Ironically, this year, National Threatened Species Day was also the day that community consultation closed for the Lawson North residential development, a staunchly opposed housing project in Canberra’s Belconnen Region. The project was referred to the National Environment Minister, for a determination on whether it should be regulated. The Council argued that the proposal should be controlled, and found it clearly unacceptable as it proposes to destroy 15.8 hectares of critically endangered grassland.

The fight to save Lawson Grasslands has been a battle on many fronts. Not only is the community working with ineffective conservation laws; but, a core aspect of this campaign has been putting Grasslands ‘on the map’ as an ecosystem worth saving. It’s worth considering that if the habitat at Lawson had been a eucalypt forest filled with Koalas, it might have been easier to garner attention and support.