Director Conservation Incentives and Design Section Department of Sustainability, Environment,
Water, Population and Communities Canberra ACT 2601 Draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan
As a long term resident, active participant in community group activities and property owner in the
Tweed Shire of New South Wales, I wish to commend to you the following areas for priority inclusion
in the National Wildlife Corridors Plan:
linking Mount Warning National Park and the Byrrill Creek area.
area within the Tweed Shire be evaluated, and prioritised under the Corridor Plan. The DECCW, Coffs
Harbour has already mapped out significant wildlife & climate change corridors within this area and
three options for creation of wildlife corridors as part of the proposed Wollumbin Biosphere Reserve
have been mapped and described in a report, a copy of which I can furnish if required. Refer
http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/custom/biospher/index.html)
As Mt Warning/Wollumbin National Park is essentially an island National Park, I specifically
recommend that the Byrrill Creek area corridor be recognised and protected as a link between the
World Heritage Mt Warning/Wollumbin National Park, Mebbin National Park and ultimately to the
World Heritage Border Ranges National Park.
This area is currently under threat of inundation for a dam. The case for the dam has been widely
disputed within the Tweed community but some parties continue to press for its construction.
Construction of this dam would be contrary to the ecological/ conservation significance of the area as
recognised in the following:
nges Rainforest Biodiversity Management Plan
– Tweed Catchment, NSW Land and Water Conservation
isation Report (2003) Ecosure, Burleigh Heads
Funding of approximately $560,000 has been spent on the Byrrill Creek Subcatchment on riparian
repair, weed management, & the local Landcare Group is committed to ongoing maintenance &
revegetating of riparian corridors.
Dr S. Phillips of “Biolink” Ecological Consultants, identified 45 Threatened Fauna species, 26 Flora
Species & 3 Endangered Ecological Communities in a 5km radius of Byrrill Creek. 24 species of Flora &
Fauna are listed under the Federal EPBC Act
The Mount Warning/ Wollumbin Caldera is listed as an iconic landscape, the 2nd largest erosion caldera
in the world. It has one of the highest biodiversity values in Australia with a significant percentage of
threatened species.
The Caldera includes 3 World heritage listed National Parks.
Tweed Shire Council is currently preparing a report on the possibility of the area being nominated as
the “Border Ranges Biosphere”, which would encompass and support the National Wildlife Corridors
Plan.
Due to the rapid urban expansion in this shire much of this landscape is now under threat of habitat
destruction, with natural corridors threatened and a resulting loss of species. A Wildlife Corridors Act
could ensure a long term commitment to the protection of such areas.
Mt Warning/Wollumbin is a significant & major Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Site, as are the ridges and
surrounding areas radiating out from it, as the ancestral song lines.
I would be pleased to provide further information/ assist with enquiries.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Whittingham
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