter will all rot down to enrich the soil. The truth, as any Perth Hills resident will testify, is that there is some decay in winter, but the summer blizzard of dead leaves, bark, and capsules is far greater, so litter builds up. After twenty years or so, there is a mulching effect, and build up ceases. However, by then most wildflowers are smothered and straggly, and most of the nutrient is locked up in dead matter. Frequent, mild fire releases the nutrients, sweetens the soil, and prunes the plants. Gardeners will appreciate that.

In the 1840s, the early West Australian botanist James Drummond wrote “When I was a sojourner in England, I never remember to have seen Australian plants in a good state after the second or third years and that, I think, is in a great degree owing to their not being cut down close to the ground when they begin to get ragged; how for the pruning knife and a mixture of wood ashes in the soil would answer as a substitute to the triennial or quaternal burnings they undergo in their native land, I am unable to say, some of our plants never flower in perfection but the season after the ground is burned over…”

There are many historical references to frequent, widespread burning by south-west Noongars. In 1837 Lt. Henry Bunbury mentioned “…the periodical extensive bush fires which, by destroying every two to three years the dead leaves, plants, sticks, fallen timber etc. prevent most effectually the accumulation of any decayed vegetable deposit… being the last month of summer… the Natives have burnt with fire much of the country… ”

In 1975 Mr. Frank Thompson was interviewed about his memories of fire near the south coast, before the First World War. He said “You see, the Natives …they used to burn the country every three or four years… when it was burnt the grass grew and it was nice and fresh and the possums had something to live on and the kangaroos had something to live on and the wallabies and the tamars and boodie rat …It didn’t burn very fast because it was only grass and a few leaves here and there and it would burn ahead and… sometimes there?d be a little isolated patch of other stuff that wasn’t good enough to burn the time before, but as it burnt along perhaps there might be some wallabies or tamars ?those animals didn’t run away from fire, they’d run up to it and you’d see them hopping along the edge of the fire until they saw a place where the fire wasn’t burning very fierce...”

It is hard to imagine wallabies hopping along the flame front of the recent Karagullen fire, looking for a way through. Long fire exclusion is causing fires of unprecedented ferocity, and many avoidable wildlife deaths. The longer fire has been excluded, the longer the bush takes to recover when it is eventually, and inevitably, burnt.

Over the last decade, research in south-western Australia by the Department of Conservation & Land Management (CALM) and Curtin University into fire marks on hundreds of balga grasstrees has confirmed traditional two to four year fire in dry eucalypt areas. Ridges with pure jarrah burnt every three to four years, slopes with some marri every two to three years, and clay valleys with wandoo every two years. There would have been thousands of small refuges, in rocks or near creeks, which would have burnt less often, perhaps never. Recent fierce fires destroy these, and the fire sensitive plants they protect. The ecomythology of long fire exclusion over large areas, is destroying the very plants and animals it claims to care for. Equally guilty are those ‘talking heads’ in politics, and the news media, who unthinkingly promote ecomythology.

The oldest balga records go back to 1750, and show traditional frequent, mild fire until measles epidemics killed many Noongars in 1860, and 1883. In some places two to four year burning continued until the First World War. In others, it continued up to the 1930s, and even the 1950s. Some old Perth Hills families remember when any fire could be put out with wet bags or green branches. This is only possible when fires are in litter no more than four years old, with flames less than a metre high.

Far from destroying diversity, this frequent burning enhanced it, by creating a rich mosaic of different aged patches. Animals had both food and shelter, and wildflowers flourished. Today’s muddle headed blanket fire exclusion leads to an eventual single, blanket, fierce fire, which simplifies the ecosystem down to a single age.

By insisting, through our political representatives, that CALM burn the bush more often, and more patchily, we will make it safer, see more wildflowers, avoid most animal deaths, and avoid dense, choking smoke from fierce wildfires. We will have to live with occasional light smoke from prescribed burns. If most litter were less than five years old, smoke would be minimal, and arson would be futile. All it could cause would be a mild, creeping fire, which would benefit the bush.

Think of the savings and benefits by working with nature, instead of fighting it. No more squadrons of aircraft, anxious home owners, and choking smoke for a week or more. The police could get on with catching burglars. More young Noongar people should be employed by CALM to help manage the bush with fire, restoring their culture and healing their self esteem.

Copyright David Ward
10th April 2005