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| Yandina Creek Wetland this week, with the backdrop of Mt Ninderry |
With floodgates being reopened this week so the Yandina Creek
Wetland on Queensland's Sunshine Coast can be restored, the future is
looking bright for this important site. A campaign spanning six years
has finally resulted in an excellent outcome for biodiversity in the
heart of Australia's tenth largest city. Supporters of that campaign
have suggested that its history be documented; this account is penned
in response.
I began campaigning to protect a wetland along River Road, Yandina
Creek,
back
in 2012. At the time I thought the wetland was restricted to a
small area of privately owned land adjoining the eastern end of the
road. I was struck by how this property was so
rich
in birdlife - birds included Black-tailed Native-hen and
Australian Painted-Snipe, both very rare in south-east Queensland.
I was disturbed by
the
destruction of similar habitat on a neighbouring River Road
property, and proposed to the Sunshine Coast Council (Sunshine Coast
Regional Council at the time) that it acquire part of the area and
protect it as a nature reserve. The proposal was rejected, largely on
the grounds of cost.
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| The wetland this week from the summit of Mt Ninderry |
I stumbled across the main area of wetland - two neighbouring
properties totalling 200ha -
by
accident in 2014. The wetland is hidden by trees from
Yandina-Coolum Road to the north and River Road to the south. One day
I ventured beyond my usual wanderings and was flabbergasted to find a
wonderland of birds. Flocks of migratory shorebirds flew about; a
pair of stately Black-necked Storks strutted their stuff; scores of
egrets, spoonbills, pelicans and other waterbirds graced the horizon
in every direction.
The fallow farmland was owned by fourth generation sugar cane
growers until it was acquired by property developers in the mid-2000s
following the closure of the Nambour sugar mill. The new owners
planned to convert it to cattle pasture initially. They hoped the
land would eventually be rezoned from rural to allow residential or
commercial development. The wetland was created artificially because
farm floodgates collapsed in the late-2000s, allowing tidal water
from Yandina Creek and Maroochy River to inundate the site.
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| A flock of Australasian Shoveler & Grey Teal fly over the wetland this week |
While I was in awe of what I dubbed Yandina Creek Wetland, the
original smaller area on River Road was drained when that property's
owners blocked the flow of tidal water to their land.
I prepared another submission for the Sunshine Coast Council, this
time suggesting the acquisition of the two larger properties for
conservation purposes. At the same time, I wrote and spoke to the
federal Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, and to the Queensland
Government, urging intervention because the cattle pasture plans
threatened species protected under federal and state laws. In
late-2014, I pulled together a
comprehensive
case for saving the wetland.
The wetland provided habitat for numerous bird species regarded as
rare or difficult to find in Queensland. Good numbers of migratory
shorebirds of various species frequented the site that are protected
under several international treaties to which Australia is a
signatory. The large population of one species, Latham's Snipe, at
Yandina Creek indicated the wetland was internationally significant
under Australian law.
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| Latham's Snipe |
It was important to stress how preserving the rural landscape of
the Maroochy River canelands was essential to maintaining the
integrity and attraction of the Sunshine Coast both as a major
tourist destination and as a desirable place to live. Protecting
low-lying areas as wetland could play a crucial role in controlling
floods as the region is notoriously flood-prone. A thriving wetland
full of waterbirds and other wildlife could be a major ecotourism
destination, boosting the Sunshine Coast economy while at the same
time protecting biodiversity.
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| Wetland looking towards Mt Coolum this week |
The battle for the wetland slowly began to gain traction, with
publicity
in the media and growing numbers of residents and community
organisations coming on board in support of both the council
acquiring the land, and federal and state intervention.
The
Sunshine Coast Daily and ABC
Radio were especially supportive.
I gave talks to community groups; met with the landholders and the Sunshine Coast Council; organised online petitions; set up a
Facebook
page and mailing lists of several hundred supporters; and
monitored developments at the site
on
my blog. I took people (among them Australian Formula One driving
champion Mark Webber) into the wetland; they were invariably
impressed with what they saw. Organisations that lent their support
included Birds Queensland, Sunshine Coast Environment Council,
Protect the Bushland Alliance and Noosa Parks Association.
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| Talking to Noosa Parks Association about the wetland, 2014 |
2015 was a torrid year. The landholders became increasingly
hostile, threatening legal and police action as it became evident to
them that the campaign risked derailing their development plans. Then
the landholders decided to
lease
the land back to its original cane farmer owners, so the
floodgates could be repaired and the site again planted with cane.
The intention was to establish a continuing land use legally, thereby
circumventing possible government intervention.
In June 2015, the Sunshine Coast Council
rejected
my submission to acquire the land for conservation purposes under
its Environmental Levy. Although the wetland was easily the most
diverse and largest of its kind in the region, the council determined
it was low priority. No inspection of the site was undertaken; no
studies were commissioned; and no reasons were given for the
decision. The council ignored the advice of some its own
environmental experts in reaching this conclusion.
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| The wetland was inundated when farm floodgates collapsed in the late-2000s |
The following month, in July 2015,
the
wetland was drained after the floodgates were repaired,
preventing further inflows of tidal water. Hundreds of waterbirds
were on the site at the time; many were nesting. The site turned from
a flourishing wetland to a bare wasteland in a couple of days. As I
wrote then:
“How did it come to this? The 200-hectare Yandina
Creek Wetland ticked all the boxes. This wetland was without equal in
terms of biodiversity in the Sunshine Coast region. It was one of the
finest wetlands of its kind in the whole of Queensland, embracing a
wide range of habitats including mangroves, sedges, grasslands,
mudflats and deep-water pools.”
Around the same time, Commonwealth and state officers inspected
the site and concluded there was no case for intervention. They
argued the wetland was “human modified” and therefore not worthy
of conservation. This argument ignored the fact that wetlands around
the world are increasingly artificial as natural habitat diminishes;
just a tiny fraction remains of the once extensive wetlands on the
Sunshine Coast. Moreover, the “artificially created” Yandina
Creek Wetland
closely
resembled what was there naturally before the area was developed
for cane farms in the 1920s. Nor does wildlife frequenting these
places care whether or not they are artificially created. The failure
of both governments to act is further evidence of the uselessness of
Commonwealth and state environmental legislation.
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| Cane farm development in the 1920s |
Things were looking grim. But three significant things happened
more or less around the same time in mid-2015, and the tide began to
turn, so to speak. The Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, Peter
Wellington, who held the balance of power and whose support was
crucial to the survival of the minority Labor government, became
involved. Wellington convinced state Environment Minister Steven
Miles to visit the site and meet with some of us engaged in the
campaign. This proved to be a pivotal event: the
Queensland Government began to have a change of heart.
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| L-R Greg Roberts, Queensland Environment Minister Steven MIles, Parliamentary Speaker Peter Wellington, SCEC's Narelle McCarthy, BLA's Judith Hoyle - July 2015 |
Meanwhile, BirdLife Australia, the country's biggest birding
organisation, became seriously active in the campaign, promoting it
to a national level and ensuring that hundreds more people lent their
support. BLA Southern Queensland convenor Judith Hoyle was the
driving force behind this key development.
At the same time, a substantial package I wrote as a journalist
about the wetland
for
The Weekend Australian was splashed across the front and feature
pages of the newspaper, further shaping a national profile for the
cause. Photographs were a crucial weapon in the campaign. I had taken
numerous images of the wetland before it was drained and the scenes
of desolation after the floodgates were shut. The contrast sent a
powerful message.
Then I filed
complaints
with Queensland Fisheries alleging the drainage works had
destroyed protected marine vegetation. The lessees were required to
reopen the floodgates in September 2015 and were served multiple
infringement notices. The reprieve was short-lived. The floodgates
were closed again three months later and the wetland drained
for
the second
time in 2015. They have not been reopened until now.
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| Closed floodgates on the site |
It emerged during a meeting between Judith Hoyle and Queensland
Government officers in November 2015 that for the first time, the
landholders
were
showing an interest in selling the properties, and there was a
real prospect of the wetland being salvaged. The landholders had
evidently reached the conclusion that the site was nothing but
trouble for them and were prepared to negotiate; a
commercial-in-confidence process was entered into between them and an
unknown third party. BirdLife Australia and Judith beavered away in
the background with efforts to persuade the Queensland Labor
Government and government agencies to come to the table and ensure
that this sensitive process was not derailed.
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| Wetland map |
The identity of the third party soon emerged. Government sources
say the office of Environment Minister Steven Miles was in touch with
the former Labor Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Jim Soorley, the chairman of
Unitywater, a statutory
authority responsible for water supply and sewage treatment on the
Sunshine Coast. Soorley, who as mayor did much to protect Brisbane's
wetlands, tells me he became interested in the site after reading a
BirdLife Australia article. He
contacted the
Unitywater chief executive, George Theo, and requested that
Unitywater investigate whether nutrient
capture and offsets were feasible on the land. Soorley says
it was only after the positive outcome of scientific studies was
confirmed with the Queensland Environment Department that
negotiations with the land-owners commenced.
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| Waterbirds at the wetland before it was drained in 2015 |
The plan was for Unitywater to reopen the
floodgates so the wetland would be replenished. Tidal water
entering the wetland would carry with it nutrients from the Maroochy
River which come from a range of different land uses. The wetland
will remove some of the nutrients and Unitywater can use this to
offset nutrients released after treating the community’s sewage at
a nearby treatment plant.
The landholders sold the properties to Unitywater for $4 million
in August 2016. Finally, all those efforts over so long by so many
had paid off. The wetland was to be restored and protected.
At Unitywater's request, the
news was not made
public at the time of the acquisitiion.
In January 2017 I
put together a pictorial account of of
the 150+ bird species recorded from Yandina Creek Wetland. Then
in February 2017, I revealed the excellent news of the
in
an article which featured prominently in
The Weekend
Australian, and on my blog.
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| Yandina Creek |
Unitywater entered into agreements with BirdLife Australia and the
University of the Sunshine Coast to undertake studies of birds and
fisheries habitat before and after the floodgates were reopened and
the wetland replenished. The Yandina Creek Wetland was
offically
opened at a ceremony in November 2017 but is not yet open to the
public.
It is a matter of regret that this otherwise edifying saga
culminated in something of a sour note. The opening ceremony was
clearly a significant milestone. Yet I was not invited or told of it
until after the event. BirdLife Southern Queensland was
there, but BLA Sunshine Coast and the volunteers surveying the
wetland were not invited. Neither were the owners of properties
adjoining the wetland who backed the conservation campaign. With the
exception of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, community groups
that played important roles in the effort were absent. In his address
to the function, Jim Soorley effectively claimed full ownership of
the outcome, making no reference to the long-running campaign or the
efforts of others.
On the plus side, Soorley gave a public assurance that the wetland
will be opened eventually to the public. In making this pledge,
Soorley debunked claims made publicly
by
one resident, a vocal opponent of the wetland campaign, that she
had been repeatedly assured by Unitywater there would be no public
access to the site. Unitywater deserves plaudits also for engaging
BirdLife Australia and others to survey the wetland; BLA has
successfully completed a series of pre-flooding bird surveys.
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| BirdLife Australia survey underway at the wetland |
Four floodgates along the wetland's northern edge on Yandina Creek
were reopened this week. Three floodgates in the south-east corner of
the site remain closed. The result is that the northern half of the
wetland has been replenished while the southern half remains dry. A
Unitywater spokesperson says: “
We will assess if
additional gates can be opened. Our priority is to ensure none of our
actions adversely affect neighbouring properties and the opening of
any tidal gates needs to be well considered. Our key purpose for this
site is to generate nutrient and vegetation offsets. While the
opening of tidal gates is an opportunity to also improve biodiversity
on the site, this is not our primary intention.”
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| Southern half of the wetland this week - still dry as some floodgates remain shut |
In September 2016 I found
another
area of wetland at West Coolum, 1.5
kilometres east of Yandina Creek. This 90-hectare site has similarly
been inundated by tidal water following the breakdown of floodgates
on former cane farmland. The area does
not appear to be as rich in
birdlife as Yandina Creek but nonetheless has
potential. The land is owned by the
Sunshine Coast Council and
zoned “open space sport environment”.
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| Coolum West Wetland |
I wrote to the council asking that the
site I've dubbed Coolum West Wetland be rezoned and protected as wetland. The council replied that it
is assessing the environmental value of the land, which is separated
from the Yandina Creek Wetland by the 440-hectare Coolum Creek
Reserve. All three sites – Coolum Creek Reserve, Yandina Creek
Wetland and West Coolum – may be protected as a contiguous
740-hectare bushland and wetland reserve in the heart of the Sunshine
Coast.
Now that would be one for the birds.
