Latest news with #threatenedSpecies
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Murray Watt urged to intervene after accusations proposed Queensland coalmine clearing land in greater glider habitat
Conservationists have called on the environment minister, Murray Watt, to intervene after satellite images appear to show clearing in threatened species habitat at the site of a proposed coalmine in Queensland. Images and drone footage obtained by the Queensland Conservation Council over the past two months appear to show large areas of bushland cleared at the site of Magnetic South's proposed Gemini coalmine near Dingo in central Queensland. Public documents released under freedom of information laws show the environment department told the company in 2022 it strongly recommended referral of the project to consider whether it required an assessment for potentially significant impacts on the Brigalow ecological community, and species including the greater glider, koala and bridled nail-tail wallaby. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The council wrote to Watt last month alerting him and the federal environment department's compliance unit to what it claimed was the removal of 'approximately 200 hectares of greater glider habitat' since late May in an area earmarked for an open coal pit. The council wrote it had 'urgent concerns' that construction of the mine might have commenced without referral of the project for an assessment under Australia's environmental laws. The proposed metallurgical coal project, which would produce up to 1.9m tonnes of coal a year, has attracted concerns in the past due to a Queensland government decision not to require an environmental impact statement and opposition from graziers. In its letter to Watt, the Queensland Conservation Council asked whether the alleged clearing had been approved by the federal government and whether the government needed to take enforcement action. The council wrote it believed the clearing could be unlawful and that it expected Watt's department 'to take urgent action accordingly to protect this culturally and ecologically significant place'. The council's coal and gas campaigner, Charlie Cox, said Watt needed to urgently step in. 'There is now drone footage, satellite imagery, and traditional owners on the ground all suggesting that yet another coal corporation has taken it upon themselves to start building their mine without the relevant federal approvals,' she said. Cox called on the minister to use enforcement powers to stop the alleged clearing and to call the project in for a federal assessment. 'Murray Watt is committed to reforming our environment laws that are woefully failing nature, he needs to actually enforce the existing laws too,' she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Zhanae Dodd is a Ghungalu woman and founder of Guyala Yimba, an Indigenous human rights consultancy. Ghungalu custodians have a camp at the proposed mine site, where they have been conducting cultural ceremony since early this month. 'We're out there engaging in ceremony and keeping a fire burning,' Dodd said. 'We need to preserve these sites because on our country already there are that many mines destroying country, why do we need one more?' In a letter the council received on Friday, the federal environment department said it was 'aware of the alleged actions and potential impacts to threatened species and ecological communities protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act'. The department said it was engaging with Magnetic South 'regarding their obligations under the act'. A spokesperson for the federal environment department said 'the department is in receipt of the allegations'. 'As the investigation is ongoing the department will not provide further comment.' Guardian Australia sought comment from Watt and Magnetic South.
CTV News
08-06-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Influx of chimney swifts in N.B., promising sign for threatened species: experts
A pair of chimney swifts are shown silhouetted in an undated handout photo. Chimney swifts are long-distance migratory birds, breeding in east-central Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia and wintering in South America. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Birds Canada, *MANDATORY CREDIT* FREDERICTON — The spring migratory season got off to an encouraging start for one threatened bird species, a national conservation group says, noting it recently logged thousands of chimney swifts at a single address in Fredericton. Allison Manthorne, associate director of Atlantic programs with Birds Canada, said chimney swift numbers have dropped by about 90 per cent since the 1970s. So when Birds Canada counted more than 2,400 chimney swifts pouring into a city flue on the evening of May 25, she said the group was pleasantly surprised. 'It's the only large roost that we know of in Fredericton at the moment ... typically, we'll see this kind of pulse in late May of a few hundred birds,' she said. 'Sometimes there's a bit of a traffic jam, and maybe it's weather, maybe it's a predator, maybe it's a big storm down south, ... We're not entirely sure what happened to make all of these 2,400 swifts pack into that roost on that particular night.' Manthorne said Birds Canada staff and volunteers participate in a national roost monitoring survey on four set dates across chimney swift nesting sites every year. Manthorne said the last time Birds Canada counted close to this number of chimney swifts — about 2,700 — was in 2018. The scimitar-shaped chimney swifts are classified as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and are also protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. Environment and Climate Change Canada estimated the chimney swift population stood between 20,000 and 70,000 mature birds as of 2023. It said the long-term goal is to maintain a stable population between 2033 and 2043, while the short-term objective is to halt the drop in numbers within 10 years. Chimney swifts are long-distance migrants, breeding anywhere between Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia and wintering in South America. They regularly nest in chimneys or other tall stacks on their travels. Nick Lund, a network manager for U.S. wildlife conservation organization Maine Audubon, called chimney swifts incredible birds. 'They're often called a cigar with wings,' he said while describing their short, tubelike bodies flanked by scythe-like appendages. 'They spend their days zooming around over towns and cities, gulping flying insects out of the air. ... They're never seen perched or on the ground, unless you're able to peer into a nest chimney.' Lund said there's a lot to love about chimney swifts, especially for city-dwellers with fewer opportunities to see the natural world in action. 'They're unlike any other bird you'd find in a city — very different from pigeons or starlings — and so they're a great connection to a wilder world for many people." Scientists say the birds are now threatened due to climate change, habitat loss and pesticide use, which depletes the supply of flying insects they rely on for food. 'It's not just one single threat,' Manthorne said. 'It's this constellation of threats, and they're doing the best they can to survive.' In 2021, University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner said climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species and changes in agriculture and land use are causing Earth to lose probably one to two per cent of its insects each year. Insects 'are absolutely the fabric by which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built,' Wagner said. Ripple effects of habitat loss are affecting not just insects, but birds too. Lund said chimney swifts used to nest in large trees hollowed out by lightning or other forces. But now, he said they nest exclusively in the closest manmade equivalent: chimneys. Manthorne said the birds have large eyes, short legs and 'giant' feet that they use to cling on the inside of hollow trees or chimneys. The birds also have distinctive tails, where each feather has a pointy end that helps the birds climb smokestacks. 'When they're clinging to the inside of a chimney at night, they're using their giant feet with their big claws, and they're using their tails, and they can hang on to the side of a vertical surface all night,' she said. 'It's really cool.' They often return to past nesting sites, she added, noting that pattern highlights the importance of spots like the roosting site in Fredericton. Manthorne is troubled by what she says is a common misconception that birds and humans can't comfortably co-exist. 'We always say chimney swifts make really good house guests. They're clean, they're tidy, they're not loud. You probably wouldn't even know that they're there unless somebody told you, 'Hey, I saw a bird flying down your chimney,'' she said. 'If you've got a pair of swifts, it's really special. You're providing a home for this threatened species. And they've chosen your chimney for a reason.' — With files from The Associated Press. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025.
