Wildlife crossings for the Royal National Park and Heathcote Road
5 avril 2022, 5h00 am, heure du Québec
« Please register and join us on 5 April at 7pm for a webinar on the need for wildlife crossings around the Shire with two leading experts on the topic, Associate Professor Ross Goldingay, and Josie Stokes, previously Senior Biodiversity Specialist at TransportNSW.
The talk is free and all are welcome. The link to register is: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4TfeIuQ1Q4aNm6oG1-03Iw
Over a dozen koalas have been killed or injured on Heathcote Road in the last few years. There are corridors koalas and other animals use to move around the Shire, and some of these are cut across by major roads. We’ve been waiting since mid 2021 for the release of a TransportNSW report detailing measures that may stop this roadkill, including a possible underpass at Deadmans Creek.
There are also barriers preventing animals moving between the Royal and Heathcote National Parks – the F6 and the South Coast train line.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) have been flagging the need to reconnect fragmented landscapes and restore habitat between the Royal and other bushland in various reports for over 50 years. Last year a NPWS report stated the F6 freeway and the train line “are likely to be a major factor in the local extinction of several species”.
Can wildlife crossings make a difference? Millions have been spent on wildlife crossings elsewhere across Australia, and millions more invested at hundreds of locations overseas.
We’re very glad to be hosting this webinar – the issue is pressing and important.
Josie Stokes was previously the Senior Biodiversity Specialist at TransportNSW, and is a recognised road ecology expert who has prepared over 300 environmental impact assessment reports on wildlife crossing at locations across Australia.
Associate Professor Ross Goldingay has just completed one of the most detailed surveys of the use of underpasses by Australian wildlife, and has also carried out research into the road and rail barriers between the Royal and Heathcote National Parks.
As Ross has noted, “Many people will see Royal National Park as a very large chunk of bush, but the truth is Royal is a habitat island. Road and rail corridors, and large areas of residential development, isolate it from larger areas of habitat to the west. Many species in Royal will have populations that need to be connected to those to the west to have long-term viability.”
Please register and join us on 5 April at 7pm.
The talk is free and all are welcome. »
Organisé par Sutherland Shire Environment Centre et National Parks Association Southern Sydney Branch