The Old Althause Heritage Road – a fatal encounter with bureaucracy
I am posting this as an example of the mindlessly corrosive nature of bureaucracy which places no value on our natural heritage or on alternative views, and of the destruction, of life and of spirit, that this evil (which I define here as ignorance/arrogance and indifference combining) mindset can and does perpetuate throughout all levels of governance in Australia.
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Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 8:54 AM
Subject: Re: DEH Online Queries
Maureen – thank you for contacting the Department
of Environment and Heritage. I have forwarded your email onto the
Legislation section of this Department for reply. (I never received that reply)
Regards
Community Information Unit
Department of Environment and Heritage
Below is the result of your feedback form. It
was submitted by Maureen Brannan (brannan.home@bigpond.com.au) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003
At 14:35:24
Name: Maureen Brannan
Organisation: Cloyna Nature Reserve
Email: brannan.home@bigpond.com.au
Query: My local council (Murgon Shire)
consistently destroys endangered old-growth ecological communities along
roadside reserves (The proposed Old Althause Heritage Road a case in
point). Virtually all fences in this shire are ILLEGAL, farmers having
stolen as much land as possible, placing their boundary fences right on the
road in many cases. There are hundreds of kilometers where the forest
road reserve has been totally cleared, most noticeably alongside the Byee
cotton farms, again illegally.
Not only does the council do nothing about these
breaches of law, they continually issue burning permits to farmers to degrade
“their” roadside reserve so only grass grows in their ‘long paddock’, and they
regularly push unnecessary drains into the undergrowth.
Remnant vegetation in this district is plagued with
die-back episodes, especially at Byee where there are simply not enough trees
left to accommodate insects when they swarm. Over the years I have
approached council and the EPA on a number of occasions with never any
response. I would very much appreciate it if you could look into this
degradation of our publicly-owned roadside reserves.
[Update 24.7.15
- I am in the process of
integrating management of our “Ribbons of Life” into my CCC initiative – where farmers
have illegally cleared the roadside reserve along main roads, rather than
revegetating, which puts wildlife at risk of being run over, I propose they “offset”
the trees and native habitat they have cleared and donate a suitable portion of
their land that is safe for wildlife, to eco-restoration, funded by
governments, to be linked to neighbouring properties wherever possible.]
I was the recipient last year of Envirofunding to
revegetate my privately-owned Nature Reserve and to experiment with ecological
restoration methods and processes, and I will be putting in an application this
year to restore the Old Althause Heritage Road, a critical wildlife habitat
corridor, which was all but obliterated by the council two months ago in one
devastating, unnecessary (it was perfectly drivable) road widening operation
that felled 104 old-growth trees along a four kilometer stretch. Greens and
Althause Roads are actually the old road from Windera and the first and oldest
road in the district. Althause was still very quaint to drive through,
meandering through the intact old-growth bush as it did, although Greens Road
had been straightened and widened years ago for a piggery.
I would like to know WHY MSC spent so much
money on the totally unnecessary road
widening, when Frieberg Road nearby is STILL chronically potholed along it’s
entire length! Friebergs Road has more farmers living along it, an
electricity substation and is used by the school bus, yet this road has been
severely degraded for years and is STILL not graded today! I believe it is
purely malicious vindictiveness towards me on their part.
Please respond – MSC will not answer my questions
and concerns.
(FROM COUNCIL MINUTES)
10f Holdings Road (RA 2/14) (AD 8/2) (A/Sheet 55)
The DES reports as follows:
Following inspections of Holdings Road, it is proposed to upgrade
Holdings Road to a higher standard. At present, the road is a low standard (No it wasn't - the standard of the road was
perfectly adequate - it only needed the scouring removed if anything, and only
a handful of people use it.) with some gravel sections.
As part of the maintenance strategy that has been implemented over recent
years, every endeavour is made to continually improve the gravel road standard.
However, improvements on the section, (Althause Rd to Cloyna West) requires the
destruction of a number of trees. Although every endeavour is made to retain
trees, (You didn't
endeavour very much, obviously) unfortunately the removal of the trees is required for the following
reasons:-
· The road
meanders between the trees - (Yes, it DID - it
was a quaint bush track, the first road in the district in fact, and also
represented the last old-growth forest remnant in Cloyna, there being very few
old trees left on any adjacent properties. As such it was prime wildlife
habitat, the dead trees also offering homes for native creatures. As the road
improves, traffic speed generally increases resulting in increased risks of a
traffic accident; the meandering of the road between the trees kept car speeds
down - THERE IS NO NEED TO SCREAM ALONG THIS ROAD AT 100 KMS AN HOUR AS SOME
HOONS DO - it just increases the risk of running over wildlife or hitting a
tree – I’ve found two
dead koalas on this road) as the road improves, traffic speed generally increases resulting in
increased risks of a traffic accident. (You are admitting that you are increasing the risk of a traffic accident!)
· Many trees are
too close to the edge of the road - this creates an increasing risk of a
traffic accident, but also prevents the installation of table drains. (Trees by the side of the road were beautiful
to behold, and once again slowed down the inconsiderate, uncaring yobbos who
used the road as a racing track - the road has existed for over 100 years - it
used to be cambered perfectly to drain away the water, but MSC totally wrecked
that and now they need to make frequent incursions into the undergrowth all
along the road, for 'table drains" - there were 32 drains pushed into the
undergrowth of the roadside reserve along a one kilometre stretch alone,
alongside the subdivision 3 years ago – possibly as more intimidation towards
me, some pushed right onto my property - all unnecessary)
· Many trees are
dead or severely leaning across the road. (None were ‘severely’ leaning. Dead trees are
critical habitat for many species. Country roads in England are like driving through
living cathedrals in many places - all the roadside reserves in those
landscapes are left completely intact and NOT TOUCHED - they experience far
more adverse weather conditions than here, yet they don't have a problem in the
country of 'trees leaning across the road' – the trees support each other...and
anyway, if they do come down, people will do what they always do around here -
get on their tractor and drag if off to the roadside. They are just not a
problem.) The approval of Mr Bob Baldwin is currently being sought. (Presumably Bob
gave his approval, or the road wouldn't have gone ahead - the question being
would he have given his approval if he knew all the facts.) However,
it is envisaged that cutting the trees will be a significant issue for some
residents due to environmental issues. (No, only one
- me - NO-ONE ELSE AROUND HERE GIVES A SHIT) In this case, human safety should take
precedence over these other issues. (…just as this ‘civilisation’ has always taken
precedence over the rest of the natural world which is why there are now 3,000
ecosystems in danger of extinction in Australia - i.e., we have destroyed so
much native vegetation that now the planet's life sustaining ecology is
collapsing.) It is estimated that tree removal will take
approximately one day using a Caterpillar D7 sized bulldozer. Should Council
agree with the tree removal and re-alignment / straightening, it is proposed to
expend approximately $10,000 - $12,000 to upgrade the section to a gravel
section. It should be noted that approximately $6,000 - $7,000 is required to
be expended to remove the scours which occur every wet season and place gravel
at selected sections.
MURGON SHIRE COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING
THURSDAY 24TH APRIL 2003
This is page 28 of 32 pages of the Minutes of the
General Meeting of Murgon Shire Council held 24th April 2003.
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Chief Executive Officer Mayor
Page 28
Expenditure in this manner would essentially result in “waste” as
ultimately action is needed to rectify the issues. Council’s endorsement of the proposed action is requested.
6125 PROPOSED Cr Rewald seconded Cr Eisenmenger: That
the work be considered in conjunction with the third quarter Budget review. CARRIED
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Additional notes: The approval of Mr Bob Baldwin is currently
being sought. (presumably Bob gave his
approval, or the road wouldn't have gone ahead - the question being would he
have given his approval if he knew all the facts.)
I believe the council neglected to inform Bob
Baldwin, whose permission they needed to fell those 104 old-growth trees, of
all the facts in the matter. He surely didn’t know that I had written to
council proposing the road be heritage listed. I met the man, I don’t believe
he would have approved this disgraceful vandalism of a heritage-value track
which was the first road in this district – at night, when the car’s lights lit
up the trees and you couldn’t see the cleared land behind them, it felt like
you were driving through the bush for the first time... it was magical -
they utterly destroyed it for no valid reason whatsoever other than with
malicious intent to get rid of me. This is also evidenced by the fact that, at
that time, Friebergs Road was in an awful state of disrepair, potholes
everywhere, and was used by the school bus! yet they chose to spend all that
money on a completely unnecessary road widening which turned the Old
Althause Heritage Road (what it was called before they re-named it Holdings
Road, also around that time) into a straight 2-lane highway instead of fixing
up Friebergs Road....that was in the same state of disrepair a year later (I
took photos at the time) and still is as far as I know.
MSC demonstrated just how malicious and vindictive
they were towards us after I had made a submission to them in 2001 to have the
old Althause Road from Cloyna village to the subdivision (now renamed Holdings
Road) heritage listed, as it was the first road in the district, with its
roadside reserve still relatively intact, unlike all the others. It was a
forgotten track, used only by the dairy farmer and a few residents on the
subdivision. It was quaint, meandering between old-growth trees, usually the
only ones left in the landscape after clearing - even the few dead ones
provided habitat for wildlife with their hollows etc. When you traveled along
it at night, it felt like being in the pioneer days - you couldn’t see the
cleared land on either sides and could imagine how it was riding through on
horses in the old days.
My suggestion to council was to re-zone it a Heritage Road and
Wildlife Corridor, and have a sign up saying this and for drivers to take
caution - the speed limit should have been advised 50 - this would have
addressed the safety of drivers and
the wildlife. Unnecessarily widening the road, causing so much
environmental damage and inevitably increasing car speed, is irresponsible to say
the least. An Envirofund application to revegetate the roadside reserve was
officially lodged in July. The $8.000 project would revegetate with vine
rainforest plants, up to the road's current width, both sides of the road and
build cob or super-adobe wayside shelters for walkers and cyclists.
I put this forward to council in a business plan of a ‘Back
in Time’ tour, starting at the Cloyna Church (owned by my friends at the time)
with horse and buggy rides (provided by another friend) taking eco-tourists to
the Nature Reserve - the aim was to have state-of-the-art solar and wind
powered adobe accommodation on the side of the hill, a wattle and daub settlers
hut by the crows ash, with 19th century accoutrements, and a camp of
Aboriginal gunyas (built by my friend Moollookatt) down by the billabong.
Tourists could experience the land in different eras. Leisurely walks
along the old Althause road would be a bonus. At the time, hoons were using the
road as a racing track, often killing wildlife. I suggested a sign that it was
a Heritage Road, advising caution and a speed limit of 50 and that it was also
a walking track with cob shelter and seats mid-way.
What was the council’s reaction? They sent in a D7
bulldozer and “widened” the old road, bringing down 104 old-growth trees, 50 on
one side and 54 on the other, one of their worst acts of environmental
vandalism (although there has been others). I drove along it afterwards sobbing
my heart out, tears just streaming down my face, I was so gutted. The piles of
logs are still there on either side of the road, getting smaller each year as
they are plundered for firewood every winter by the locals.
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