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Report I Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report

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Report I Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report Great Lakes Council 2011 Stat E of thE EnvironmEnt Re port Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report i Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report Prepared by: Great Lakes Council Natural Systems and Estuaries Section Enquires should be directed to: Great Lakes Council Po Box 450 forster NSW 2428 telephone: (02) 6591 7222 fax: (02) 6591 7221 email: [email protected] © 2011 Great Lakes Council Contents 1 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................1 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................10 Contents 3 Water .............................................................................................................................14 3.1 Water quality ...........................................................................................................................................................14 Wallis Lake ..........................................................................................................................................................22 Mid Wallamba Estuary ...................................................................................................................................24 Pipers Creek .......................................................................................................................................................26 Wallis Lake ..........................................................................................................................................................28 Charlotte Bay .....................................................................................................................................................30 Smiths Lake ........................................................................................................................................................32 Myall Lakes .........................................................................................................................................................34 Bombah Broadwater .......................................................................................................................................36 Lower Myall Estuary - tea Gardens ............................................................................................................38 3.2 Water Usage .............................................................................................................................................................43 3.3 Fish Kills .....................................................................................................................................................................45 3.4 Stormwater Pollution ...........................................................................................................................................46 3.5 Fish Passage Barriers .............................................................................................................................................47 4 Biodiversity ...................................................................................................................49 4.1 Native vegetation ..................................................................................................................................................49 4.2 Conserved Land .....................................................................................................................................................54 4.3 Corridors ...................................................................................................................................................................57 4.4 Noxious and environmental weeds ................................................................................................................59 4.5 Seagrass.....................................................................................................................................................................66 4.6 Recovery and threat abatement plans ...........................................................................................................68 5 Waste and toxic hazards ..............................................................................................75 5.1 Waste ..........................................................................................................................................................................75 5.2 Sewage treatment and disposal ......................................................................................................................78 5.3 Toxic spills .................................................................................................................................................................80 Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report iii Contents 6 Land ...............................................................................................................................81 6.1 Development pressures ......................................................................................................................................81 6.2 Open space ..............................................................................................................................................................87 6.3 Roads ..........................................................................................................................................................................88 7 Air ..................................................................................................................................90 7.1 Electricity usage and green house gas emissions ......................................................................................90 8 Noise ..............................................................................................................................92 9 Heritage .........................................................................................................................92 9.1 Non-aboriginal heritage .....................................................................................................................................92 9.2 Aboriginal heritage ...............................................................................................................................................94 10 Community involvement .............................................................................................96 10.1 Community volunteers ........................................................................................................................................96 11 Environmental plans and Strategies .........................................................................101 12 Acronyms & Abbreviations ........................................................................................103 13 Appendix 1 ..................................................................................................................104 iv Great Lakes Council 2011 State of the Environment Report 1 Executive Summary Located on the lower Mid North Coast of New South Wales the Great Lakes Local Government area (LGa) of 3,373 km2 in size supports a rapidly expanding population of approximately 35,000 residents. Containing a unique environment of immense natural, social and economic value the region relies heavily on the health of its natural surroundings and landscapes. the integrity and management of our natural environment is threatened by numerous human impacts and SummaryExectuive without adequate protection we risk losing the uniqueness that makes this region a great place to live, work and play. the growing and widespread recognition during recent years of the potential consequences of global warming clearly demonstrates the link between the integrity of the environment and our economy and lifestyle. Continuation of damaging land uses combined with significant growth in residential and visitor populations, as well as associated infrastructure provisions remain the greatest threat to the quality of our environment. as such water deterioration, land degradation and loss of biodiversity are amongst the major environmental issues facing the region. appropriate management of these threats is required in order to avoid a continuing decline in the health of the local environment. Deterioration of the environment will inevitably impact on our economy, our way of life and the general aesthetics of the LGa. this State of the Environment report forms the second of four annual reporting and data collection periods. this second report provides further baseline data to enable monitoring of the health of the region’s environment over the four year period. this is the final eary that GLC will produce an SoE report in this format. Next years, and proceeding SoE’s will follow a new template based on the updated Local Government act. the information in this and previous SoE’s will however influence the new format. for monitoring purposes, Council has established set indicators to assist with determining changes and trends within the environment. In line with current legislation these indicators fall under several themes which are Water, Biodiversity, Waste and toxic hazards, Land, air, Noise and heritage. for this report data for these themes has been collected from a number of stakeholder
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