Ginninderra Falls Working Group (Biodiversity ) Committee.
Formed under the banner of the Conservation Council in Mar 2015. Meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
AIM. To coordinate work on establishing baseline data on the whole of the West Belconnen development area. It is extending its area of interest to areas north of the Ginninderra Creek and west of the Murrumbidgee River in both ACT and NSW.
MEMBERSHIP
- Conservation Council. (Larry O’Loughlan)
- Ginninderra Catchment Group (Damon Cusack , Chair, David Wong)
- Ginninderra Falls Association (Committee members as available)
- Riverview Group. (David Maxwell, Tony Adams, Tony Carey)
- Ken Hodgkisson. (ex CSIRO, currently actively working on vegetation restoration in a number of areas)
- Wally Bell , Tyrone Bell. (Aboriginal heritage)
- Anna Hyles. (Ginninderra Falls landowner)
WSUD (Water Sensitive Urban Design) Committee.
Sub-group of the Ginninderra Falls WG.
AIM. To consider the best solution for urban runoff for the proposed West Belconnen urban development so as to alter as little as possible the drainage regime in the creeks and gullies draining into the Murrumbidgee River and Ginninderra Creek.
This committee will report to the Riverview Group on their recommendations which will hopefully be implemented. It will consider how to best handle urban runoff so that the flow regime in creeks and gullies draining into the Murrumbidgee River and the Ginninderra creek is as close as possible to the current regime. Riverview has already commissioned reports by from AECOM regarding urban runoff. These have made baseline studies of the current regime and have suggested runoff works which will.
MEMBERSHIP.
- Ginninderra Falls Association (Robyn Goghlan, other committee members as available)
- Ian Lawrence. (ex runoff person with the ACT Dept of Environment). Now withdrawn (conflict of interest due to being engaged by AECOM).
- Ian Falconer. Board member of the Conservation Council, academic with a background in water quality.
- Baden Williams. Academic with a background in subsurface water movement.
Vegetation Polygon Group.
Sub-group of the Ginninderra Falls WG.
AIM. To consider in detail current and future work by Rob Jessop (?????) in relation to establishing baseline data for existing flora and fauna in the proposed conservation zone of the West Belconnen urban development. It is currently proposed to extend this work to the area north of the Ginninderra Creek.
OVERVIEW.
Extensive work has already been undertaken by Rob Jessop in defining 61 vegetation zones in the conservation zone. These have been documented in considerable detail and the data is available as a spreadsheet. Further work will refine this data in particular in relation to fauna. It is proposed to set up “camera traps” to better document the fauna of the area. COG (Canberra Ornithological Group) is involved to document the bird life.
MEMBERSHIP.
- Rob Jessop(??????).
- Ginninderra Catchment Group (Damon Cusack , David Wong)
- Ginninderra Falls Association (John Connelly , Robyn Coghlan other members as available).
BOB (Bush On the Boundary).
Newly formed specific “Riverview” BOB group to consider how the urban development impact on the surrounding bushland. A Gunghlin BOB group has been in existence since 2006. This group follows that format.
AIM. Coordinating group to bring together all interested parties to make sure their activities are complementary rather than competing. Specifically
- provide a forum for information exchange and knowledge sharing about issues involving biodiversity conservation at the urban bush interface, with a focus on urban development in close proximity to areas of high conservation value
- provide input into the development process with the aim of avoiding environmental impacts before they arise
- facilitate access to knowledge, expertise and resources to add value to research, education and on-ground rehabilitation
MEMBERSHIP
- Ginninderra Catchment Group
- Conservation Council. (Ian Falconer. Cons Council board Member)
- Ginninderra Falls Association.
- COG (Canberra Ornithological Group)
- FOG (Friends of Grasslands)
- Thunderstone ( Aboriginal Heritage)
- Belconnen Community Council.
- Straithnairn
- ACT Govt. LDA Rob Thornhill.
- ACT Govt. TAMS, Environment and Planning.
BASIN PRIORITIES PROJECT.
This has only recently been setup as a result of Federal monies ($93 Million) becoming available for improving water quality. Six catchments in the ACT have been selected for work, the Ginninderra, Gooromon Ponds catchment is one of them.
This project is being run by TAMS. An inaugural “information session “ was conducted at the Riverview office (Kippax) on Thursday 6th Aug.
Early days yet to see what happens.
PEOPLE AND PLACES
This is a regular Riverview community feedback meeting. It is run by Michael Pilbrow of Elton Consulting and meets approximately once a month.
It considers a wide range of issues……anything in fact that might be of community concern. Last two meetings have for instance been considering naming of suburbs and streets in the proposed West Belconnen urban development.
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