A year after the Palaszczuk Government's proposed stronger land clearing laws failed to get through Parliament, vegetation management is shaping up as a major issue at the next election.

The current system is frustrating both the agricultural sector and environmentalists with two major areas of contention.

In 2013, the then LNP Newman government amended the Vegetation Management Act to make it easier for farmers to clear their land for high-value agricultural activities.

When Labor was unsuccessful in reversing that amendment in 2016, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad vowed to instead be tougher when assessing applications and it seems she has followed through.

Despite the legislation being unchanged, just four of 21 applications for clearing for high-value agriculture have been approved since July 2015.

Permit approval numbers are not available for when the LNP was still in government however, figures from the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) show that in 2014-15, 207,000 hectares of land was newly cleared.

George Muirhead from Kendall River Station on Cape York has dealt with government departments under both parties while trying to get approval to clear land for a sorghum plantation.

He said once Labor took control, the process stalled.

"There was a continuous seeking of more information and we provided all that information, including land evaluation, soil testing, drilling and all these things but at the end of the day, they just continually frustrated it," Mr Muirhead said.

"They'd just never respond and they don't seem to have any need to give any reasons either you know; it's very frustrating."

Mr Muirhead said he had spent about $100,000 on the application process, including reports from independent consultants, testing and legal advice but in the end, his application failed to get through the first hurdle.

Land clearing was made easier under the LNP government but several permits are now being investigated.

(Supplied)

Land clearing was made easier under the LNP government but several permits are now being investigated.

President of Agforce, Grant Maudsley, said one of the problems is Section 22A of the Vegetation Management Act, under which the Department of Natural Mines and Resources must rule the application is for a relevant purpose before it can proceed to the State Assessment and Referral Agency.

"Unfortunately, we have no rights of appeal under that process so you can be basically sent back and forward with information requests," he said.

"You can get stalled internally in there without a right of appeal so that's problematic, but it's the legislation that's at fault there."

However, the Queensland Conservation Council's Dr Tim Seelig said Labor was simply assessing applications adequately now.

He said they were using "the proper vigour that should have been there in the first place" regarding independent soils analysis and proper assessment of whether applications were genuinely for high-value cropping.

"As was the case with most of the permits granted by the LNP government, it was really to grow cattle fodder and to clear, essentially for future cattle grazing," Mr Seelig said.

"The administrative rules were tightened up, [and] quite rightly so."

From July, the self-assessable vegetation clearing codes under the vegetation management framework became known as accepted development vegetation clearing codes, following a Department of Natural Resources and Mines review.

Draft revisions of the codes, which allow landholders to thin vegetation and cut trees for fodder under strict guidelines, are currently being developed.

The Conservation Council is concerned the self-assessable codes have created a loophole for large-scale land clearing

(ABC News)

The Conservation Council is concerned the self-assessable codes have created a loophole for large-scale land clearing

David Massurit has a property near St George, in southern Queensland, which he says is overrun by mulga that he feeds to his livestock during drought.

He said he could push some trees down, but he found out the hard way that he was not allowed to remove the dead branches.

"We got into trouble there. Jackie Trad told the tree police to get out from under the benches and go back to work, which they did," Mr Massurit said.

"I'm not game to push over mulga now because I'm not allowed to rake it up."

He said the restrictions had led to thick mulga forests and a reduction in his livestock carrying capacity.

"We are going through an unimproved capital value and we're protesting at the value because our carrying capacity has diminished greatly," he said.

"We are claiming lack of carrying ability due to the thickening of the mulga.

"You want to scream but it gets you nowhere."

Mr Maudsley said landholders were incurring extra expenses to stick to the rules.

"The fact that satellites are going over it just means that people are working harder with GPS systems and tracking and knowing exactly where the boundaries are," he said.

"It's still really complex and it's very confusing for a lot of people, but a lot of contractors are stepping up into this space around having access to real time mapping on their machines because we need to be credible when we stand up and say we're doing the right thing."

David Massurit says his inability to clear mulga has led to his property being de-valued

(ABC Rural: Jodie Gunders)

David Massurit says his inability to clear mulga has led to his property being de-valued

However, Mr Seelig said the codes were not strict enough, and he claims they open a loophole.

"We now have the problem of the codes being used as a back door way of large-scale clearing occurring," he said.

"We understand there have been recommendations made about tightening up particularly the thinning code and to some degree, the fodder code but we haven't seen any change."

A spokesperson for the Environment Minister Steven Miles said Labor would bring stronger land clearing laws to the next election.

She said they were yet to decide on exact changes, but the amendments would be similar to those proposed in 2016.

Link:
Debate over land clearing laws set to reignite at Qld election as current system cut down by all stakeholders - ABC Online

GEORGE TOWN: Twelve cases of land clearing highlighted by the Penang Hill Watch in its report earlier this year were confirmed to have been carried out without approval.

Penang Hill Watch is a watchdog initiative launched by local NGO coalition Penang Forum. It said that on July 25, it received written responses from the Penang Island City Council (MBPP), providing details of the 12 cases highlighted in a report in April.

In summary, all 12 cases of hill clearing were not officially approved, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said that six were hill clearing on private land without MBPPs approval, for which the council later issued stop-work orders and took legal action.

Five other cases involved state-owned hill land, which saw the council notifying several agencies, including the Forestry Department, the District Office and state Land and Mines Office.

It is obvious from MBPPs response that other government agencies with jurisdiction over state-owned land must be actively engaged to minimise illegal hill clearing, said the forum.

One case, said the forum, involved land clearing in a former quarry, adding that MBPP was discussing with the state legal adviser to resolve the matter.

There is merit in complementing remote monitoring with the field observations that the initiative does, it said.

Reports of hill clearing in Penang can be submitted to pghillswatch@gmail.com.

More:
'No approval for 12 land-clearing cases in Penang hills' - The Star Online

Land is being cleared in preparation for construction on the last phase of Opelikas Frederick Road extension, a project to connect the city limits to downtown.

Robinson Paving, the contractor based out of Columbus, Ga., have had its workers clearing land off of W.E. Morton Avenue to prepare for the import of materials to build up the roadway, according to Scott Parker, engineer for the city of Opelika.

The contractor will continue clearing trees and brush from the site and will begin bringing in material to build up the roadway, Parker said.

Parker said the contractor has already installed construction traffic control signs, barrels along the work zone and survey stakes that represent the limits of the construction.

A stream in the area will be diverted temporarily so a drainage structure that will need to be constructed on site can begin in the next few weeks, Parker said.

The contractor also is planning on starting the replacement of sidewalks on Martin Luther King Boulevard and Auburn Street as well as a relocation of a sanitary sewer line on Auburn Street, Parker said.

Opelika Councilwoman Patsy Jones said she is happy to see progress being made on a project the city has been working on to complete for many years.

I am excited about the improvements that will come to fruition in Ward 1, Jones said. For many years, the residents have waited for better sidewalks and lighting on Auburn Street and Martin Luther King. These long awaited improvements will also increase safe walking for residents who may walk downtown.

Parker said there will be construction traffic on Auburn Street and MLK Boulevard with the sewer and sidewalk projects but the roads will remain open to traffic.

There may be some delays for flaggers and construction equipment and drivers should always enter construction zones with slow, cautious driving, Parker said. An increase of dump trucks bringing in material (dirt) will also be evident as the roadway is being constructed. In a few months there will be some detours as the contractor removes the traffic signal and completes the roundabout.

Updates on the project will be posted on the city of Opelikas website at http://www.opelika-al.gov.

Originally posted here:
Land-clearing under way for Frederick Road project - Opelika Auburn News

Sam Warp holds a newly hatched monarch butterfly, raised in a small aquarium as part of the monarch conservation project in Marshfield. (Submitted photo)

August 14, 2017

By Kris Leonhardt

Editor

MARSHFIELD While it is no secret that humans altering the landscape affects native plant and animal species as well as the safety of food sources, it is important to know multiple local groups and programs are working to reverse the harmful results.

The root of the problem

Our native plant and animal species are suffering a death by a thousand blows these days, explained Wildwood Zookeeper Steve Burns, who holds a bachelors degree in wildlife ecology and management. Most situations that alter land use from its original state will degrade habitat. One of the major often overlooked factors affecting plant and wildlife habitat is fragmentation. Many animal species need large blocks of contiguous habitat.

Even something like a road easement through a preserve can be detrimental. Though the road itself might take up a small amount of land, the separation it creates can make the area unusable for many species. Additionally, the edge between native and altered land use is often the first spot invasive species will encroach upon.

Land degradation caused by human activity comes in forms such as land clearance, vehicle off-roading, mining, pollution, and removal of vegetation.

Land clearance: By the numbers

While land clearing is a global issue, its local presence is evident in Clark County, where residents clear woodland to make small farms and open fence lines to make larger farms. Throughout the previous decade, the DeCaire family has watched the conversion of woodlands and fence rows into tillable farm land.

My husbands uncle, Bob Steffes, told my husband, Rod, and I that if you would let the fence lines vegetation grow in, you would have more pheasant and wildlife in the area, said Kathy DeCaire of Owen. We think that he would be surprised to see all of the woodland that we have lost.

Just as we need the land for agriculture, our wildlife need it for their home and their survival. It is difficult to see where square-mile sections have no trees anymore. Where did the wildlife go? What will be left for the next generation to see and enjoy? Cant we leave some trees and fence lines for the wildlife?

The changing landscape is notable in Wood County as well.

The first factor is that farmland in Wood County and Wisconsin as a whole is decreasing due to urban sprawl, rural residential lots, other developments, etc., said Adam Groshek of the Wood County Land & Water Conservation Department. This must be accounted for when you look at the reduced woodland aspect of things because it is not only farmland that is land clearing but multiple other things as well.

The second factor is that it appears that as a whole, the total woodland portion of farmland is decreasing over time. This could be due to clearing fencerows to make four 40-acre fields into one 160-acre field, expanding field sizes along the borders, clearing wooded land to place into farmland, etc. My gut is telling me that the fencerow clearing is the most common of the (three). The trend is for farms to more efficiently farm their land by using bigger machinery by combining many smaller fields to make less, bigger fields.

The third factor that must be accounted for is that while there has been a loss of wooded farmland, there likely has been an increase in grasslands, CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program)/CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) idle lands that may be beneficial to bees and butterflies with their relatively undisturbed herbaceous plants. More farms are utilizing cover crops and no-till that allow farm fields to be vegetated almost year-round because they are not tilled under or are minimally disturbed. This third point is highly influenced by market prices for commodities and the farm bill acres that are allowed each year to go into CREP/CRP lands.

Census numbers in Wood County indicate a drop in total woodland in farm land use from 47,823 acres in 2007 to 38,967 acres in 2012 while the land in farms increased from 221,962 acres in 2007 to 222,730 acres in 2012.

In Clark County woodland in farm use dropped from 87,674 acres in 2007 to 82,871 acres in 2012 and land in farms rose from 440,376 acres in 2007 to 458,221 acres in 2012.

Busy bees

Habitat loss, pesticides, and other factors have led to the decline in the United States bee population, and for the first time in history, a bee species has been placed on the endangered species list. In February the rusty patched bumblebee was placed on the list as its population was down by 87 percent.

With economically important crops such as cranberries dependent on bees as pollinators, the Marshfield area has taken an active role in making a change.

Residents and business owners have introduced new colonies to promote repopulation and secure an active pollinator community.

Among those raising bees is Wildwood Park and Zoo, which maintains a honey bee colony annually as an educational means as well as a provider for the park and city.

You can come into the former zoo store building, explained Burns. We have our observation hive in there where you can look right into a bee hive and see them at work. It is a really cool opportunity to learn about honey bees and also educate yourself about other pollinator species at risk, species that are really important to us and our environment.

A home for monarchs

In 1996 the wintering monarch population in Mexico was estimated at more than one billion butterflies. Last years estimates put the wintering population at closer to 56 million: a decrease of more than 90 percent.

Like bees, butterflies are critical to pollination of food sources.

They are a pollinator when they go from flower to flower. They carry nectar with them all of the time, explained Sam Warp of Marshfields Wastewater Management Department. Honey bees get all of the glory, you might say, but butterflies can do the same thing.

When we switched over to an all-natural plant where we dont use chemicals to take out phosphorus anymore, we were looking for ideas on how we could promote that theme.

Bob Trussoni, our general manager, attended a conference, and there was a speaker there about monarch conservation, explained Cathy Lotzer, technical services manager from Marshfield Utilities. They were encouraging communities to come on board with conservation effort and designate areas where you can build a garden.

From there Marshfield Utilities and the Wastewater Management Department partnered in a project to re-establish the butterfly in the Marshfield area, setting up a monarch garden at Marshfields wastewater treatment plant.

The garden has been designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation and is now part of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, a national effort to create a million gardens that provide a habitat for the declining butterfly and bee populations.

Read the original post:
The butterfly effect: Addressing land degradation and its harm to pollinator habitat - Hub City Times

MOUNT PLEASANT As the town prepares to tackle flooding problems in the Old Village, at a cost that works out to almost $10,000 per home, another development moratorium has been proposed.

Supporters in some of the oldest parts of Mount Pleasant say the development of more homes, and larger homes, has contributed to flooding problems by covering more land with buildings and driveways.

"The purpose is not to keep people from building homes," said Councilman Will Haynie at a meeting this week. "The purpose is to keep peoples homes from flooding."

A proposed moratorium that received initial approval Tuesday targets the subdivision of properties into multiple building lots, and the construction of accessory dwellings, which are small, secondary homes on the same property as a primary home.

However, Haynie and Councilman Joe Bustos said they want to change that plan, before a final vote next month, and focus instead on how much of a property can be covered with buildings and pavement. A land-coverage standard could potentially restrict building additions, which have outnumbered new home construction by more than four to one over the past decade.

On Tuesday, Councilmen Paul Gawrych and Mark Smith, along with Mayor Linda Page, declined to support the moratorium in its current form, restricting property subdivisions and accessory dwellings. Page indicated she may support the moratorium if it's changed before a final vote, as Haynie suggested.

"Its not that Im fighting you on the issue," the mayor said to him.

The council unanimously agreed Tuesday to have the town's staff prepare a request for proposals to design drainage improvements for parts of the Old Village where the need is considered most urgent.

A $100,000 study by Thomas & Hutton found that the broader Old Village area needs $25 million in drainage improvements. Two areas, known as the Royall Avenue and Edwards Park drainage basins, were determined to be the top priorities.

A drainage basin is, in terms of flooding, a self-contained area. The Old Village has about two dozen drainage basins, but the Royall Avenue and Edwards Park basins cover large portions of the area, where the town was first founded.

The Royall Avenue and Edwards Park drainage basins, outlined in blue, could get about $9 million in drainage improvements. They were parts of a larger area where flooding problems were studied in Mount Pleasant.

Together, it's an area that runs from, roughly, the back of Moultrie Middle School to Center Street, and from Royall Avenue to Pherigo Street. There are 881 properties in those two drainage basins, and addressing flooding problems there is estimated to cost $8.7 million.

The town has not determined how to pay for the work, or the estimated $800,000 design phase that Town Council has voted for.

Town Council has recently turned to development moratoriums in response to several growth-related issues.

Mount Pleasant has a two-year freeze on new apartment developments in place throughout the town, which followed an earlier apartment moratorium. Town Council has also considered, but did not approve, a moratorium on all residential development, another one on accessory dwellings, and yet another to prevent tree removal or land clearing on any tracts of five acres or more.

The tree-related proposal, from Councilman Gary Santos, was defeated Tuesday. It was aimed at preventing land clearing for 90 days while the Planning Commission considers changes to the town's tree regulations.

"Im just trying to protect the trees," Santos said at the meeting. "Im afraid the unprotected trees will be cut down if people hear (that the town might change the rules)."

Santos received support for his proposal from Haynie, Bustos, and Councilman Jim Owens, but it failed on a 5-4 vote with the rest of the council and the mayor opposed.

Reach David Slade at 843-937-5552. Follow him on Twitter @DSladeNews.

Link:
New restrictions on development proposed in Mount Pleasant - Charleston Post Courier

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The Bellingham Herald

Sandy Point burn ban planned after Independence Day | The ... The Bellingham Herald Despite two days of record heat last weekend, temperatures remain near normal and no areas of Whatcom County are under burn bans. and more »

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Sandy Point burn ban planned after Independence Day | The ... - The Bellingham Herald

Around the world, the amount of land being burned in wildfires is declining and human activity is largely the cause, scientists say. According to a new study, out Thursday in the journal Science, global burned area has declined by nearly a quarter in the past two decades. The surprisingdecreaseoccurred largely as agriculture has expanded and intensified throughout the world, taking over many of the natural areas where wildfires commonly occur.

While many recent studies have suggested that climate change will cause longer and more intense fire seasons in certain parts of the world recent research has suggested that its been making wildfires in the western United Statesmore intense for decades the new study indicates thathuman land-use changes also have a significant impact on when and where fires occur. In many places, the influence of human land use is simply just stronger than the climate signal, said the new studys lead author,Niels Andela, a research scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

This work highlights how humans can shape global fire regimes,David Bowman, a global wildfire expert and professor of environmental-change biology at the University of Tasmania who was not involved with the research, said in an email. Realistically factoring in humans into global climate change and global carbon dynamic projections has always been difficult, and this work demonstrates that this difficulty must be more thoroughly addressed to create plausible scenarios of Earth system change.

The researcherscame to their conclusions by analyzing satellite data on burned area across the planet between 1998 and 2015. During this period, they found that burned area declined about 24 percent an enormous area, according to Andela with much of the decrease occurring in the worlds grasslands and savannas.

The researchers alsoused a model to investigate the effectof factors such as precipitation and human activities on the global fire patterns. They found that precipitation had little influenceon the long-term decline in global burned area but human activity, and particularly agriculture, was a strong driver.

In some places, particularly tropical forest landscapes, the researchers found that agricultural activity was actually associated with an increase in fires, probably as a result of agricultural waste burning or deforestation to make room for cropland. But these increases were outweighed by the areas whereagriculture was associated with a reduction in burned area, mainly in grassland and savanna landscapes, where theres less biomass available to burn and where fire may be less necessary as a land-clearing or management tool.

The researchers found that fire reductions were particularly pronounced in placeswith greater socioeconomic development and higher investment in their pastures and croplands. Wealthier areas maybe less inclined to risk their crops, livestock, homes and infrastructure by using fire as a management tool, the researchers suggest, and the people living in these places also may be less likely to accept the poor air quality caused by smoke from wildfires. In fact, they may begin to employ fire suppression tactics to prevent natural wildfires from occurring.

These global fire reductions may come with pros and cons, the researchers note. For one thing, fire is a natural elementof manyecosystems life cycles, helping to recycle nutrients, regulate competition amongtypes of plants and make space for new growth. So suppressingwildfires can actually have a negative impact on a landscapes vegetation and biodiversity.

On the other hand, the researchers note that a reduction in fire also comes witha declinein the carbon emissions it produces, which could be helpful in the fight against climate change. That said, theres the potential that the carbon releasedby the land conversion and agricultural expansion driving these declines may actually offset the reduction infire emissions. A great deal more research will be necessary before scientists can say for sure how all of these changes are affecting the global carbon cycle, Andela said.

And Bowman, the University of Tasmania scientist, also pointed out that this study should not be construed as suggesting the global wildfire crisis is being resolved. Even while burned area is declining on a global scale, human management techniques such as starting fires where they dont belong and suppressing them where they might otherwise naturally occur may actually be priming many landscapes for more-extreme wildfires in the future. Fire suppression, in particular, can sometimes lead to an overabundance of dry fuel in certain areas, and these unburned spacesmay eventually burn ferociously under hotter and drier conditions expected by climate change, Bowman suggested.

Andela also added that overall I wouldnt describe our findings as being a positive thing for the Earth system or global ecosystems. The spread of agriculture and the decrease in natural burning, particularly in grassland ecosystems worldwide, is indicative ofthe profound changes taking place in these natural landscapes, he said.

Thedisappearance of fire from those ecosystemsreally symbolizeshow we are using these last wildernessesof the Earth, he said.

See the rest here:
Scientists find a surprising result on global wildfires: They're actually burning less land - Washington Post

REDLANDS >> Fred and Barbara Ford recently donated a granite hitching post to the Museum of Redlands.

Fred Fords career in Redlands and the Inland Valley in the past 40 years has been in land clearing.

In the 1970s, when the former Jennie Davis-Joe Prendergast house was being moved from Brookside Avenue in Redlands to Sierra Way in Fontana, Ford helped the contractors clear the property, and he retrieved the granite hitching posts from the site.

An apartment complex was then built on that property, which is about 10 lots west of the former Redlands Daily Facts building on Brookside Avenue. The former Facts building will be renovated to house the Museum of Redlands.

The donation of the hitching post has other historic relevance in addition to the post having come from a site near the future museum building.

Fred Ford is the grandson of Isaac Ford, who was city engineer for Redlands, one of the founders of First Baptist Church and the University of Redlands and for whom Redlands Ford Park and Ford Street are named.

Connected to the house that was moved from Brookside Avenue is Jennie Davis daughter Gwen Davis, who married Joe Prendergast. Prendergasts sister was Lucretia Prendergast Moore, who was the wife of wife of Paul Moore, longtime owner of the Redlands Daily Facts.

Lucretia Moore was also the mother of William G. Moore, 40-year publisher and co-owner of the Facts with his brother Frank, and grandmother of Lucretia Moore Irving, who still lives in Redlands.

Bill and Frank Moore owned the Redlands Daily Facts when they had the former Facts building, future home of the Museum of Redlands, built in 1956.

A number of hitching posts still remain in Redlands, but seeing one out of the ground with its hewn-granite base is unusual.

Fred Ford, one of five generations of Fords in Redlands and of four generations who graduated from Redlands High School, noted that hitching posts were hewn from solid granite and often have hairline cracks, making them fragile to move.

The one the Fords donated to the Museum of Redlands has a decorative ball on the top of the post.

Horses were tethered to an iron ring inserted in the hole drilled through the top of each post.

To donate historic items related to Redlands and the Redlands area, contact Maria Carrillo or Nathan Gonzales at the A.K. Smiley Library Heritage Room, 909-798-7632.

Source: Museum of Redlands

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Hitching post donated to Museum of Redlands - Redlands Daily Facts

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