Cows versus koalas: land clearers dobbed in as 90,000ha of bush bulldozed
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years.
The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia.
Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found.
The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal.
The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares.
"The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said.
"We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests."
Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report.
"If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said.
"You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you."
Just next door was a different story.
"You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in."
The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared.
"The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found.
More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms.
All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said.
"Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said.
Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land.
"They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said.
"Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees."
"Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture."
The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water.
"The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said.
"So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape."
Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down.
"Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said.
"It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval."
The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years.
The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia.
Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found.
The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal.
The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares.
"The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said.
"We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests."
Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report.
"If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said.
"You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you."
Just next door was a different story.
"You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in."
The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared.
"The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found.
More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms.
All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said.
"Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said.
Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land.
"They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said.
"Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees."
"Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture."
The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water.
"The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said.
"So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape."
Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down.
"Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said.
"It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval."
The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years.
The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia.
Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found.
The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal.
The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares.
"The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said.
"We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests."
Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report.
"If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said.
"You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you."
Just next door was a different story.
"You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in."
The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared.
"The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found.
More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms.
All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said.
"Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said.
Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land.
"They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said.
"Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees."
"Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture."
The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water.
"The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said.
"So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape."
Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down.
"Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said.
"It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval."
The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years.
The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia.
Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found.
The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal.
The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares.
"The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said.
"We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests."
Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report.
"If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said.
"You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you."
Just next door was a different story.
"You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in."
The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared.
"The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found.
More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms.
All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said.
"Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said.
Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land.
"They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said.
"Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees."
"Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture."
The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water.
"The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said.
"So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape."
Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down.
"Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said.
"It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval."
The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
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ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
ACF says satellite evidence shows mass native habitat destruction by farmers
Investigations are under way into a report by a leading conservation group that farmers have illegally cleared thousands of hectares of native bushland across Australia in a few years. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) used satellite images and on-the-ground volunteers to document what it says are 90,000 hectares, or 900 square kilometres, of lost bush on 176 properties in NSW, QLD, WA and NT. It says all the sites contained threatened species habitat and the land cleared between 2020 and 2025 equalled an area the size of about 320 Sydney CBDs. ACF business and nature lead, Nathaniel Pelle, said beef production was the primary culprit. "Among these 90,000 hectares that we've identified, the majority of it is identifiable as cattle properties," he said. "It's all pretty mature bush that is being cleared here … some of it might be 20-year-old regrowth and that's still valuable habitat for species." Retired IT professional Ruth Hughes took part in the project as a citizen scientist comparing before-and-after satellite images. "ACF has set it up and we get these shots of high-value nature areas," Ms Hughes said. Land clearing likely to impact threatened species must receive federal approval through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). ACF claimed none of the land clearing it documented had EPBC approval. Mr Pelle said federal and state governments had to do more to protect Australia from further deforestation. "Unfortunately, federal and state authorities are not properly monitoring or protecting habitat across the country," he said. "It is extremely important that we don't allow environmental degradation to continue. The ACF said the majority of the land clearing was in NSW and Queensland. State and territory governments are the main bodies responsible for enforcing land management and policing land clearing. The NSW government confirmed it received material from the ACF and has launched an investigation. "The department has received and is investigating allegations referred by the ACF," said a Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water spokesperson. "We are unable to comment on cases currently under investigation, as it could impact future legal processes." Queensland's Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing, and Regional and Rural Development said it investigated all land clearing allegations, "including from ACF". The National Farmers Federation (NFF) hit back at the report. President David Jochinke said the report was full of holes, anti-agriculture and gave no credence to the hard work farmers undertook to preserve biodiversity and habitats. "You tell me how much of that 90,000 hectares is woody weed management … how much of that 90,000 hectares were legitimately cleared with offsets?" Mr Jochinke told the NSW Country Hour. "This so-called report is just an attack on agriculture, without even any context or knowledge of both what land stewardship is and how agriculture looks after over half of Australia's natural environment. Mr Jochinke said the NFF opposed illegal land clearing "but we know the majority of farmers do the right thing … and actually offset a lot of their land management". He said the majority of farmers worked with Landcare and other organisations to plant trees and regenerate farmland. "We understand we've got to look after nature because it absolutely helps our production systems," he said.
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Cows versus koalas: land clearers dobbed in as 90,000ha of bush bulldozed
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Chappo didn't like Shakes when they first met. Now, they're ‘like brothers'
Primary teacher Caleb 'Shakes' Mills (right) and youth pastor James 'Chappo' Chapman, both 20, met in year 7. They've been taking it in turns to carry each other, physically and emotionally, ever since. James: I didn't like Shakes when we met in 2017. He was friends with friends of mine and I was jealous. In the end, I decided to give him a crack. Turned out he was a lot like me: loves meeting new people, staying up late planning adventures and writing songs. We clicked, and rode our bikes all over Newcastle together. A couple of mates took us to youth church and we became Christians. It gave us a supportive community and a belief in something bigger than ourselves. I use my disability to share hope with other young people. I don't sugar-coat it, though: at times, I struggle. I was born with pseudoachondroplasia dwarfism, a one-in-a-million condition. At nine, I had an operation to straighten my legs and was bedridden for three months. The prospect of an even bigger operation at 13 was terrifying but, in the end, my doctor felt it wasn't necessary. I was basically given a second childhood – and Caleb was a big part of that. 'We gave each other a safe space to talk; nothing, not even something as dark as that, was off limits.' James 'Chappo' Chapman Even though I'm not wheelchair-bound, I had to use one at school, so Caleb would push me and help carry my stuff. His dad and younger brother moved away after his parents split in 2018, and we'd often make the three-hour return trip from Newcastle to Woy Woy after school to see them. He missed them terribly. I just wanted to be beside him. When we were 14, an older boy in our youth group committed suicide. We'd shared a cabin with him at camp and it hit all of us hard. We didn't know what to think or feel and having someone to process something so heavy with was a relief. We gave each other a safe space to talk; nothing, not even something as dark as that, was off limits. After finishing school, we travelled through Europe, Japan and Egypt for four months. I wanted to bite his head off at times – Shakes is chronically late and sleeps and showers way too much – but I couldn't have done it without him. In Iceland, we shared a bottom bunk in a rental van with a dwarf friend for 10 days while two mates, who'd just started going out, slept on top. The sound of them getting intimate a foot above our heads ... we'll never be able to unhear it. At festivals, I'm always on his shoulders, which is how I ended up on stage with Macklemore last year in Sydney for a dance-off, which was super-fun. Shakes is always right there with me in the mosh pit; he won't let me miss a thing. When I made the Australian soccer team for the 2023 World Dwarf Games in Germany, Shakes said, 'I'm coming, too.' We had to pay our own way, so Caleb helped fundraise and live-streamed our matches. We lost to France in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, but I felt so supported having him there.
