Logan and Albert Conservation Association
Premier The Honourable Anna Bligh, and Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation The Honourable Andrew McNamara released a joint statement Wednesday 5 August 2008. It reads
are among options to be considered as the Bligh Government confronts a crisis facing koalas in southeast Queensland.
Premier Anna Bligh said new research showed the population of koalas in the wild was directly linked to the animals' movement through urban areas and urgent action was needed to slow the dramatic mortality rate.
This information has come to light since the introduction in 2006 of the Government's Koala Plan and means more radical moves are needed to stop the extinction of koalas in SEQ.
Hon Andrew McNamara MP Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation says in the foreword:
The policy establishes a framework for using environmental offsets in Queensland. It provides principles and guidelines for applying and developing more detailed ‘specific-issue' offsets policies for important environmental values such as vegetation and fish habitat. Environmental impacts from development must first be avoided and if not avoidable then minimised. Environmental offsets may be used to counterbalance any
remaining loss of environmental values. The policy will ensure that offsets are used consistently and transparently across the State, as a last line of environmental preservation response. The full document can be read here.
All levels of government need to place more value on conserving koalas and their essential habitat now in order for the koala species to survive in Australia. Dr Hanger from the Wildlife Hospital Australia reports on the latest findings of a study University of Queensland have conducted the past year following the progress of 10 koalas which, up until their release, had never lived independently. This story is available from Sunshine Coast Daily Online. Read it here.
The Australian Koala Foundation and other conservation groups are very concerned about the longterm survival of the koala - our national icon. AKF called for an overhaul of the 1998 National Koala Strategy because it has "not helped the koalas" with over 25 000 recorded koala deaths since its inception. The media release is available here. Australian Koala Foundation also has an enewsletter which can be accessed from the same page.
Koala Campaigners is a recent strategy led by the Australian Koala Foundation to help you help the koala.
A TEAM of international young volunteers from Hong Kong, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, UK and Belgium has arrived for the next phase of the "Rescue Action for the Veresdale Scrub" managed by the Logan and Albert Conservation Association (LACA). The team of seven young people and team leader Myrium De Rignies has been provided by Conservation Volunteer Australia to help LACA on the Bilarabyn Reserve site at Veresdale. The one per cent of the remaining areas of the Veresdale Scrub stretch across the Scenic Rim and Logan City Councils from Gleneagle to Cedar Vale.
Team leader Myrium De Rignies (left) with the LACA volunteers about to tackle rescue action at Veresdale Scrub with project leader Carla Parker on the right.
The Rescue Helpline is available for bat rescue advice and assistance. The Helpline services the Greater Brisbane Area, taking in Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands and Pine Rivers.
The Helpline is staffed by local volunteers, who have been trained in Bat rescue, care and rehabilitation. It is an EPA requirement that all bat hanlders be vaccinated against Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABL). All of our volunteers have been appropriately vaccinated.
Rescue Mobile - 24 hr service - 0488 228 134
Bat Information Help Line ph : (07) 3321 1229
.rescue.education.conservation.habitat.
ENDANGERED REGIONAL ECOSYTEM is threatened by subdivision and development application being assessed under out of date planning documents. A copy of this planning scheme is available on Logan's website here. It is a pdf file of 171 pages. It was first published 9 February 1985. The Beaudesert Shire Planning Scheme 2007 (commenced 30 March 2007) can be accessed from this webpage.
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to help make the Government feel the pressure to endorse Garnaut's recommendations and get the positive aspects of the report heard. The Government are currently considering the Garnaut Report but it is the polluters' voices who are being heard in the media.
GetUp! have provided a handy tool to help to write to the paper of your choice. There is a Climate Solutions Info Sheet with the key findings of the Garnaut Review. Read that Info Sheet here. Go to this campaign page.
Bilarabyn Reserve is the area where Logan and Albert Conservation Association is working in partnership with Scenic Rim Regional Council natural resource management staff, and other, non government organisations, to revegetate a large parcel of land to restore the dry vine scrub rain forest that existed pre farming activities.
Carla Parker is the Project Officer managing and coordinating work teams and volunteers. Botanical expertise is provided by Janet Hauser who is also a talented botanical artist who co-authored with Jan Blok, and illustrated Fragments of Green: An Identification Field Guide for Rainforest Plants of the Greater Brisbane Region to the Border Ranges. Andy Grodecki is co-manager and our natural resource management guru.
Our partner groups will use our documentation and maps to guide their onground work. These documents can be viewed 
Bilarabyn Reserve Managment Plan July 2008 Bilarabyn Reserve Revegetation Management Plan map
Global agricultural practices must change if we are to reduce hunger, poverty and environmental degradation, say a set of comprehensive international reports released by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) in April. These reports present a new paradigm for agriculture that represents an evolution of the concept of agriculture - focusing only on food production - to one that also enhances rural livelihoods while ensuring environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development.
An executive summary of the Synthesis Report is available here and as a pdf file here. A global summary for decision makers is available here.
Professor Roger Leakey, Australia's coordinating lead author of the global report, says the key actions identified in the global and regional reports can be summarised as:
*re-direction of agricultural science and technology - moving away from processes that have profited primarily large-scale enterprises, to processes that address the basic needs of the world's 900 million small farmers and lessen environmental impacts;
*innovation - initiatives that allow local communities to set the agenda alongside scientists and policy-makers;
*investment - in rural infrastructure, local governance and education.
'The overriding challenge is to revitalise farming processes and rehabilitate natural capital. To do this we need to even up the balance between "globalisation", which is the dominant paradigm now, and "localisation",' Professor Leakey says. Read more here.
The story was provided by CSIRO Publishing in Ecos Magazine.
TrekNature is a dedicated nature and wildlife photo community, dedicated to fostering a global community interested in nature photography from around the world. TrekNature members strive to provide engaging photographs and useful critiques for each other and the entire internet community. The underlying theme of TrekNature is learning more about the world through nature photography. TrekNature fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment. This is accomplished by an easy-to-use system which encourages people to critique each other's work. Integrated with this system are forums designed to encourage discussion about specific photos, countries, and general topics. Since TrekNature is globally oriented, it is completely multilingual capable, allowing for the widest audience possible.
Photo galleries are arranged by countries Australia is here.