CLARENCE ENVIRONMENT CENTRE Inc 29-31 Skinner Street South Grafton 2460 Phone/ Fax: 02 6643 1863 Web site: www.cec.org.au E-mail:
[email protected] Submission to Department of Primary Industry
[email protected] on The NSW Travelling Stock Reserves Review Compiled by John Edwards For the Clarence Environment Centre Date: 20th June, 2017 Submission to “The NSW Travelling Stock Reserves Review” Introduction The Clarence Environment Centre (CEC) has maintained a shop-front in Grafton for over 28 years, and has a proud history of environmental advocacy. The conservation of Australia's natural environment, both terrestrial and and marine, has always been a priority for our members, and we believe the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity is of paramount importance. To a large extent, modern transport and road infrastructure have rendered travelling stock routes and reserves (TSR) redundant, in that they no longer provide for the movement of livestock across the country as was their historical function. Today we see those corridors as providing a vital connection between now fragmented remnants of native vegetation largely contained within other public lands, mainly national parks or the state forests. The Clarence Environment Centre (CEC) has recently been involved with Local Land Services in the assessment of environmental values contained within TSRs in the Clarence Valley (see attachments 1 – 3). Summary As a direct result of our surveys and research for Local Land Services, we have identified that most, if not all TSRs contain high levels of flora diversity including threatened species, populations and communities, which in turn provide habitat for a wide range of fauna, many of which are currently facing extinction if current trends persist.