State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 2 Preface What is a supplementary SoE Report? A local SoE report provides a summary of the attributes of the local environment and the human impacts on that environment. The Comprehensive SoE report is undertaken every 4 years and provides information on changes over that period. It also provides a public record of the activities of government, industry and the community in protecting and restoring the environment. Context of this report The Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework has seen fundamental changes to the legislation surrounding the strategic direction of Local Government in NSW. Council is involved in the development of a regional SoE initiative in partnership with the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority and a number of state government agencies. This initiative will see a regional report developed at the end of each Council term based upon agreed regional indicators and the integration of these reports with the Catchment Action Plan targets and the state of the catchment reports. This report will be the last SoE prepared for the Council. In 2012 a regional SoE will be developed. Sources of information Information for the report is derived from data gathered from local, regional, state and national sources. The report has been prepared with information from Council officers, Council records, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, government departments and community contributions. Community consultation The preparation of this report has included input and data from Council’s continuing cooperation with a number of community organisations; Bellinger Landcare Inc and Bellingen Transition Towns. Additionally guidance has been sought from Council’s Environment Advisory Committee. Layout of this report This report addresses the eight environmental sectors of land, air, water, biodiversity, waste, noise, Aboriginal heritage and non-Aboriginal heritage. It provides, for each sector, a statement outlining the condition of the sector and provides an illustrative indicator of comparison with the equivalent statement in the last SoE report. This allows for ongoing comparison in future years. Additionally each chapter is divided into sections, with each section having a final “Response” component. • The pressures on the environment are identified • The current state of the environment is described. Where available a trend for the past 4 years is indicated based on information sought from previous SoE’s • Response - gives an overview of the environmental projects or planning that has taken place during the reporting period. These projects may be Council, community or other government initiatives. • Gaps in data - data that is currently not available, but which could assist in measuring responses to pressures. State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 1 Each section is provided with an illustrative condition indicator: Condition: STEADY IMPROVING DECLINING Additionally the confidence in data presentation is also indicated. Confidence ratings are recorded for all indices: Green - Confident, supported by data Blue - Fairly confident result (based on expert opinion) Yellow - not confident / best guess Red - no information / not assessed The report will give some indication as to the strategic relevance and usefulness of the indicator. This will provide readers some background information as to how the Council may address some of the issues within the forthcoming Community Strategic Planning process. State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 2 Index Preface 1 What is a supplementary SoE report? 1 Context of this report 1 Sources of information 1 Community consultation 1 Layout of this report 1 Chapter 1: Land 5 1.1. Acid sulfate soils (pressure) 6 1.2. Erosion (pressure) 6 1.3. The coastal zone - erosion and sea level rise (pressure) 7 1.4. Primary production (pressure) 8 1.5. Industrial uses (pressure) 9 1.6. Transport and services (pressure) 9 1.7. Tourism (pressure) 10 1.8. State forests (pressure) 11 1.9. Parks and reserves (indicator) 12 1.10. Wilderness (indicator) 12 1.11. Contamination (pressure) 13 1.12. Land-use changes and changing markets (pressure) 13 1.13. Illegal land-use (pressure) 14 1.15 Gaps in existing data 14 Chapter 2: Aquatic systems/water 15 2.1. River health - contamination (indicator) 16 2.2. River health (indicator) 17 2.3. Fisheries (indicator) 18 2.4. Riparian and aquatic vegetation (indicator) 19 2.5. Herbicide use near waterways (pressure) 20 2.6. Urban and residential development (pressure) 21 2.7. Surface and ground water quality and quantity (indicator) 22 2.8. Water extraction - surface and ground water (pressure) 23 2.9. Point source discharges (pressure) 24 2.10. Floods (pressure) 24 2.11. Marine habitats (indicator) 26 2.12. Gaps in existing data 26 Chapter 3: Air quality 27 3.1. Climate change (pressure) 27 3.2. Industrial emissions (pressure) 29 3.3. Smoke from hazard reduction burning and bush fires (pressure) 29 3.4. Smoke from domestic fires (pressure) 29 3.5. Pollution from motor vehicles (pressure) 30 3.6. Odour (indicator) 30 3.7 Gaps in existing data 30 State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 3 Chapter 4: Biodiversity 31 4.1. Threatened species, populations, endangered ecological communities (indicator) 31 4.2. Weeds (pressure) 32 4.3. Bush fire 33 4.4. Gaps in existing data 33 Chapter 5: Waste 34 5.1. Landfill availability 34 5.2. Hazardous waste 34 5.3. Littering and rubbish dumping 35 5.4 Waste metal and oil 35 5.5 Gaps in existing data 35 Chapter 6: Noise 36 6.1. Commercial, industrial and entertainment venue noise 36 6.2. Increasing activities 36 6.3 Animals 37 6.3. Gaps in existing data 37 Chapter 7: Aboriginal heritage 38 7.1. Number and nature of heritage sites, structures and landscapes (state) 38 7.2. Places of aboriginal significance (state) 39 7.3. Gaps in existing data 39 Chapter 8: Non-Aboriginal heritage 40 8.1. Heritage items and conservation areas 40 8.2. Gaps in existing data 42 Appendix 1: Parks and reserves designated as community land 43 Appendix 2: Legal and regulatory obligations of council 46 Appendix 3: Resources 47 Chapter 1: 47 Chapter 2: 48 Chapter 3: 49 Chapter 4: 49 Chapter 5: 49 Chapter 6: 49 Chapter 7: 49 Chapter 8: 49 State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 4 Chapter 1: Land 1.1. Acid sulfate soils 1.2. Erosion 1.3. The coastal zone - erosion and sea level rise 1.4. Primary production 1.5. Industrial uses 1.6. Transport and services 1.7. Tourism 1.8. State forests 1.9. Parks and reserves 1.10. Wilderness 1.11. Contamination 1.12. Land-use changes and changing markets 1.13. Illegal land-use 1.15 Gaps in existing data Figure 1: Bellingen Shire LGA Area State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 5 CONDITION 1.1. Acid sulfate soils (pressure) STEADY On the basis of predictive maps prepared by the Department of Land and Water Conservation (now NSW Office of Environment and Heritage), approx 5103 ha of land potentially contains Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS). There has been no change in the area potentially affected by ASS. Bellingen Shire does not contain any ASS hotspots*. *NB: ASS hotspots are identified by Office of Environment and Heritage as areas where previous land management both contributed to and could have lead to further severe soil and water acidification, poor water quality, reduction in agricultural productivity, loss of estuarine habitat and degraded vegetation and wildlife. They are the sites that are worst affected by acid sulfate soils (state wide), and have the highest priority for remedial action. Comprehensive information on ASS hotspots can be found at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/acidsulfatesoil/remediation.htm. Response At present, works on land likely to contain ASS require development consent from the Council under the provisions of Bellingen Local Environmental Plan 2010. This does not affect the ongoing use of land, often for agricultural uses, which may expose acid sulfate soil to oxidation. Potential Acid Sulfate Soils are identified on 149 Planning Certificates. 1.2. Erosion (pressure) CONDITION Riverbank erosion The impact of riverbank erosion is the loss of valuable agricultural land and the destruction of natural channel DECLINING control provided by riverbank vegetation. The destabilisation of riverbanks can lead to stream channel changes and movements, which can further destroy vegetation. It can also change river morphology by increasing the width of the stream, resulting in shallowing of pools and changes in meander patterns. Sedimentation resulting from erosion impacts water quality through releasing suspended sediment and nutrients which can smother aquatic habitat and lead to eutrophication, aquatic weed infestations and algal blooms. Boating has been implicated in shoreline erosion events. Similarly removal of riparian vegetation leads to bank instability which can result in increased bank scour and mass failure. Trend since last SoE? There is no data available in relation to the amount of erosion that has occurred over the past 4 years. Notwithstanding this the Shire has been declared as a natural disaster zone eight times since October 2004 for flood or storm events with significant losses of soil from riparian zones apparent on each of these occasions. Total annual rainfall for 2009 has been recorded as 3372mm, the highest total since records commenced in 1900. Estuary Management Plan (EMP) Strategy 5.1 of the EMP has seen the undertaking of an estuary erosion survey in 2009. State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 6 Response This survey has indicated that the Bellinger Kalang catchment has experienced a net reduction in large floods since 1977/78. A snap shot survey of bank erosion taken in June 2009 reveals that 60.3 km of banks surveyed in the Bellinger Estuary, 54% are stable, 32% have minor erosion and the remainder have moderate to extreme erosion.