NEWS DESK
Last ditch effort to save dam land for frogs Mike Hast mike@mpnews.com.au THE co-founder of Kunyung Residents Group, formed to lobby for South East Water's decommissioned Mt Eliza reservoir to be turned into a reserve, has started an online petition. The blurb accompanying Rebecca Taylor's change.org petition is an impassioned letter to Premier Daniel Andrews, planning minister Richard Wynne, South East Water, and Mornington Peninsula Shire requesting the land become a wildlife reserve instead
of a 24-lot housing estate. It is headed "South East Water customers, would you give up a $6 savings on your bill to save a frog?" The dam was decommissioned in 1999 and has become a haven for wildlife. It is on the corner of Barmah and Kanya roads near Kunyung Rd. Wildlife experts say the fenced 2.8-hectare block contains about 100 locally significant flora and fauna species including the only substantial frog population in Mt Eliza. It is home to native birds and mammals – including the endangered grey-headed flying fox – and holds the only established
colony of now locally rare kangaroo grass as well as orchids. In early 2014, South East Water asked the shire to rezone the 24 blocks of about 1000 square metres each via a planning scheme amendment, which must be approved by planning Minister Richard Wynne. SEW wants to sell the blocks to developers for full price, estimated to be worth between $10–$13 million. An independent planning panel heard from all parties in August, and recommended the land be used for houses with no reserve, disappointing residents, the shire and Mornington
MP David Morris who in the Parliament had called on state environment minister Lisa Neville to "give the land to the people" for a reserve. "Transport magnate Sir Reg Ansett bought the land in the late 1950s and gave it to State Rivers and Water Supply Commission for a reservoir instead of a site on his land nearby. A submission to set aside two lots for public housing was rejected by the panel as was a request by the shire that one hectare be public open space. The panel report has been sent to Mr Wynne, who has the final say. In her letter, Ms Taylor says the
water authority told her money from the land sale would be passed on to its customer. "At the current market value of the land, this would equate to a $6 one-off saving for each of its 1.65 million customers. "Join with us to tell South East Water and the Victorian Andrews Government that we would prefer that they use our $6 saving for a more altruistic purpose of preserving the environment of the reservoir." • A link to the petition is on Kunyung Residents Group's Facebook page at facebook.com/KunyungSaysNo
Tag time: Left, Members of the Victorian Wader Study Group preparing to carefully process birds netted at Flinders; above, a male ruddy turnstone has its bill measured (the blue tag indicates it was originally caught at King Is and probably called into Flinders on its way further south; and, below, a net being fired over birds roosting at Stockyard Point, Western Port. Pictures: Rob Patrick
Annual visitors flock to Flinders JUST as many families pride themselves on an annual visit to a favourite holiday spot so it is for thousands of birds that regard Western Port as one of their homes. The large bay and its islands include internationally recognised wetlands which governments have an obligation to protect under the Ramsar treaty as well as beaches. One migratory bird that regularly flies in to Flinders is back for its 14 th recorded visit. Flagged when two years old, the ruddy turnstone has been making a
24,000 kilometre round trip since 2003. Another two-year-old was flagged in 2007. Victorian Wader Study Group member Penny Johns keenly awaits the arrival of the birds each year and says four other turnstones spotted this year dropped in one their way back to King Island where they were originally flagged. Ms Johns and other birdwatchers have been flagging turnstones, red-necked stints and other migratory shorebirds at Flinders since the mid1990s.
“Ruddy turnstones are very site faithful,” Ms Johns said. “That was one of the reasons that we chose that species to attach geolocators to in 2007. “We had to re-catch them to download the information and we knew there was a good chance of that. “However, their numbers are in decline. In 1997 there were 150 here when we first flagged them. Today we are lucky to see 20.” Ms Johns said some good news was that a pair of hooded plovers was nesting at Flinders, the first recorded there for 20 years. Keith Platt
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BLAIRGOWRIE • DROMANA • MORNINGTON • ROSEBUD • SEAFORD • TOORAK PAGE 12
Mornington News 10 November 2015