Endangered wildlife a hurdle for new prison location

Birralee Road prison site – environmental concerns will require further investigation

By Sharon Webb

KICKING THE can of its new northern prison a few kilometres further down Birralee Road has created a whole new set of problems for the Gutwein State Government.

On June 18, Corrections Minister Elise Archer announced a change from the 135 Birralee Road prison site because of negative local feedback. It will now be three kilometres further down the same road on a 70 hectare crown land bush site.

Already, Central North Field Naturalists Inc. has requested a stop on development until the site is investigated, and Federal Environment Minister Susan Ley is considering the request.

Their argument is that the land has species protected as being both endangered and vulnerable under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999.

‘We request that you call in as a controlled action the planned site of the northern prison on the Birralee Road because of the presence of two commonwealth listed species, the Wedge-tailed Eagle and Masked Owl, that are both listed as endangered,’ secretary Peter Lawrence wrote.

‘While no nocturnal surveys have been conducted at the location, it is very likely that the Eastern-barred Bandicoot occurs there, as Westbury and Birralee are known hotspots for the species. The dry sclerophyll forest is also likely to provide suitable breeding and/or foraging habitat for Eastern Quoll, Spotted-tailed Quoll and Tasmanian Devil.’

But Mr Gutwein was quick to deny the existence of an eagle nest.

Commenting on letters from local environmentalists criticising the location, Mr Gutwein said, ‘A preliminary investigation of the site has been conducted by DPIPWE and it is understood there are no eagle nests, covenants or records of threatened wildlife on the block.’

He has said further investigations are being done.

Damping down environment concerns, Mr Gutwein said, ‘It is important to note that the prison is likely to only require a footprint of approximately 15 hectares of the 70 hectare site.’

In Parliament in June, the Premier also said, ‘The site does not contain pristine forest but shows evidence of a very long history of timber harvesting and more recently, illegal firewood collection, stock grazing, rubbish dumping and shooting.’

A Hobart ecologist branded Mr Gutwein as ‘playing with words’.

‘The Wedge-tailed Eagle nest is recorded on the government’s own mapping records as being on land adjacent to this block. The Natural Values Atlas shows nest number 1402, last observed as present in 2010.’

The EPBC Act dictates developers ‘implement breeding season buffers against disturbance of 500m and 1000m in line-of-sight to protect nests from disturbance’.

That distance encompasses half the land of the proposed prison – and all the property is within 1km of the nest.

‘What matters is that the nest is sitting there and needs to be assessed with the same rules the State Government imposes on everyone else,’ the expert said.

He derided Mr Gutwein’s claim that only a small area would contain the prison. ‘Under the Planning Scheme’s Bushfire Code, a prison is a ‘vulnerable’ use requiring a large buffer zone. They’ll need to clear a lot of land for this prison.’

Eagles breed from August to January, possibly longer, with the government’s Threatened Species Link maintaining ‘fewer than 200 pairs are left in the wild.’

Long-time conservationist Alistair Graham said that Ms Archer’s claim to media that the site was degraded was ‘muddying the waters’.

‘This is a high quality piece of land,’ he said. ‘People did go in and steal firewood, it’s regrettable but common.’

But on Facebook, Westbury prison supporter Grace Rock described the land as ‘a tip’, local Andrea Badcock branded anti-prison people as ‘an embarrassment’, and Kathleen Cooper recommended they ‘get a real job building the prison’.

Birralee naturalist Sarah Lloyd OAM monitored birds’ dawn chorus on the land for a year and was distressed to hear the land was selected for a prison.

‘It contains threatened species and species in decline. If the land had been for sale I would have bought it, it’s so important.

‘24-hour lighting will completely disrupt birds’ reproductive cycles, set migratory species off-course and cause birds to crash into the bright buildings.’