THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 23 #46 Tuesday, April 28, 2009 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 21,000 copies every week
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BEST BEFORE BEDTIME
Solemn memories of comrades
Council funds available
Local historian Frank Mills pays solemn tribute at the ANZAC Day dawn service at Brunswick Heads last Saturday. Services were also held in Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and Bangalow to commemorate Australian soldiers’ sacrifice in theatres of war around the globe. Photo Jeff Dawson.
Byron Shire Council has invited community organisations or individuals to apply for Section 356 community donations. Mayor Jan Barham said the funding is a significant way in which community groups can obtain funding for the launch of new and ongoing projects or initiatives. ‘Over the past year, funding has provided equipment for preschools, animal welfare groups, environmental programs, education courses and emergency services,’ Cr Barham said. ‘Funding can also be used for events such as this year’s Kites and Bikes festival, Harmony Day and World Youth Day. ‘Byron Shire has a strong community of volunteers who give countless hours and energy into providing valuable services back into our neighbourhoods.’ In 2008/09, over $70,000 was granted to around 60 local community organisations, groups and individuals. An application form must be completed and is available at Council’s Community Access Points or on Council’s website at www.byron.nsw. gov.au/PublicExhibition/. All applications for funding will be considered at a Council meeting in June. Applications close Friday May 15. For further information, please contact Council’s Administration and Community Services Manager Anne McLean on 6685 9340.
Aerial spraying plans for parks put the wind up locals Victoria Cosford
The proposed aerial spraying of Bitou Bush infestation in the Byron Shire, scheduled to occur between May 18 and June 26, has caused some concern within the community. National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Pest Management Officer Lisa Wellman is quick, however, to dispel the more common fears. She points out that, first of all, the town will in no way be affected, and that the two areas of operation are
north of the Brunswick River up to the boundary of the Tweed/Byron Shire and the Cape Byron and Broken Head Reserves – the latter being a follow-up to spraying done there a year ago. There are stringent guidelines for aerial spraying of this pest in NSW, their chief purpose being to ensure that it is undertaken in a manner that provides effective control of the weed with negligible damage to the environment and whilst preserving public safety. The herbicides used are glyphosate
(the active ingredient in Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’) and metsulfuron methyl. Their use in winter months based on extensive trials that showed the impact of native species at this time was low, most of them lying dormant then. The areas in question will be closed off from the general public. One extremely concerned resident is local real estate agent Rose Wanchap, who has personally experienced the consequences of herbicide sprays. Shortly after moving to Byron Bay she became aware of regular
Council spraying of the dividing wall which runs the length of her street. Coinciding with these sprayings were allergic reactions experienced both by her granddaughter and by Rose herself – eyes puffing up, nose-bleeds, lethargy – and so she realised the need to maintain the wall at her own expense. That was four years ago: since then she has been paying around $3,000 a year for gardeners to do the job. And no further allergies. Her main fear is that, despite the manufacturer’s
claims that glysophate clings to the particles of the earth and stays on the plant, those very particles inevitably end up relocating ‘on, in, under my cupboards’. According to the Practice Guidelines For Aerial Spraying, ‘glyphosate and metsulfuron methyl are both biodegradable’ and ‘ glyphosate bonds to soil particles, limiting its movement within the soil’. Rose argues that ‘earth moves with every wind and rain that falls, it washes to where it will, in our continued on page 2