WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SAVE UNDERWOOD AVENUE BUSHLAND

Use these points in your comments to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population when the UWA proposal for Underwood Avenue Bushland is referred to the federal department. Include the proposal title, and the reference number. Go to www.environment.gov.au and then EPBC Act on the LHS. There will be only ten days to get your letter in.

DSEWP
John Gorton building
King Edward Tce
Parkes ACT 2600

I [or the group’s name] believe that the University of Western Australia’s proposal for housing in Underwood Avenue Bushland if implemented would have a significant impact on listed endangered species, namely the Carnaby’s Cockatoo, the Graceful Sun-moth, the Rainbow Bee-eater and their community. I urge the DSEWP to declare the proposal a controlled action again (for the third time).

Carnaby’s cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus latirostris
• The group of Carnaby’s cockatoos which live in the western suburbs area between February and August each year, drink at Perry Lakes (or the Karrakatta Cemetery) each evening, roost in tall trees at the corner of Underwood Avenue and Brockway Rd (or in the area around the Hollywood Hospital) and feed in bushland and residential trees and shrubs in the western suburbs.
• The Banksia, jarrah, marri, hakea and acacia in Underwood Avenue Bushland provide high nutrient food which is essential to the wellbeing of the cockatoos.
• Banksia prionotes is an important and significant species, as it flowers from January to August and it flowers prolifically. Banksia attenuata flowers from October to February, so banksias provide food for most of the year.
• Banksia prionotes is also an important species for small bush birds, which also face extinction. (R Davis and L Brooker- Ecological Linkages and Urban Fauna at Risk on the Swan Coastal Plain)
• It is a fact that Carnaby’s cockatoos forage over all of Underwood Avenue Bushland.
• If we want to see Carnaby’s cockatoos survive into the future, we must stop clearing their habitat.
• A major reason that numbers of Carnaby’s cockatoo continue to decline is the continued clearing and fragmentation of banksia woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plain.
• The western suburbs has seen bushland cleared at AK Reserve and at the former ECU site, now called Churchlands Green. Future clearing will occur in bushland along Bedbrook Place, in Selby St for the Autism Association building, and probably in the future at Royal Perth Hospital bushland, Shenton Park, as well as Health Department and Defence Department owned land adjacent to Shenton Bushland in Shenton Park. This clearing has and will contribute to further stress Carnaby’s cockatoos in the area.
• The stand of Banksia prionotes abutting Underwood Avenue would be completely destroyed if the UWA proposal is allowed.
• Underwood Avenue Bushland is important in its own right and is vitally important as a linkage between Bold Park and Shenton Bushland and on to Kings Park.

Graceful Sun Moth, Synemon gratiosa;
This endangered moth may be present in Underwood Avenue Bushland. One was sighted in Shenton Bushland this year so there is every possibility that they could be in Underwood Avenue Bushland.

Rainbow Bee-eater, Merops ornatus;
This migratory bird comes to Underwood Avenue Bushland each year, staying from September/October to February/March and nesting in the bushland.

There will be no ‘net environment benefit’ from this latest UWA proposal and offsets cannot be offered to compensate for the loss of any part of this remaining remnant of fantastic bushland.

Yours faithfully,


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