THE BYRON SHIRE
10 B r i d gl a n d s
Volume 23 #19 Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 22,700 copies every week
Huge celebration sale all week GIVEAWAYS GALORE! Special feature in centre pages
SYNECDOCHES R US
Top award for wildlife work Story & photo Lou Beaumont
Marny Bonner, cofounder of Australian Seabird Rescue, accepted an Action Award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) last Wednesday at Ballina in recognition of her commitment to the rescue and rehabilitation of Australian seabirds and marine wildlife. The award was presented as part of IFAW’s Animal Action Week and was also dedicated to Bonner’s late partner, Lance Ferris, who passed away suddenly on October 14, 2007. Together the pair founded ASR in 1992 after they rescued a pelican on their first date. Marny recalls it with obvious sentiment, ‘I had never met a man as passionate about wildlife as I was. Lance took me to a sand cave on the Richmond River where pelicans roost for our first date. [It is also where Lance’s ashes were scattered last year]. We found a pelican squatting. It had a hook buried in its leg which was attached to another hook deep in its chest and fishing line entangled in its wings. With even slight movement this poor bird caused great pain and injury to itself. I was stunned. ‘Lance and I sat down and began to methodically untangle the line and pick out the hooks. We gave it a long-acting antibiotic and then sat back in silence, in one mind. We watched it waddle off, take a few running steps and take flight. As I watched it soar I thought, “Today I
made a difference.” I was in the right place at last. ‘Initially Lance and I were overwhelmed by the problem. We knew we had to get an army of volunteers out there, change attitudes in the general public and access the next generation with information.’ So, ASR was borne of their shared passion. Since 1992, ASR has rescued over 1,500 pelicans from which the team have achieved an incredible 92.7% rehabilitation success rate. ASR is also responsible for the rescue
and rehabilitation of other seabirds, shorebirds and marine turtles. They have shared knowledge with the public and engendered compassion for marine animals. They have reached thousands of people through their beloved icon the pelican. A major ASR mission, conceived by Marny and Lance, is to establish effective teams in every major estuary in Australia. According to Bonner, the ASR team have already got pretty close to that goal. ‘A year ago I lost my soul mate. At
Byron Shire Councillors voted 6-2 last Thursday in favour of deferring flood mitigation measures at Suffolk Park until they have a workshop on the draft Tallow Creek Floodplain Management Plan. For the same reason they also deferred 6-2 considering a development application for a nine lot residential subdivision in Bottlebrush Crescent, Suffolk Park.
Council’s asset management staff had put up a recommendation to reserve $600,000 in the 2009/10 budget for new box culverts or a bridge across Broken Head Road near Beech Drive and Clifford Street and for an upgrade of the drainage system downstream of Broken Head Road. The developer of the residential subdivision in Bottlebrush Crescent would also chip in $1 million for the works.
Opposing deferral, Cr Ross Tucker argued that the money could be put aside in the budget and a final decision made later. Cr Diane Woods supported his view, saying ‘you pay money to engineers and don’t take their advice’. Mayor Jan Barham felt it was timely to get a strategic overview of flooding issues in the area before making a decision. ‘I drive along Broken Head Road
BEACON wants Minister to intervene at North Beach
every day,’ she said. ‘I have knelt on the ground and cleared drains. ‘This is one of the mayor’s jobs. I’ve done it many times. ‘The problem in that catchment was there from the day the wetland was filled in.’ During public access Helen Brown, a member of the local floodplain committee, supported the move to defer.
Local conservation lobby group BEACON is calling on the NSW Minister for Planning, Kristina Keneally, to intervene to review her Director General’s decision to allow Becton ‘to reduce the area set aside for compensatory habitat protection and undertake subdivision [at its North Beach site, Byron Bay] in contravention of Byron’s Local Environmental Plan, on the grounds that this is an unlawful exercise of power and a misuse of the Minister’s delegated authority’. BEACON President Dailan Pugh said, ‘In May this year the Director General secretly approved revised plans which reduced the area to be protected for conservation in perpetuity by 3.2ha down to 59.6ha. ‘In this process the Director General approved subdivision of the Coastal Erosion Zone in contravention of the Byron Local Environmental Plan. BEACON has obtained legal advice that this is likely to be an unlawful exercise of power which may render the entire consent inoperable. ‘Similarly, in accordance with the advice of the Department’s own consultants, the Minister’s approval required remapping of the endangered ecological communities on the site as only four out of 11 endangered communities had been identified. Becton resubmitted their original mapping and the Director General simply signed off on it. ‘We dread to think what else the Director General may have signed off on in this secretive process. This clearly shows the folly of transferring decision making to Sydney and expecting head office of the Department of Planning to have any idea of what they are allowing in Byron Bay.’ BEACON is also objecting to Becton’s current plans to increase the
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times we need someone to rekindle the light within us. There is a time for us all to acknowledge and be grateful for those that ignite that flame. It is to Lance that I owe my deepest gratitude.’ If you are keen to join the ASR army of wildlife ambassadors, sign up for one of their two day workshops that include theory and practical training in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. The next workshop will be held in March 2009, visit www. seabirdrescue.org.
Councillors look at floodplain hazards at Suffolk Michael McDonald
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