A forgotten environmental initiative?

The Natural Heritage Trust, Westbury Reserve and Meander Valley Council

Westbury Reserve is still a haven for rare and endangered native plants and animals.
Photo by Hayley Manning

Sarah Lloyd OAM

IN 1996 John Howard won the federal election, but had to contend with a finely balanced senate. Independent Senator Brian Harradine often had the casting vote, putting him in a powerful position to benefit Tasmania.

In return for his support for the $1.35 billion partial sale of Telstra, Tasmania got $3 million.

The Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) was the Howard government’s environmental initiative established with some of the Telstra money.

In its preamble, the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Act 1997 notes, ‘There is a national crisis in land and water degradation and in the loss of biodiversity. There is a need for the Commonwealth to provide national leadership and work in partnership with all levels of Government and the whole community ...’

Tasmania’s natural heritage benefited greatly from this injection of funds.

The Parks and Wildlife office at Prospect (now deserted) was abuzz with botanists and biologists, and there was a Flora and a Fauna Conservation Branch within the Nature Conservation Branch of the Parks and Wildlife Service in Hobart.

Meander Valley Council had a Natural Resource Management Committee.

In 1999, NHT funds were used to purchase Westbury Reserve to protect its Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) natural values.

The contract between the state and federal governments states that any activities that cause major or irreversible damage to nature conservation values should be excluded from CAR reserves. The proposed prison would undoubtedly cause such damage.

Meander Valley Council also received NHT funds – a $2 million grant for the management of natural resources, specifically, the ‘Meander Project’ which received $883,000 from the NHT, $214,000 cash contri- bution from landholders and $950,000 in kind support.

Priorities included the protection, enhancement and restoration of priority vegetation types and the improvement of stream and river health. It was conditional on having an agreed ($35,000) Natural Resource Management Strategy that was ‘adopted by council’ in 2000.

The excellent strategy won a national award, but few, if any, recommendations were implemented. Why not?

And what are the obligations and responsibilities of state and local governments to abide by contractual arrangements?

What obligations does council have to those financial and

in kind supporters who contributed $1.5 million to the project, no doubt many (myself included) still living in the municipality?

And surely if the strategy was a requirement of receiving NHT funds, there is some obligation to implement it? Or at least make a token gesture towards some of its excellent recommendations?

Imagine the Meander Valley if the recommendations had been implemented. Healthy weed-free native bush throughout the municipality, and much less silt in the Tamar River as a result of improved practices in the catchment.

All documents relating to the Meander Valley NHT project classify the Grassy Eucalyptus amygdalina forest on dolerite at Westbury Reserve as ‘important’. Furthermore, it was deemed of ‘critical priority for conservation of old growth‘. That was 20 years ago. It is even more important now.