I AM bitterly disappointed that the Kalamunda Shire is pushing ahead with plans to clear more than 10 hectares of old-growth bushland on Wilkins Road.
It is a reserve that backs onto the Darling Range Regional Park, is in very good condition and forms part of the ‘green link’ from Gooseberry Hill National Park to the State Forest.
The proposal, which has been met with public resistance from its initiation early last year, is to use this land to build aged residential care accommodation.
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READ NOWWe do need more such accommodation, but why has the shire chosen a piece of old-growth bush, instead of one of the many areas of cleared land around the shire?
The Environmental Protection Authority says Wilkins Regional Reserve ‘… contains suitable habitat for three species of black cockatoo’ and that ‘trees with hollows suitable for black cockatoo nesting have been identified’.
With so few such habitats left for the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo, which lives only in WA, surely the protection of this specific piece of land should be a priority.
Councillors should be fighting not only to protect the things that make Kalamunda what it is but also avoid the destruction of habitat for a magnificent WA bird that may well be gone within our lifetime.
Objectors to this proposal have until Monday, February 16 to lodge their submissions with the shire.
We all have a responsibility to protect our environment, and together we can make a difference.
TILAI CLIFFORD, Lesmurdie