It was announced today the ACT Government is taking the first steps to declare Blocks 403 and 12 of Bluetts Block as a Nature Reserve. This is a significant win for the community, the Conservation Council and Friends of Bluetts Block, who for many years have advocating for the protection of the whole of Ngununggula/Bluetts Block.
Ngununggula/Bluetts Block, bordering the Molonglo River, in Canberra’s western edge is an area home to many plants and animals, including the critically-endangered Gang-gang cockatoo, vulnerable species such as the Scarlet Robin and Pink-Tailed Worm Lizard, and many significant orchids. The area also provides important landscape connectivity from the Murrumbidgee River Corridor to Black Mountain.
Simon Copland, Executive Director of the Conservation Council ACT Region, said
“We welcome the announcement today that parts of Bluetts Block/Ngununggula are to be declared a nature reserve. It has taken significant and persistent advocacy from our community to make this happen.”
“The ACT, like the rest of Australia, is undergoing a biodiversity extinction crisis. Our faunal emblem, the Gang-gang Cockatoo is endangered, and our natural areas are at increasing risk of development and degradation. Without formal protection, these ecologically significant areas will be lost for good.
Copland, however, said that the process to get to this stage has been too long, and that more needs to be done.
“It is a shame that each individual piece of habitat takes enormous community energy before being considered for its environmental value. Instead of protecting our natural habitat, our legislation focuses on the needs of big developers instead. If our nature laws were effective, we wouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail to save each place.”
“The declaration of these blocks as nature reserve will not be sufficient to protect all of the natural value of the western edge. Housing developments on the edge of Bluetts Block are likely to impact on the nature reserve, and an additional area, Block 402, currently under lease to ANU, should also be part of the nature reserve.”
“In addition, the ACT Government has flagged plans for the Territory’s urban footprint to expand to the west of the city, which will destroy several natural areas and increase the city’s ecological impact on surrounding land, including the important box-gum woodlands and grasslands.
“The ACT is facing a growing population, but sprawling suburbs and endless development are not the solution to the affordable housing shortage. If we are to prevent environmentally destructive impacts of urban development, we must fix our environment laws, and invest in affordable higher and medium density housing within our current city footprint.”