Why?

“Every remaining patch is critical.”

Dr Rochelle Steven, Conservation Scientist

In April 2020, BAI Communications referred a proposal to develop 13.55ha of Lot 802 and part Lot 803 of Banksia woodland at Erindale Road, Hamersley, to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). This land was until 1999, Crown land owned by the Commonwealth as part of the National Transmission Network. It was privatised and after three changes in ownership is now owned by BAI Communications, a global company with its head office in Sydney NSW, which is proposing the sale of 13.55ha of the 42ha bushland for residential housing. Here are just some of the reasons why we can't let that happen:

Quality

74% of this remnant native bushland has been assessed as being in good to very good condition containing ecologically threatened plant communities, providing a foraging and breeding habitat for native birds and animals including the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo.

Threatened Status

Most of the 13.5ha of bushland is Banksia woodland which is protected as a Threatened Ecological Community on the Swan Coastal Plain under State and Federal environmental laws. This ecological community is found only on the Swan Coastal Plain within the Southwest Australia global biodiversity hotspot.

Native Vegetation

The Erindale Road Bushland also contains mature Rottnest Island Pines, Tuart trees, Xanthorrhoea preissii (grass trees) and many other trees and plants that are native to the Swan Coastal Plain.

Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo Habitat

The Erindale Road Bushland is an important part of the remaining Banksia woodland in the northern suburbs of Perth and is critical to the survival of the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo.

Public Value

Until 1999, this land was in public ownership through the Commonwealth Government; it should be reclaimed as an area of significant natural and cultural heritage.

Traditional Owners

Hamersley is part of a larger area of land that was occupied by the Mooro Nyoongar people before and following European settlement. No on-ground assessment or consultation has occurred with First Nations people who walked, camped and lived on this land.

Declining Urban Tree Canopy

The City of Stirling’s Urban Forest Plan includes a target of 18% average canopy by 2040. Each year the City of Stirling is losing four times more canopy than it grows and the most recent figures available show that the City’s canopy averages 12.4%. The City’s strategy seeks to reduce annual canopy loss by 50%. City of Stirling Urban Forest Strategy Over the past six years the City has lost 1.2 million square metres of tree canopy with the majority caused by residential development.

Image by Friends of Underwood Avenue Bushland.

Perth's Unique Bushland

"Perth is the capital of the Southwest Australia Ecoregion, one of only 34 internationally recognised Biodiversity Hotspots (Conservation International 2010). The World Wildlife Fund argues that Perth may be the wildlife capital of the world, with over 2,100 plant species, 15 amphibian species and 156 native birds, with seasonal influxes from visiting seabirds and migrating shorebirds (World Wildlife Fund 2013). Perth also has 71 reptile species and is believed to have more reptiles than any other urban area in the world, including the western swamp tortoise, which is WA’s most endangered reptile (World Wildlife Fund 2013)." http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/wetlands/environmental-concerns/biodiversity

The Urban Bushland Council recognises that Perth’s bushland holds a wide range of values that contribute strongly to our sense of place. These values are Social, Educational, Scientific, Recreational and Ecological.

The scientific study of Western Australia’s flora and fauna has only scratched the surface. The conservation of remnant bushland not only conserves flora and fauna but often also keeps intact some of the natural landforms of an area. The “web of life” at the invertebrate level and at the microscopic level is very poorly known. The interaction between these levels and macroflora is, again, very poorly known.

When bushland is cleared, nobody really knows exactly what is being lost. We must conserve this valuable remnant native bushland for future generations.