Yandina Creek Wetlands: The Case for Conservation

The Yandina Creek Wetlands, a short distance inland from Coolum Beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, has emerged as an environmental site of statewide and potentially national importance. The presence of an unusually diverse array of rare, threatened and difficult-to-find birds in the wetlands and associated grasslands provides a compelling case for their protection as a reserve.

A proposal is before the Sunshine Coast Regional Council (Nomination Number R100) to acquire three properties (Lots 3 and 4 RP148079 and 2RP107173) that cover the wetlands - totalling about 200 hectares - under the council's Environmental Levy Plan. The owners of the two biggest properties (Lots 3 and 4RP148079) have indicated their intention to drain the wetlands to recover the land for farming, probably cattle. The purpose of this report is to indicate the potential implications of any such move under federal and state environmental legislation, and under local government planning regulations, and to advance the case for conserving the area.

The bird list for the wetlands is impressive (see a full list of species at the end of this report). Species that are considered to be rare or uncommon in Australia that occur there include Australian Painted-Snipe, Australian Little Bittern, Eastern Grass Owl and King Quail. The area contains one of the highest densities of Eastern Grass Owl in southern Queensland, with several pairs resident.

Birds considered to be more generally scarce in Queensland seen at the Yandina Creek Wetlands include Australian Spotted Crake, Grey Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon and Spotted Harrier. The wetlands and grasslands in the area at times host a large number of birds of prey when populations of native rodents (Rattus lutreolus and Rattus tunneyi)are present.

Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Australian Government is required to prevent actions that have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance. Two such matters pertain to the Yandina Creek Wetlands: the occurrence of Australian Painted-Snipe; and the occurrence of 11 species of migratory shorebird.

The Australian Painted-Snipe has been recorded several times at the Yandina Creek Wetlands, with as many as seven birds present at one time. Areas of flooded stubble and exposed mud interspersed with extensive reed-beds provide excellent habitat for this cryptic bird. The species is listed as Endangered under the federal legislation, rendering it a matter of national environmental significance.

To ensure the conservation of migratory shorebirds, the Australian Government has fostered international co-operation through three Migratory Bird Agreements - with Japan, China and South Korea. Australia is also a signatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention); the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands; and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. These international agreements commit Australia to take appropriate measures to preserve, restore and enhance the environment of migratory birds. The Commonwealth has international obligations to seek means to prevent damage to populations of migratory shorebirds.

Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, an action that will or is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance requires the approval of the federal Environment Minister. Any such action must undergo an environmental assessment and approval process. Penalties for taking such action without approval are substantial: a fine of up to $5.5 million and up to 7 years jail. Significant impact criteria under the act for endangered species includes any action that would modify, destroy or decrease the availability of habitat to the extent that the species is likely to decline.

The federal Environment Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment have been asked to require the undertaking of an environmental assessment and approval process before any proposal for the Yandina Creek Wetlands to be drained and developed proceeds. This assessment would attempt to determine the potential impacts on the two matters of national environmental significance pertaining to the area. Those in agreement with this course of action are invited to write to:

Hon Greg Hunt,

Minister for the Environment,

PO Box 274,

Hastings, VIC, 3915.
Greg.Hunt.MP@aph.gov.au

Senator Simon Birmingham,

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment,

107 Sir Donald Bradman Drive,

Hilton SA 5033.

senator.birmingham@aph.gov.au

The Queensland Government appears to have a responsibility to examine plans to drain and develop the Yandina Creek Wetlands under the Nature Conservation Act. The wetlands provide habitat for the above-mentioned Australian Painted Snipe, a species listed as Vulnerable under the state act, and for three species listed as Near Threatened: Lewin's Rail, Grey Goshawk and Black-necked Stork. The population of Lewin's Rail in the wetlands is relatively large, with an estimated 12-15 breeding pairs.

The Queensland Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection has been asked to examine plans to drain and develop the Yandina Creek Wetlands to ensure that they would have no impacts on the Vulnerable and Near Threatened wildlife species that occur there. Those in agreement with this course of action are invited to write to:

Hon Andrew Powell,

Queensland Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection,

GPO Box 2454,

BRISBANE QLD 4001.

The properties covering the wetlands are zoned Regional Landscape and Rural Production under the South-East Queensland Regional Plan, so they can not be subdivided. They are zoned Rural by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

The council plans for the properties include a series of overlays which potentially restrict development plans. These include three Land Subject to Biodiversity, Waterways and Wetlands overlays. Designated overlays of Native Vegetation and Wetland cover about 30 per cent of Lot 3RP148079 - the largest of the three properties. As well, about 40 per cent of 3RP is covered by a Riparian Protection Area overlay, as is approximately 10 per cent of Lot 4RP148079, and 50 per cent of Lot 2RP107173. Much of this land is also subject to an Acid Sulfate Soils overlay. The overlay maps can be accessed here..

The designated area covered by the overlays, especially on 3RP, includes some of the richest habitat of wetland and grassland - along with some of the densest concentrations of waterbirds - on the properties.

Council guidelines say the purpose of the Biodiversity, Waterways and Wetlands overlays is to ensure that any development protects and enhances ecologically important areas. Any development should protect known populations and supporting habitat of rare and threatened species listed under the above-mentioned state and Commonwealth laws. Any development should be located and managed to avoid or minimise adverse impacts on ecological systems.

The council's Criteria for Assessable Development says that rural use on property should not be located on land identified as being a wetland or waterway on a Biodiversity, Waterways and Wetlands overlay. The proposed draining and development of the Yandina Creek Wetlands may have impacts for the land identified by the council as wetland.

According to the council's Development Services Department, the council is not concerned about whether the wetlands are natural or human-modified. Any development that threatened designated wetlands or native vegetation areas would be in the breach of the Town Plan. A complaint can be lodged against any such development and that complaint would trigger a council investigation. However, landholders may be able to prove an Existing Use on farmland, which could exempt them from some provisions, even if the land has been fallow for several years.

The Sunshine Coast Mayor has been asked to approve the proposal to acquire the three properties at issue under the council's Environment Levy Plan (Nomination Number R100) so they may protected as a reserve. The mayor has also been asked to examine the proposed drainage and development of the Yandina Creek Wetlands to ensure that any such activity would have no impacts on areas designated as wetlands, native vegetation and riparian protection. Those in agreement with this course of action are invited to write to:

Councillor Mark Jamieson,

Mayor,

Sunshine Coast Regional Council,

Locked Bag 72,

Sunshine Coast Mail Centre QLD 4560.

The largest area of land embracing the wetland – Lots 3 and 4RP148079 – is owned by a Sunshine Coast family which owns other properties in the region.

A number of individuals and environmental and birding organising have expressed support for moves to protect the wetlands. The family has been asked to consider allowing a survey of the site to be undertaken by a team of visiting experts; such a survey would attempt to paint a wider picture of the fauna and flora occurring on the properties. A family spokesman says the family is considering whether to grant permission for the survey to proceed.

The family says it is their intention to develop the properties as farmland, probably for cattle, which they are running on their other property holdings in the area. However, the family has not ruled out accepting a financial offer to acquire the wetland properties for conservation purposes. The family is in agreement with those supporting protection of the wetlands for conservation plans to proceed in a spirit of mutual co-operation and respect.

In 2003, the Moreton sugar mill in Nambour closed, removing a market for the district’s 120 cane

growers who had been harvesting cane from almost 10,000 hectares of farmland in the Sunshine Coast area. According to Future Use of Sunshine Coast Cane Landscapes, a 2006 report commissioned by SEQ Catchments from the CSIRO, most of the land – about 7,000 hectares – is flood-prone and poorly drained, limiting farming opportunities for landholders. The report says the future of the cane lands rests in part with the conversion of former cane land to wetlands for the purpose of addressing draining and flooding issues, while at the same time achieving biodiversity outcomes.

The conversion of sugar cane land to wetlands – or the reversion of farmland to its original state as wetlands - has occurred widely in Queensland and north-east NSW. For instance, Vine and Rita Papale, cane farmers in the Burdekin region of north Queensland, successfully converted part of their farm to wetlands with financial assistance from the Commonwealth after finding they were losing areas of cane to flooding.

If the Yandina Creek Wetlands are acquired as a reserve, some management issues could be addressed. The prolific growth of exotic weeds, especially groundsel, needs to be checked. A population of feral dogs is using the wetlands as a refuge; a dead Black-necked Stork was found recently in a feral dog lair. Flows from tidal canals may need adjusting at times through sluices and flood gates to ensure water supply to the wetlands is maintained. Regrowth of Melaleuca and Allocasurina trees may need to be controlled in more elevated areas.

If the wetlands are acquired by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, they could be added to the adjoining Coolum Creek Conservation Park, which borders Yandina Creek in the south and Coolum Creek in the north. This conservation park, although extensive, is dominated by densely vegetated Melaleuca and Allocasuarina woodland with few open wetland or grassland areas, and little habitat that is suitable for waterbirds.

Should the council decline the acquisition proposal for the wetlands, other options to purchase the properties can be explored.