We are very pleased to be hosting a talk by Beth Shultz from the Conservation Council of WA, on "Saving Our Forests - the next steps".
 
Beth is a Queenslander who arrived in Western Australia in 1970.  In 1975, in response to the commencement of WA’s native forest woodchip industry, she became a founding member of the Campaign to Save Native Forests (WA) and co-convener of the South-West Forests Defence Foundation, the first forest conservation groups in this State.
 
Since then she has been involved in the campaign for the better use and management of WA’s native forests, including the successful campaigns to have the Shannon River Basin gazetted as a national park and old growth forest protected. 
 
Beth became associated with the Conservation Council of WA in the late 1970s and was a delegate for some years before being elected to the Executive.  She served as President from 1992 to 1995 and is now Vice-president.  She is the Council’s spokesperson on forests, forestry, woodchipping, and fire in the natural environment.
 
In 1991 Beth received the John Tonkin Greening Western Australia award for individual endeavour in conservation; a Lotteries Commission Volunteers award for outstanding volunteer service to the community in 2001; the Australian Conservation Foundation Peter Rawlinson Conservation Award for voluntary contributions in 2002; and in 2003 a Prime Minister’s Centenary of Federation medal for service to the preservation of the natural environment.  In 2007 she was made an Honorary Life Member of the Denmark Environment Centre, and an Officer of the Order of Australia for her work in helping to protect WA’s old growth forests.
 
            Date:         Tuesday 9 Sept 2008
            Time:         7:30 pm start, refreshments to follow
            Venue:       Kalamunda Library
            RSVP:        By Friday 5 September to Margaret or Tony Fowler at 9293-2283, or fowlerak@iinet.net.au 

Called "extinction in motion", cane toads have the potential to devastate Western Australia's native wildlife and change forever the unique character of the Kimberley that we value so much. Unless we stop them, they will also become a poisonous pest throughout the South-West just as they have in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Northern New South Wales.

An aggressive predator, the cane toad competes with a multitude of small native species for a limited food supply. They also produce a highly toxic poison which makes them a deadly meal for native and domestic animals alike.

The Stop the Toad Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-government organisation working with community, corporate and government sectors to keep WA Cane Toad Free.

You can help the Stop the Toad Foundation in the fight to stop WA from becoming the next cane toad victim by making a tax-deductible donation today.

Your donation will help the Foundation to conduct the Great Toad Muster from 20 September - 18 October 2008

Click here to read more and to find out how to donate.

Recently, at a Greening Australia planting project, a suspicious larval grub was found alive inside a bamboo stake. After some conversations with Sure Gro (who import them from China) & then AQIS (Quarantine) the bug was sent in to be analysed. Following the analysis, AQIS rang Greening Australia to inform them that the bug is foreign and that they are doing a recall on the batch due to failed fumigation. We’re talking about possibly hundreds of thousands of stakes, most of which are in the ground for various Landcare projects, all over East Gippsland, but some that may have ended up for sale in garden centres.

This is an emerging issue to keep on eye on. If you have used or stocked Sure Gro bamboo stakes recently you may need to chase down the batch number.  We will provide more information, and batch numbers as they come to hand.

During September 2007, Western Power announced plans to establish a terminal substation within a study area comprising the Shire of Kalamunda, City of Gosnells and Shire of Mundaring.

The substation, known as Eastern Terminal, will require the initial clearing of approximately 20 Hectares of land; however the substation will eventually be connected to high voltage transmission lines running along up to 14 new 60-metre-wide corridors. This would require the clearing of up to 400 Hectares of forest, an area the equivalent of Kings Park.

Western Power recently released a map of the possible areas in which the terminal could be located. All of the areas comprise state forest and include priority 1 and priority 2 water catchments.

Western Power is now asking for submissions on the proposed site selection process.

The NRPG has a number of concerns in relation to the site selection process and submitted the attached letter to Western Power.

Ltr_submission_to_WP_on_ETS_12-6-08.pdf (38.76 kb)