The Bugle - 02 February 2007
In news this week
Regional NRM group stories
- NRM hero receives Australia Day gong
- Cape fire risk recedes
- Summer floods "spring clean" tropical waterways
Government updates
Queensland Wetlands Programme updates
Natural resources news
- Environmental campaigner named Australian of the Year
- Climate change report prompts calls for global summit
- Feel like going to a conference?
- ABS releases statistical treasure troves
- Get a job in NRM!
Regional NRM group stories
NRM hero receives Australia Day gong
The chair of SEQ Catchments and Queensland's Regional Groups' Collective, Gordon French, was honoured by being named a Member of the Order of Australia in this year's Australia Day awards.
Mr French received the award "for service to the dairy industry through a range of executive roles with organisations concerned with industry research, reform, training and education, and to natural resource management".
In other news, former Natural Resources and Water general manager Tony Pressland won a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service in the field of sustainable management of natural resources in Queensland.
Congratulations Gordon and Tony!
Cape fire risk recedes
The risk of a highly volatile 2007 fire season on Cape York Peninsula has been substantially reduced due to large areas burning in November and December, according to Cape York Peninsula fire program manager Peter Thomson.
Last October, Mr Thompson warned of a severely increased fire risk in 2007 due to debris left in the wake of cyclones Monica and Ingrid, and the fact that only 20 per cent of usual burns had occured.
Since then, this risk had been reduced, with about 4.5 million hectares (80 per cent of the usual burn) burnt in 2006.
"It is with some relief that we can now alter the prediction we made in October 2006 for the 2007 fire season to a lower grade risk. This, however, does not mean that landholders can become complacent, especially in those areas that didn’t burn this year. Good fire planning can protect property and manage feed for cattle, as well as maintaining biodiversity which may be affected by large-scale wild fire," Mr Thompson said.
He said there were excellent examples of landowners working together with the Rural Fire Service, Natural Resources and Water and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to minimise the risk of wild fire.
The Rural Fire Service can advise landowners about precautionary burning and managing fuel loads. See the RFS website for more info.
Summer floods "spring clean" tropical waterways
Floods are a vitally important part of the normal life of a river, according to Mackay Whitsunday NRM Group waterways researcher Carl Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell said recent flooding rain in the Mackay district had benefited local streams as aquatic weeds and paragrass were flushed out to sea.
"The native vegetation alongside our rivers and in our wetlands benefit greatly from this flush of water. Those weeds - like Para grass - which compete with native vegetation are thinned out or flattened. Native vegetation gets a good soaking and this promotes new growth," he said.
Mackay Whitsunday biodiversity coordinator Matt Bloor agreed rain brought life to the river.
"The district's migratory fish species like barramundi will now be able to move from upper catchment pools where they have been growing, protected from predators, back into the sea to spawn and complete their lifecycles in coastal wetland nursery areas," he said.
"Waterways in full flow enable species such as sooty grunter to move upstream into breeding grounds in the wet season. Almost every species of freshwater fish in the region will use this opportunity to access new habitat.
"Newly filled wetlands areas will be seen to come alive with bird and frogs-heavy rainfall triggers many species such as burrowing frogs to emerge from underground and mate."
For more info, phone Carl Mitchell on 0448 856 297.
Government updates
PM's $10 billion water plan speech available on line
If you were on the Moon last week, you might not have heard the Prime Minister announcing a $10 billion water plan, with the centrepiece being the Australian Government assuming control of the Murray-Darling river system.
The Prime Minister's address to the National Press Club announcing the plan is now available on line.
Read the Prime Minister's speech
Queensland Wetlands Programme updates
A big day for the world's wetlands...
Today is World Wetlands Day!
The international theme for World Wetlands Day is "Wetlands and Fisheries", in recognition of the importance of fish and fisheries to all people around the world.
The Queensland Wetlands Programme is a joint Australian and Queensland Government initiative that helps landholders, industry, regional NRM groups and others manage and restore their wetlands.
The Queensland Wetlands Programme is celebrating World Wetlands Day by challenging a Townsville school with an important, but not-so-impossible, mission. The Wetlands Mission is a school program encouraging students to learn about and visit local wetlands, involving them in the restoration and protection of these areas.
To encourage the students to accept their "mission possible", Townsville media personality Steve Price, Queensland Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr and a representative of the Australian Government will visit the school today.
The new school curriculum for Year 7 students was developed by Townsville Central State School in conjunction with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Queensland Wetlands Programme. It will culminate in the students canoeing down Stuart Creek for two days.
For more information on the curriculum, phone Angela Pattie on 3006 4621.
To see how the Queensland Wetlands Programme can help you, visit the QWP website.
Natural resource news
Environmental campaigner named Australian of the Year
Environmentalist, explorer and dead set legend Tim Flannery has been named Australian of the Year.
Dr Flannery has led debate in Australia on climate change and learning to live sustainably in Australia's unique and fragile environment.
His swashbuckling style has led to comparisons with David Livingstone and Indiana Jones.
His recent book, The Weather Makers - the history and future impact of climate change, won the NSW Premier's Book of the Year award.
His controversial book, The Future Eaters, which charted the impact of humans on Australia and New Zealand, was made into an ABC TV mini series.
Dr Flannery has said he will use his position as Australian of the Year to advocate vigorously for measures to combat climate change.
Read about Tim Flannery on the Australia Day Awards web site
Climate change report prompts calls for global summit
A draft report has fuelled demands by scientists for a world summit on climate change, the ABC has reported.
The draft report predicts that by 2100, global warming will unleash bouts of extreme heat, dryness and rainfall and make typhoons and hurricanes more violent.
The United Nations Environment Program became the second UN organisation to urge new secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to call a paramount meeting on global warming.
Feel like going to a conference?
Here's three that sound interesting:
SEQ Regional Plan Conference - Living Smarter: The Future for South East Queensland, Gold Coast 4-5 March.
The Office of Urban Management is convening this conference to help industry practitioners to deliver best practice urban planning and design. International keynote speakers will discuss world best practices, while industry practitioners, and local and state agencies will be able to engage at a practical level with the urban development strategy and supporting principles within the South East Queensland Regional Plan.
Community Engagement 2007 - Innovative Methods and Techniques For Collaboration In Policy Making To Enable Capacity Building In Our Communities, Sydney 13-14 March.
Local Government Public Relations Conference 2007 - Communication in a Climate of Change, Gold Coast 21-23 March.
ABS releases statistical treasure troves
The Austrailan Bureau of Statistics has issued Yearbook Australia, 2007 and Australia at a Glance, 2007.
Get a job in NRM!
Are you interested in working with Queensland's regional natural resource management bodies?
Then head to the Regional Groups' Collective website where current job opportunities are now available.
Be sure to check back regularly to ensure you don't miss out on the job of a lifetime!
Thought for the week
There is hope for the future but not if we sit back complacently, not if we allow ourselves to feel helpless because, yes, the problems are huge around the world and there's nothing we can do as an individual to do anything about them, but each one of us can make those decisions every day that ultimately is going to cause social and environmental change and that we need to move out of this materialistic rut that we've fallen into, this ultimate consumer society and move in the way of developing our psychological, our spiritual beings, if you like, so that we can truly find the space that I think the human being should attain in the rest of the animal kingdom.
Renowned Chimpanzee Researcher, Dr Jane Goodall
Read or listen to Dr Goodall’s amazing address at the University of NSW last year
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The Bugle is a weekly newsletter published by Community Partnerships, the Department of Natural Resources and Water, highlighting regional NRM activities around Queensland.
Last updated 10 January 2008