Landmark Figs of North Head and Sealed Soil

North Head - a visit
Along North Head Scenic Drive, as the title suggests, there is no walking or cycling path to visit the National Park of the unique northern headland of Sydney. Joggers, walking visitors and cyclists dodge the speeding cars to get to THE view. This year one bandicoot has been recorded as killed.

Increased urban structures: light pollution and eutrophication
On the right of the roundabout a new carpark has been built, converting the bushland into an impermeable surface. The run off from the hill would run straight to Collins Beach. From tall poles mega-watts bellow down on the surface and adjoining bushland. For the endemic fauna the artificial lighting has severe consequences. The CO2 emission is another matter.

Butchering natural heritage:
Further, opposite the Artillery more 'scorched earth' carparks. On the right side of the Artillery are four giant ancient fig trees framing a cafe as the main landmark. All four have been severely cut back with no apparent reason. Hard to believe council would approve such unaesthetic butchery of the natural heritage of Manly. The limbs missing did not seem to be in the way of any human mobility.
At the Fairfax Walkway
Again the cemented walkway is impeding all natural drainage and erosion gullies dig deep. Encouraging large tourist coaches and not providing sanitary facilities, leaves the landscape littered in paper tissues flying in the wind and more. Apparently blind or illiterate dogwalkers bring their pets into the National park despite it all.

Images: 1 Google Earth, North Head Scenic Drive, roundabout an carpark before being sealed and light flooded. Collins Beach 'down the hill' .
2. Two of the figs to the right side of the cafe/Artillery

Manly Beach 2048

“Pungent brown sewage spews into the Pacific ocean. In the background, cranes put up hotels and beachfront apartments."
So runs an intro to another Pacific tourist spot where uncontrolled coastal tourism development kills the 'golden goose' for investors, residents and visitors. Pressures to intensify and commercialise the protected 'green and blue' leads to the degradation of all. Squeezing the proverbial 'goose' to death means a loss of human health, life quality and economic gain. Even more of the Australian species, plants and animals would lose their habitat, that is their right to life.

Imagine!
Manly in the 21st Century could be consumed in the same way, if there is no refraining from grabbing 'what's left'. Developing the trends would give the following constellation:

The pressure is already on (pdf) to convert 'nature' (Sydney Harbour National Park, North Head, Quarantine, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park) into more of the same, a tide of 'accomodation' and sprawling sub-urban McMansions with their associated infrastructure.

Manly 'town' could become 24/7 neonlit buyosphere which customers could immerse themselves in. Alcohol merchants and casinos high-rise, Las Vegas style could frame the beach. Experiences and bodies could be organised via animators from the entertainment industry. Roofed domes would lessen the deadly uv radiation from scrambling the DNA. Organised 're-creation' is conducted on flood-light filled arenas. All are of course attending in respective plastic uniforms. Sports ovals, swimming pools and golf courses are also day & night air-conditioned and lit. Plastic lawns have long replaced water gobbling/toxic lawn transplants.Every inch of the Earth is paved over with coastal real estate: tourism development (hotels, resorts, restaurants, etc.), and the infrastructure supporting coastal development (e.g. marinas, beaches, recreational fishing facilities.) Breakneck developments turn the area into ear-piercing noise waves on every corner.

The sky is also filled with constant noise: Jumbo planes are seen 'spinning' over the beach, belching poisonous gases and consuming non-renewable energy while delivering more 'customers'. Helicopters and small plane 'joy-rides' are now so numerous that they are on a clear collision course with each other and the many UAVs. Brand names are 'written' into the clouds for all to see, that are not in-dome. Blimps urge all to accelerate the buying of anything now!

The ocean:
Surfing and swimming has long being abandoned, as the nutrient over-enriched coastal waters have turned into a permanent red tide. This anoxic "dead zone," is devoid of fish, but still very rich in stinging jelly blooms. The entire coastal marine ecosystems has been consumed. The sand is so e coli laden, that it is not to be touched. The 'ocean spray', full of HABs, is a health hazard.An industrialised ocean horizon:
Private boating also ceased, due to oil shortages and the unavailability of territory to give these motor-boats 'a good spin'. A dense network of aquaculture infrastructure clutters up the coastal waters. Further out, the ocean horizon is studded with chains of giant artifacts: Desalination factories (pdf), gas- and oil drilling and extraction structures and huge data platforms. No whale has been seen for years that could navigate this dense human ocean clutter.

More frequent violent storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and giant waves mince up the entire set-up due to human-caused climate change. The thick layer of human debris and waste floating on top of the Pacific also gets washed onto the shores. Various chemical spills and scrambled infrastructure do not make 'clean-up' operations easy.

Due to the many desalination factories, the water guzzling life style could be kept up. Visitors on the whole are consuming double the amounts of water via hotels, swimming pools, golf courses and personal use etc. But locals also all have their personal lap pool by the 'beach'. The exotic plants still are watered with petrol pumps as before.

The demand on energy leads from time to time to a crash into 'a candle economy'. Many suffer in their air-conditioning dependent dwellings in the long black-out periods. The nuclear option seems to keep this power-ful life-style alive.

Sewage, another plentiful anti-product which is a slight challenge to the aesthetic and olfactory appeal, could also pose a possible loss in revenue for tourism. The dead zone of the coastal waters is fueled by this waste-water contaminated with toxins and pharmaceuticals.

But all is not without life, people now have their dearest darlings cloned in multiples. One can see them, as before in cafes with up to 6 harnessed dogs.
Huge cats, as well as packs of dogs have gone 'feral' roaming gated estates. The only surviving bird is the Indian myna, seen in millions coating all with its feces. Many black rats are seen living on the garbage. Large swarms of flies, mosquito and ticks are still posing a challenge.

Australian animals can now be admired (for a fee of course) in an event space, previously known as a museum. There they are, the bandicoot, the little penguin and so many more - all stuffed, just like in the 19th Century. Most Australian plants are gone. Some invasive plants and pests are still about, despite the increased toxicity of the weapons used in aerial helicopter spraying.

Uncontrollable fires shroud the area in suffocating smog. Even though there are only weeds left to 'back-burn', the scarcity of water, threatens the 'real estate'.

Many argue that tourists were not drawn by all that 'environmental stuff', they didn't give a hoot about the unique ecology of Manly. They were seeking to spin their body around, often with the aid of petrol or ingestid toxins . This constituted 'fun' and sold well. Human generated 'attractions' have to be erected to offer a peep here or a spin there. Once contained, money could be collected in this Disney-like hybrid simulacra world. Neither locals nor visitors are remembering or missing that 'biodiversity and landscape attractiveness'. The problem is though, that the place has become indistinguishable from so many other (coastal) places in the world and that is a challenge. Like malls and airports, one doesn't know anymore where one is.
Looking after the Country in the future:
Myopic objectives could gamble away 'nature' and 'uniqueness' that has no substitute. Unchecked developments and mobile destruction (mass tourism) degrade a place and its resources. 60 % of Australia already has been degraded by relative few people in a short time. 'Customers' flee the degraded tourist traps, locals desert the uninhabitable places seeking refuge in the remaining 40% 'new-found-land'.

Returning North Head, Sydney Harbour National Park, Quarantine Station, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park to their owners might guarantee a halt to the tidal wave of destruction.The National Parks and reserves are an essential refuge for endemic plants and animals. They also are of great ecological and economic value in framing Manly as a desirable and unique place on the Earth.
Images:
1 North Head, Manly and the Northern Beaches, Google Earth
2 North Head, Dobroyd and part of Sydney Harbour National Park, Google Maps
3 Dobroyd, SHNP viewed from Manly Cove
4 The Pacific ( uncluttered) viewed from North Head
5 North Head cliffs and the Pacific Ocean

Links:
Manly Council Submission to Taskforce on Tourism in National Parks, PDF
Players:
The NSW Government
The Environmental Trust, The Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC)
Manly Council
NSWALC, NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Land Rights Act
National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974
NCC/NPA Submission to Taskforce on Tourism and National Parks, Submission of The Nature Conservation Council of NSW and the National Parks Association of NSW and the Blue Mountains Conservation Society. 0808, pdf 1,2MB
Areas to 'exploit' and 'open up':
Sydney Harbour National Park (SHNP) North Head, Quarantine Station, Dobroyd, and Garigal National Park.
Coastal Recreation and Tourism:
- UN Atlas of the Oceans
- United Nations University (2008, June 4). Coastal Management Cooperation, Enforcement Key To Avoid Pending Crisis For Millions, UN Experts Report. Retrieved September 22, 2008, via Science Daily
- Mike Davis , House of Cards, Las Vegas: Too many people in the wrong place, celebrating waste as a way of life, Sierra Club
Footprint:
-"You can't have one species growing indefinitely on a planet that is finite." Prof. Bill Rees

Update:
" The vast majority of the Australian population is clinging to the east coast, running out of land and running out of water...2043, when 43 per cent of the Gold Coast has been abandoned to ever-rising sea levels. Australia's swelling population could be accommodated in desert cities." SMH 201209

Manly's Bandicoot & Wildlife Code

Replacing the unique with the ever-same
The unique Manly treasures, such as bandicoots (little penguins etc) and the sprawl of human urbanisation make for a predictable outcome. Wildlife habitat and sprawling sub-urbia are incompatible. Attempts to limit the negative impacts by "best practice" recommendations and "awareness education" are dubious. We are assured that the owners of the St Patrick's Estate townhouses were given their bandicoot awareness education. "The houses themselves also had to be bandicoot-friendly.."
Manly's surging dog (cat etc) population is making a practical statement to replace the unique Australian biodiversity with a monoculture of foreign animals. The interface between wildlife refuge and human infrastructure and their destructive packs is the killer-zone.

Effective protection of threatened Australian wildlife
Manly’s North Head developments are said to be contingent on " keeping their dog in at night and never letting their cat outdoors unless it is in a sealed cat run." But there are dogs ON the beach (illegally) every morning and night, sometimes even defecating ON the beach on a busy Sunday. They are un-leashed most of the time, hunting little penguins or hunting bandicoots at night in Shelly Beach bushland. With a lack of enforcement and a population wanting to expand the ever-same, the diverse uniqueness of the Manly ecology is sacrificed.
via Pets curfew in building code, Manly Daily 100908

See also:
Bandicoot Habitat I
More on Bandicoots in MNLY
Images: 0808 all via Google Maps
1. - 3. National Park, St Patrick's Estate townhouses developments
4. End of Osborne Rd
5. Montpelier Pl./ Bower St. development

Dog-walking in Bushland Degrades Biodiversity

“Operation suburban storm”
Australia's growing population sprawls into 'nature', not because they like the 'bush', but it is a cost-effective way 'to get away from it all'. They take their unsustainable cultural luggage with them to not miss out on that sub-urban feeling. The unpacking happens, but on a bigger scale. First they create tabula rasa in the 'wide open spaces'. After that, the packages of McMansions, hummers, pets and lawn monoculture gets unrolled. 'Operation suburban storm' is the annihilation of Australian animals and plants. Should any creature survive this invasion, then the next growing together of the frontier settlements would run them out of a home. In no time the human settlements take up all the land-scape and resources. Destroying what is unique about Australia
The refuges for wildlife are fast disappearing in Australia. But even the 'protected' areas are being conquered and annexed for suburbia with a vengeance. From Manly to Byron Bay to all-over the wildland-urban interface is a battle zone where Australian wildlife is eradicated. One main cause for the ecological vandalism is the anti-social behaviour of dog owners, walking their foreign animals in the last reserves for Australian creatures. There is an abundance of signs, but very little enforcement is taking place all over NSW. It seems to be tolerated that the suburbs just annex 'their bush' as their dog loo.

Vested bestial Interests
Being one of the largest pet owning communities per capita with substantial commercial interests backing it, this is a veracious force. Americans spend $41 billion p.a. on their pets, “ more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world.” One could only guess, that Australia is not far behind. Locals consuming their 'annexed' “wilderness” hits a 'blind spot' with its guardians.

Some consume all the land-scape
Dog owners consume and degrade parks & reserves and deprive others of their enjoyment. It would be interesting to quantify the economics of this 'local consumption only' and compare it to the loss of the eco-tourism industry, even locals and visitors who would also like to immerse themselves in a green space, rich in bio-diversity. The canine community lobbies to not be 'restricted' from areas, where in fact it is them that deny the existence of wildlife or of visitors enjoying what they came for - wildlife.The loss of biodiversity is price-less (so far).
Study: Dog walkers degrade Australian Bush

New research has found that “Dog-walking in bushland significantly reduces bird diversity and abundance...We show that dog walking in woodland leads to a 35% reduction in bird diversity and 41% reduction in abundance, both in areas where dog walking is common and where dogs are prohibited...The effect occurs even in areas where dog-walking is common and where they are prohibited, indicating that birds don’t become accustomed to continued disturbance by dogs. This evidence clearly supports the long-term prohibition of dog-walking from sensitive conservation areas...Ground-dwellings birds appeared most affected: 50 percent of bird species observed in control sites were absent in dog-walked sites. The effect of dog-walking was most pronounced in the area immediately adjacent to the site where dogs were walked...There were 76 fewer birds within 10 metres of the trail when dog-walking occurred compared to control sites, suggesting birds were seeking refuge away from the immediate vicinity of threat." (Peter Banks and Jessica Bryant, Four-legged friend or foe? Dog walking displaces native birds from natural areas.)

Unchecked dog epidemic in Manly threatens rich biodiversity
The overabundance of dogs in Manly and the anti-social behaviour of their owners degrades the refuges of native animals (and plants), but also robs bushwalkers of their rights to experience these places unhassled. Some of Manly's unique residents such as the Little Penguin, ground dwelling and flight-less, the Bandicoot and many others are too often killed by dogs.

Let's keep Manly special and unique, and effectively protect our rich green areas from irresponsible vandals.

Previous:
On the Annexation of National Parks on the Cheap
Extinction and a world full of poodles
Leave some of Manly as Penguin habitat
ASBO,Dogs allowed to savage
When Rangers knock off...
Links:
More interesting reading on Manly ecology by Dr. Banks et al
Do Australian small mammals respond to native and introduced predator odours? BENJAMIN G. RUSSELL, PETER B. BANKS (2007)
"Introduced predators such as foxes and cats are twice as deadly as native predators to Australia’s unique native animals."

Long - Nosed Bandicoot struggling in Manly

It took 50 years before people in Dulwich Hill 'discovered' they were sharing their habitat with a rare Australian survivor, the Long-Nosed Bandicoot. (ABC)

“A small, isolated population survives in Manly”, registered as endangered. It has - despite 'discovery' - been further reduced by speeding cars, cats and dogs and most of all the elimination of its habitat.
Image via DotAtelier

Dogs of Manly allowed to savage wildlife

A late walk at Marine Parade, ending at Shelly Beach Park usually ends up disappointing. The majority of dog owners display very anti-social behaviour. Despite signs all over to keep dogs on leashes, they are off the leash and even deliberately chased on to the beach or into the small fragments of bush. Today a dog chased a very small Bandicoot and 2 Possums. When asked to restrain the dog, the owner defended all and nearly assaulted the person pointing out the matter. This is not the exception, but the rule.

Let's have a wildlife day in Manly. People who live here because of its natural assets would like to see the native animals and plants protected - instead of 'going to the dogs'. Any industries to sponsor such an event ?

North Head - developments before & after...

The North Head of Sydney Heads appears like 'the edge of the world', 90 metres above the harbour and Pacific. “This unique habitat supports rare and endangered species such as the endangered Long-nosed Bandicoot, Brushtail and Ringtail possums, water rats, echidnas and reptiles. The headland also plays host to approximately 90 species of birds and over 140 native plants. “ (Harbourtrust)

Various human stakeholders are wishing to intensify and enlarge their ecological footprint. As previously reported, housing devlopment took place on bandicoot habitat. The necessary transportation for development and tourists in a hurry cause the death of many of the last bandicoots in this area.

The latest development plans for The Australian Institute of Police Management (image) on the heritage-listed North Head is now out of the hands of council and residents. The Institute of Police Management has been declared 'a state significant site'. The “.. institute's importance to national security made the need for quick redevelopment vital.” (Manly Daily)

So watch the dynamic map below developing...The above still shot is of North Head now.
Image:Copyright:GoogleMaps

North Head, Sydney - sousveillance for bandi

Watch this place being developed here. Zoom right in & out with the navigation on the top left. Give feedback, leave a commentary if you spot something on this bandicoot sousveillance.

Bandicoot habitat

Previous post

Happenings at the shoreline

A White-bellied Sea-Eagle was soaring over the shore today. With a wingspan of 2 m this bird of prey scanned the Marine reserve in one swoop. A noisy jet-ski at Shelly Beach racing off to the Northern beaches made the bird disappear.
Back on the walkway, desperate curved hands rolling nicotine, putting out the burn with lots of tinny. At the end, all is generously left in the bush.
Health-conscious parents jogging by with prams, stacking their 3-4 children against the glaring sun. The infants are in total isolation chambers (sensory deprivation), the toddlers and older ones are prevented from developing their muscles and coordination system. In between white fluffy balls yelping and hunting dogs yearning to get their teeth into the last Bandicoot.
Back at Manly beach, the sound-scape of generators, pneumatic drills and cement cutters battling with the surf.

Sydney without bandicoots

Watching the usual extinction, but this time the well documented, researched, career paths forged on it. But the losers are non-homo sapiens (at first). The creature of the moment is the BANDICOOT. While listed on the threatened species list for a while now, it is still mauled by dogs & cats, run over by cars and now the final bullet: 112 housing developments on its habitat. In THE BANDICOOT VS. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH the matter can be followed (from Canada!) in detail. At first (1788) there were many species of bandicoots everywhere. Now the Long-nosed Bandicoot,(Perameles nasuta) population at Nord Head is the LAST one in the Sydney region.
The 'country' of St Patrick's Estate was 'gifted' to the catholic church, official history with them only starts in 1935. Today the grounds are abuzz with building sites, the roads full of mining gear. The noise can be heard all over Manly. Here we go: the bush was/is cleared, cemented and very dear housing plastered all over the headland.This is the end of Bandicoots' habitat. The survivors, pushed to the edges are probably mangled by dogs&cats of the neighbouring McMansions.

What will you tell your kids, how the last bandi disappeard from Manly/Sydney?
No shortage of data, signs, pamphlets, speeches, workshops etc
If the real estate is fine, who gives a 'hoot'
Bandi in previous post

Tolerating the disappearance of Australians

The deep appreciation of things 'foreign' is shown by the high ratio of pet ownership. Barbie-dogs, fierce property defending dogs or obese cats are all chosen by the great majority of Manly residents. Dogs, mostly locked up in the home, yelp for ages once the Valium stops working. The ones imprisoned in backyards all day are no better off.

For some the cute nature of the Australian fauna is discovered, Lorikeets are attracted to balconies with sugar water, birds are fed with inappropriate substances. 'The hand-out' system makes the giver feel 'generous' and in-charge. It is a system of turning them into pets without the onerous responsibility of ownership. Minimum input, maximum gain.

What is definitely not on is allowing habitat for 'them', the native, endemic animals. The war of the species is on and there shall be no survivors. First there is the 'development' of the human species, more & more of the same. 20 garage-houses, private lap-pools at the beach etc. If the knock-em-down-building-process has not erased all soil and vegetation, the 'landscaping' will do the rest to design 'them' out. On the boring weekends the frenzy of tidying up the (remaining) vegetation takes place. Petrol gardening with mega-decibels. A good pesticide, herbicide and fungicide cocktail tops the job off.

Gone is the habitat of the birds, the bandicoots, the lizards, ringtails, the frogs etc. No place and resources to rest, feed or breed and sustainably live. Should some survive by accident the dogs, cats and cars will get them in due time.

The slaughter of native birds in gardens is mainly due to irresponsible cat owners. Fed on tonnes of other species they pounce on the birds like oversized wrestlers and kill for sport. The dogs have their go on the little penguins and anything else that moves. If the long nosed bandicoot, which once covered all of Sydney, now confined to Manly, survives the elimination of its urban bushland with rows of housing, then the next joy-rider to North Head will flatten the little creature for sure. Every day 7000 animals are struck by cars in NSW alone, that's 2.5 million a year. (Manly Daily, 19.07.2005)
Tolerance of things Australian would mean, leaving some habitat to them, allowing other species to prosper as well. Taking joy and pride out of the bio-diversity that could be passed responsibly to the next generations. But the exchange-value thinking, greed and ignorance do not allow for such generous inclusion. It is about mining the place and then moving to other frontier land.

Yes, there might be the odd person out there growing a Robin Gordon or even leaving a native tree, there are the authorities that 'recommend', 'appeal' and 'promote awareness'. To create a substantial urban bushland in the private and in the public form does take considerable knowledge, good will and resources to realise in a community. Deregulatory policies, lack of enforcement and hunger for cash-flow give the official consent to the 'done thing'.

The bandicoot, the penguin, the ringtail possum will all make cute posters one day of extinct species 'that we had and for unexplainable reasons, they all disappeared...''

Civilian war zone

Normal intersection in Manly today was akin to war-zone scenario. Huge tanks (4WDR) revving to show their tonnes of weight (shifted by fossil fuel), bullying pedestrians and small cars. Reckless driving, the curb is a pleasure to crack.

Meanwhile in the subs, the 1 m thick sandstone walls go up, chainsaws 24/7, grinding their way to more and more (of the same). The illusion is of course that they get a bit of peace behind their walled cities or just more capital gain?

Petrol-gardening in between the castles. British lawns without water, Camelias from Elsewhere, Roses from Overthere etc etc- but just make sure there is nothing Australian growing. Tidy edges with whipper-snippers pierce the air, the leafblower blurts. The soundscape of a battlefield.

Non-stop yelping of armies of white shitting fluffbags and neglected wolves tearing the last penguin, bandicoot or lizard. Obese cats pounce at the last little bird on the block. In the war of the species, 'man's best friends' will win over bio-diversity.

Walled and airconditioned castles that are called 'Tuscany', 'El Rancho', 'Riviera' and 'Windsor', hark into landsapes of the mind, anything but this place! When will they arrive? Another 200 years to accommodate to 'New found land' ?