Aug. 9, 2014, 4 a.m.

ACCUSED murderer Ian Robert Turnbull must answer yet another allegation of illegal land clearing on a property at Croppa Creek in the states North West.

MESSY SITUATION: An excavator carries out work this week on a Croppa Creek property at the centre of a bitter dispute over native vegetation laws. Accused murderer Ian Robert Turnbull and his grandson Cory Ian Turnbull face fresh allegations of illegal land clearing.

ACCUSED murderer Ian Robert Turnbull must answer yet another allegation of illegal land clearing on a property at Croppa Creek in the states North West.

The 79-year-old, who is on remand charged with themurder of Tamworth man Glen Turner, is alleged to have cleared a further 320ha of native vegetation.

The latest claim relates to activities allegedly carried out at the property Strathdoon, about 60km south of Moree, between January and September 2012.

Turnbulls grandson, Cory Ian Turnbull, owns the property at the centre of the investigation, and is also being prosecuted by the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH).

In a statement to The Leader, an OEH spokesman said the department launched the case against the Turnbulls on June 25 following an investigation.

OEH is also investigating other reports regarding the alleged illegal clearing of native vegetation on properties located between Moree and Goondiwindi, he said.

As these matters are either still before the courts, or the subject of continuing investigation, it is not appropriate to provide any further comment at this stage.

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More clearing charges loom

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Land Clearing Of East Texas -- Longview Texas - Tyler Texas

Footage has revealed bulldozers again clearing land on a property owned by the son of a man accused of shooting dead an environment officer in NSW's north last week.

Ian Robert Turnbull, 79, was charged with the murder of Glen Turner at Croppa Creek, north-east of Moree.

Turnbull was involved in a long-running dispute with the Environment Department over land clearing which had previously taken place in the region.

Mr Turner was in the area to respond to reports of illegal land clearing when he was allegedly killed by Turnbull.

The Land and Environment court last week ordered Ian Turnbull's son Grant Turnbull to begin remediation work on his property, known as 'Colorado', after his father pleaded guilty to illegally clearing over 400 hectares of native vegetation.

Since then, footage filmed by Tamworth-based ecologist Phil Spark and obtained by the ABC shows that on Monday this week, a bulldozer was again clearing land on 'Colorado'.

"I saw a dozer operating at Colorado, pushing up burning piles of timber in the area recently cleared," he said.

"Every additional impact is going to make remediation more difficult.

"The timber debris that's left after the clearing which they're burning now, that could have been habitat in the remediation area."

The ABC also understood bulldozers were operating at the property on Wednesday.

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Croppa Creek land clearing resumes after environment officer fatal shooting, footage shows

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

Phil Redpath speaks out in defence of his former colleague Glen Turner, who was gunned down in Croppa Creek.

Attempts to cast the slain environmental officer Glen Turner as a pariah who was persecuting an honest farmer have appalled a former colleague, who fears the alleged killer will be romanticised as some kind of Ned Kelly of land clearers.

I want to honour Glen by setting the record straight, said Steve Beaman, who worked alongside Mr Turner as a compliance officer in the states north-west for the state Office of Environment and Heritage.

Mr Beaman, who took redundancy last year, accompanied Mr Turner in August 2012 when he visited Ian Turnbull, the 79-year-old farmer who is now accused of murdering Mr Turner in a hail of five gunshots, three of which hit the man.

Burning off on Grant Turnbull's property 'Colorado' near Moree last week. Photo: Peter Rae

Mr Turnbull allegedly ambushed Mr Turner and fellow officer Robert Strange last week on a dirt road at Croppa Creek, north of Moree.

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I was deeply grieved by Glens death, Mr Beaman said. But he became troubled two days later when he read a media statement from a Turnbull family member who described Ian Turnbull as a respected elder who crumbled under the pressure of prosecutions and orders to remediate land cleared of trees.

Mr Turnbull had been unhappy about Mr Turner visiting their properties and the family reportedly hoped this tragedy would lead to changes to the NSW Native Vegetation Act to give farmers more say about land clearing.

Continue reading here:
'He's not some kind of Ned Kelly'

The West Australian

WA is on the cusp of its biggest agricultural land releases in decades as the State Government shows a growing appetite for unlocking hundreds of thousands of hectares for farming.

In addition to land being allocated for irrigation projects which could cover 100,000ha in the north of WA, the Government is considering releasing 200,000ha of crown land near Esperance for farming.

The land targeted for release around Cascade covers the equivalent of a third of Perth's sprawling metropolitan area.

It is surrounded by thriving farms in a 350mm to 400mm-a-year rainfall zone. Based on recent sales of $1500 per cropping hectare in the region, it would be worth up to $300 million minus development costs.

The Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission, the Shire of Esperance and the local chamber of commerce pushed for the land release at a regional Cabinet meeting in the town in June. It is understood the proposal has gained considerable traction within Government.

Esperance shire president Malcolm Heasman said the land was anything but marginal and opening it up would provide a big boost to the local economy.

Mr Heasman said five areas within the shire boundary had been identified for conversion to farm land. The land had been gazetted for farms in the past but never released.

Mr Heasman said the initial reaction from Cabinet ministers and Government moves to open up land for farming in the north encouraged the shire and GEDC to pursue the release.

He said much more was known about land-clearing for farming than in the 1970s and 80s. It is understood the land is largely free from native title complications.

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Clear run for new farmland

EDITORIAL

Calling for the repeal of the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003: Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce. Photo: Fairfax Media

Glen Turner was shot in the back on Tuesday last week. He was shot multiple times. When he was killed he was working beside a public road near Moree. He was not serving an infringement notice in his capacity as a senior compliance officer with the Office of Environment and Heritage, enforcing the law against illegal land clearing.

The killing of this 51-year-old father of two, which police will allege was the result of a calculated ambush, is a grave matter of public concern. People in the central west are appalled that the killing has attached itself to the local farming community. In this context, the Herald believes some of the comments by elected officials have been unhelpful.

Starting at the top, the federal Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, responded to the killing by calling for the repeal of the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003.

This is not helpful, even though Mr Joyce decried the killing of a man who wasnt the architect of this law ... just doing his job. The NSW Farmers Association has described the Native Vegetation Act as one of the biggest impediments to sustainable food and fibre production in NSW. Mr Joyce went further over the weekend, telling The Northern Daily Leader: You have this crazy situation where you dont own the vegetation on your land, the state government does, and many people have had enough ... Im calling on the state government to repeal it, get rid of these laws ... they shouldnt be the responsibility of anyone to try and enforce.

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While his comments, and the views of the NSW Farmers Association, offer insights into the gravity of this issue to many farmers who feel they have to bear an excessive burden, the killing of Mr Turner cannot be attached to even a semblance of justification because of a state law that many farmers regard as onerous.

Not helpful, also, was the comment by the mayor of Moree Plains Shire Council, Katrina Humphries, who said she had feared the land-clearing issue would erupt in violence. The mayor was in no way offering any rationalisation for the crime, but her comment is only a few steps away from creating an image of farmers with guns wanting to protect their land from meddling ideologues.

Also unhelpful was the comment by the local state MP, Kevin Humphries, the member for Barwon, who said this case had become very personal because of the protracted nature of the dispute between the family of the accused killer, Ian Turnbull, and the Office of Environment and Heritage. Many people become involved in protracted litigation. The law moves with infamous slowness. But almost never does a commercial legal dispute lead to a death. This outcome was highly unusual.

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A death in Moree: no cause, no justification

GUA MUSANG, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- A mini command centre will be created early next month to combat increasingly rampant illegal opening of land in Cameron Highlands and its surrounding areas, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.

He said the aim of the centre was to map out strategies and gather information on illegal encroachment on land in the area.

He said the centre would involve representatives from numerous agencies such as the Department of Environment, Drainage and Irrigation Department, Forestry Department and the Cameron Highlands District and Land Office.

"Whatever information from the command centre would be reported to the ministry weekly after the post-Cabinet meeting," he told reporters after checking on an illegal land clearing site at Gunung Yong Belar, Lojing near here Tuesday.

Gunung Yong Belar, which is located eight kilometres from Kampung Raja, Cameron Highlands, can only be reached using four-wheel drive vehicles.

"Illegal opening of land is becoming a very serious issue here, it must be stopped immediately but action must be taken with care.

"We cannot arrest people indiscriminately as we have to conform to the provisions of the law. We must have firm proof before taking any action," he said.

He said illegal land encroachment must be tackled in a determined manner to protect highland areas which would otherwise impact negatively on the environment.

Palanivel said Temporary Occupation Licences (TOL) would be given out to those who opened farms illegally to check the activity (from spreading).

"We cannot chase them (the culprits) out, we must maintain the area which have been encroached and turned into agriculture farms by giving them TOL," he said.

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Mini Command Centre To Tackle Illegal Land Clearing In Cameron Highlands

Crime scene: Police block off the road at Talga Lane on the Newell Highway at Croppa Creek last week. Photo: Cady Anderson, Moree Champion

Wheat farmer Ian Turnbull ambushed Glen Turner on a public road and opened fire while the environment compliance officer was inspecting an unrelated site, police will allege.

Mr Turner was not on the Turnbull family's properties and was not serving a notice for illegal land clearing when he was allegedly shot several times, throwing serious doubt on claims by Mr Turnbull's family that the 79-year-old farmer had been pushed to the edge by repeated harassment.

Detective Inspector Gavin Rattenbury said police will allege Mr Turner and a colleague from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) were carrying out unrelated duties on the side of Talga Lane, near Moree, last Tuesday evening when Mr Turnbull allegedly pulled up beside them, armed himself with a rifle and opened fire.

Ambushed: Glen Turner. Photo: Supplied

A bullet in the back killed Mr Turner but it is understood that more than one shot hit the 51-year-old father-of-two. Mr Turnbull then drove home, where he was arrested four hours later.

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After several reports last week that the OEH workers had arrived, unannounced, on Mr Turnbull's Croppa Creek property to serve a notice for illegal vegetation clearing, his family painted a picture of an elderly man constantly targetedby an aggressive government about clearing his land.

The incident generated widespread debate on native vegetation legislation, and came after years of mounting tension between farmers, environmentalists and governments about landowners' rights to clear vegetation for cropping.

Moree Plains Shire Council mayor Katrina Humphries said violence was "always going to happen". Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said: You have this crazy situation where you dont own the vegetation on your land, the state government does, and many people have had enough."

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Police to allege Glen Turner gunned down while inspecting an unrelated site in Croppa Creek

Crime scene: Police block off the road at Talga Lane on the Newell Highway at Croppa Creek last week. Photo: Cady Anderson, Moree Champion

Wheat farmer Ian Turnbull ambushed Glen Turner on a public road and opened fire while the environment compliance officer was inspecting an unrelated site, police will allege.

Mr Turner was not on the Turnbull family's properties and was not serving a notice for illegal land clearing when he was allegedly shot several times, throwing serious doubt on claims by Mr Turnbull's family that the 79-year-old farmer had been pushed to the edge by repeated harassment.

Detective Inspector Gavin Rattenbury said police will allege Mr Turner and a colleague from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) were carrying out unrelated duties on the side of Talga Lane, near Moree, last Tuesday evening when Mr Turnbull allegedly pulled up beside them, armed himself with a rifle and opened fire.

Ambushed: Glen Turner. Photo: Supplied

A bullet in the back killed Mr Turner but it is understood that more than one shot hit the 51-year-old father-of-two. Mr Turnbull then drove home, where he was arrested four hours later.

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After several reports last week that the OEH workers had arrived, unannounced, on Mr Turnbull's Croppa Creek property to serve a notice for illegal vegetation clearing, his family painted a picture of an elderly man constantly targetedby an aggressive government about clearing his land.

The incident generated widespread debate on native vegetation legislation, and came after years of mounting tension between farmers, environmentalists and governments about landowners' rights to clear vegetation for cropping.

Moree Plains Shire Council mayor Katrina Humphries said violence was "always going to happen". Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said: You have this crazy situation where you dont own the vegetation on your land, the state government does, and many people have had enough."

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'Ambushed' on public road

Christina Chin

The Star

Publication Date : 03-08-2014

Rampant land clearing for development and farming near buffer zones is putting a strain on Malaysias water catchment areas and preventing our dams from filling up despite sporadic rain and cloud seeding efforts.

Forestry and environment experts here have cautioned that unless water catchment areas are gazetted and protected, water basins are in danger of rapidly drying up.

Peninsular Malaysia forestry department director-general Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim said forests function like sponges to absorb water but the ground could not retain water if there are disturbances to the hydrological cycle caused by development and farming activities in surrounding areas.

The existing minimum 10m buffer zone surrounding water catchments is insufficient.

Buffer zones should vary according to the size of the forests and water bodies, he said, adding that de-gazetting of non-permanent forest reserves came under the state and local authorities jurisdiction.

There are one million hectares of forests under state control which can be developed. As a technical department, we can only advise the state authorities not to (approve development plans) but the final decision is theirs, he explained.

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Catchments in Malaysia not retaining water