Fire and 'Living in the Bush'

Living in sub-urban, fire-prone areas with insufficient infrastructure to be evacuated from in case of fires: Sprawl. >>The Age What is Alert systems? VoIP?

Updates:
"A team whose job was to issue public warnings on a fire that killed 121 people had no access to the CFA website on Black Saturday" >> Herald Sun 290509

"Families of Country Fire Authority firefighters were tipped off hours in advance about an approaching wildfire on Black Saturday">> The Australian 280509

"The smoke reached an abnormal altitude of 20 km" The smoke plumes (100209) polluted the stratosphere.>> NASA, CALIPSO 030509

And then there is the normal telephone: " The commission has been told that while more than 10,000 calls were made to the Bushfire Information Line, 82 per cent of calls went unanswered. " abc 020609

Cycling Byron Bay and Roadkill

Using sustainable mobility in the Byron Bay area runs against the unavailability of an appropriate infrastructure. Roadkill ist not just for native animals.
A woman's body was found next to the Pacific Highway near Byron Bay. "Police are examining links between the woman's death and a truck found a short distance away with significant front end damage." abc

Byrn blogspot not Byr-n. info.se here

This is not a Swedish site. The url is : http://byrn.blogspot.com

Share the Pacific with Whales and other Marine Mammals

Migratory Humpback whales ushering their calves along the Australian coast are in risky waters. Again another calf did not make it. Another one died at Byron Bay. The three to four months-old marine mammal had severe injuries from a twin-propeller boat (speed boat) "... The propeller had actually cut through the spine down towards the fluke, so he wouldn't have been able to swim properly." He was alive when found, but died from the severe injuries.

To traverse the 12,000 kilometres to their feeding grounds, as they have done forever requires safe passage. Human activities deny a habitat to this giant mega fauna in their numerous acts:

Boat strike:
Increasing human population, coastal sprawl and petrol powered aqua mobility increase the probability of injury or death for all marine mammals and other ocean creatures. Life with a dependent calf in 'humanised' coastal areas would consist of constantly evading and fleeing. Appeals of 'go slow' stand against a heavy motoring industry and a CO2-addicted mind set. Dolphins, dugongs, turtles and many more are cut up, injured and mangled in this increased human traffic that has no knowledge that they are racing on top of a world full of beings. Just as in the terrestial territory - it is called an 'accident'. The mother and calf team can probably navigate sailing boats of slow predictable vessels, but erratic speeding does not leave sufficient time to evade and flee. The line of communication is also broken through the howling noise of the motors under and above water.To negotiate fleeing a fast advancing rotating blade massacre presupposes time and sufficient (audible) information to prepare to flee and hope the slow giant can make it.

Noise:
All marine mammals suffer from the anthropogenic caused noise pollution in the oceans, motorised vessels buzzing about, giant ships, mining activities of oil and gas rigs, desalination platform constructions. Noise (injury) interferes with the social communication and navigation process.

Entanglement:
Our plastic debris from fishing and other thoughtless litter spells a long agony and drowning. (strangled whale image)

Bio accumulation:
Sewage, raw or treated, laced with toxins, pathogens and new emergent chemicals is not improving the immune system of the marine mammals.
Red tide, caused by our run off (eutrophication) poisons even whales.
Climate change, warming and acid oceans, together with pathogens, toxins interact to weaken their immune system
Ballast pollution
Oil Spills and other chemical spills

Amongst the offering of a degraded and dangerous habitat, there are some rays of hope for starting to effectively afford the giants some conservation.

• A whale sanctuary has been created off Chile's coast, ensuring safe passage for the cetaceans' migration over 3,400 miles (5,500 km).
• Speed restrictions reduce the threat of ship collisions with the North Atlantic Right Whales. "speed restrictions of no more than 10 knots applying to all vessels 65 ft (19.8 m) or greater in overall length in certain locations and at certain times of the year along the east coast of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard."
• Moreton Bay Marine Park, Brisbane, will contain "go slow" areas as part of their "green zones"

The whales and their offspring get so hindered by our taking and degrading of the Pacific ocean that they end up sick or injured at the shores. We 'help' by 'putting them down'. (here, here, here and here) Others 'harvest' their body parts under the guise of science.
Byron Bay, once a whaling town is filling its tourist beds with whale watchers today. One would think that deriving such profit out of the free nature spectacle, one could go beyond 'song and dance' and ensure legislation to effectively protect the ocean giants in 'swim safe zones' around Australia.

Images:
1 . Part of Warren Langley's glass panel Manly Library, Sydney 2. Dot Atelier
Links:
Humpback Calf lost in Sydney's Buzz
Differentiating Serious and Non-Serious Injury of Marine Mammals: Report of the Serious Injury Technical Workshop, September 2008, Washington, NOAA, pdf
Boat strike: EPA, qld info on whales, dugongs, turtles, Images, Propeller scaring
Update:
Conservationists argue that there is very little enforcement on boats going too close to migrating whales. abc 281008

Choking on human garbage - sharks do

Human garbage and fishing gear spells the death of many sea creatures. A Byron Bay protected grey nurse shark was stuck with a metre-long fishing hook in it's throat. A vet had to remove the artifact that so many just chuck into the landscape.The procedure can be watched here: video.

Dogs OR Shorebirds - they want dogs in Byron Bay

At Tallow Creek behind Tallow Beach in the Arakwal National Park they do not want shorebirds, such as Little Terns, Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers or Loggerhead turtles – they want DOGS. Dogs are brought in regularly into this nature reserve, stealing the habitat of these ground breeding birds, denying them a refuge.(4x4s are also driven right into the creek) Similarly at Belongil Beach, they do not want shorebirds breeding there, but regularly choose to not go into the dog-walking beach section, but only where there is a bird reserve. They unpack, literally packs of dogs out of their 4 x 4 s and let them go lose.Signs prohibiting certain activities are more an indication of what is to be expected in land reserved for wildlife. What a waste of natural resources.
Images:Tallow Creek, Tallow Ck. sign, Belongil Beach, dog walkers in the northern protected end, Belongil Beach 'bird protection' sign in car park.

Slash & Burn in the Hinterland, N.S.W.

Once there was thick subtropical rainforest, known as the 'big scrub', now there is less than 1% left. The area around Byron Bay to Mullumbimby, Wilsons' Ck, Uki and Nimbin appears as the following:
A patchwork of sugar-cane, cattle, macadamia and banana monocultures. Watercourses are clogged with algae and a permanent chemical smell around the (eroding) banana slopes. In between are weed-infested roads, clogged watercourses and private properties. Hardly any of these places seem to like and tolerate Australian plants. Thick forests of bamboo, introduced trees such as pines, succulents and most of all out of control weeds make up these places.

The 'peace & quiet' of the country is a myth as every property sprouts huge lawns, which get manicured daily. The petrol-driven power and garden tools howl 24/7. Their packs of dogs howl and yelp.

Every few turns a quarry eliminates a hill or a landmark of the landscape. In the end they are all quarries, minerals, meat, sugar or fruit. Cows and horses seem to stand inside the barbed-wire fences, cooking and unattended.

The big scrub project is not yet completed, that 1 % is irritating. Tire-less clearing is ubiquitous, not the type that gets monitored via GPS, but small individual land holders, poisoning, ring-barking trees and making these so iconic 'heaps of vegetation' which finally get incinerated. Numerous fires go all night and over days, when some get out of control, the local fire-brigade picks up the tab. In the developing world, they call it slash and burn agriculture, here it is just culture.

The goal seems to be, eradicate bio-diversity, replace it with impoverished monoculture, then mine it or put some 'cash-cows' (houses) on it. Flog off petrol-dependent wasteland without infrastructure and then move 'away from it all'.

The native flora and fauna are the big losers. They are bullied out of their homes or their space is too fragmented and they have to cross roads. Hence, most of Australia's wildife can be viewed in wild-life rescue centres or smeared on roads. Packs of dogs roam, finishing off the rest. A lot of Australian animals also find death though the endless barbed-wire and power-lines.
Land clearing NSW
Image: 'scorched Earth' and iconic vegetation heaps ,could be anywhere in the Tweed or Byron area

Snakes dancing at the beach - video

Snakes at Byron beach environments

Thanks to Hugoatbyronbay

Bitou, toxic sprays, health and land management

Australia has committed many infamous vandalisms against the landscape with the voluntary introduction of cane toads to control pests in the sugar cane industry for example. Foxes were also introduced for the leisured classes to have something to hunt for in 1871.
Many exotic plants have been introduced and are still being imported, industrially propagated and randomly released into the environment. One of these examples was the Bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) , introduced from South Africa in the 60's, it was supposed to be a quick solution to stabilise the coastal land where extractive industries had mined the beaches for sand. Yes, it is that yellow daisy that is so ubiquitous on Australian beaches left behind for you as an inheritance.

“Bitou bush has now infested about 80 per cent (or more than 900km) of the NSW coastline, extending 10km inland in some areas. It has become the dominant species along about 36 per cent of the state's coastline.“ “Bitou bush has become one of Australia's worst environmental weeds. “

The woody plant “is a highly competitive weed that smothers native plant communities and destroys natural habitat and food sources for native animals “
Authorities and volunteers attempt to halt the invasion by physical removal, fire, biological control and herbicides. Bundjalung, Yuraygir, Hat Head, Crowdy Bay, Botany Bay and Eurobodalla national parks have had spraying from the air and additional ground spraying of toxins that kill the plants. National Parks authorities aim to “ to ensure that all aerial spraying programs are undertaken to the highest possible standard, whilst preserving public safety and minimising harm to the environment. “

Cape Byron Headland Reserve and Broken Head, Wooyung and Brunswick Nature Reserves will get $120,000 worth of funds 'to battle bitou bush'. (NP)

Some people in the area object to councils spraying poisons, some relate herbicides with degenerative diseases, some communities are concerned herbicides drift into the drinking water.

What assurance is given to residents, bushwalkers and beach-goers, as well as to wild-life, that all are not immersed in toxic chemicals that one day might be discovered to have been 'a mistake'. The aerial mist and ground wash-off will have entered the circuit of all living organisms, as well as the water and air currents.
Health effects of herbicide
Health effects of 2,4-D
Toxic Human
Parkinson and Herbicide
Effects of Roundup on mammalian fertility
10 reasons to stop herbicide
The EU banning Paraquat
A community resisting herbicide
A contemporary sustainable educational institution refraining from spraying toxins

Update 260609:

• " Weed killer kills human cell... Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells." Environmental Health News, 220609
• Nora Benachour and Gilles-Eric Sralini, Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells, Chem. Res. Toxicol., 2009, 22 (1), pp 97–105 DOI: 10.1021/tx800218n Publication Date (Web): December 23, 2008

Update 062011:
Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark? Earth Open Source Report, June 2011 on scribd

Toxic spray at Wategos Beach

Spraying (of herbicide) in progress at Wategos Beach end of the the Cape Byron Walking Track.
What about the drift onto the beach?
What about the drift into the water supply?
What about the right to know, what is being sprayed?
How about prior notice for visitors and residents?
But does anyone care?