There will be a review of the 5 year management plan of the Gleniffer Reserves. A meeting will be held at the Gleniffer Hall on Tuesday 23rd January from 9.30am to 12 noon.
Once residents and visitors have frequented the local watering holes in Bellingen, the swimming holes at Gleniffer are the main thing to do on a hot day. The mass tourism is funneled via ' the tourist drive'. The scenic country road has just been reconstructed into a highway-like infrastructure. Motorists are now enticed to race from the watering hole to the swimming hole. Cars park as close as possible to the small creeks and unload dogs and gear. The unwanted waste is commonly left behind for the local wildlife and the next load of visitors.
The reserves have a lot of car parking infrastructure and educational signage about settler explorers now.
A "Go before you go” campaign urges visitors to go to a public toilet before leaving the township. Many motorists/swimmers forget and the dogs can't read.
The 'upgrade' of Gleniffer road channeled the flow of visitors into local waterways that have no toilets.
The impacts of extreme heat events on wildlife
How koalas are trying to cope
Temperatures are predicted to swelter above 40 degrees today in NSW. People are retreating into their coal-fired AC houses and AC combustion boxes. Dogs are offered drinking bowls at almost every door in Bellingen, but Australian animals are out there in a degraded landscape, having to deal with the extreme heat we generate.
Koalas are "using a tree species they don't feed on ... [hugging] the main trunks of trees and lower to the ground. We came up with the idea they were losing heat to the tree trunks. I found a colleague with a fancy thermal camera and went out in hot weather and it's exactly what they were doing. By pressing their body into the coolest tree they could find, the koalas halved their need to drink water in heatwaves. Hugging trees may not be enough for koalas to maintain their already dwindling distribution with rising average temperatures."
The impacts of the road 'renewal' projects in the Bellingen/ Gleniffer area
The stated rationale given for the $5.3 Million 'Road Renewal Program' was to boost tourism and businesses of the Promised Land and the Never Never River. The clearing of vegetation and lining the soil with bitumen and cement incidentally also eased access for the government's logging corporation (Tuckers Nob State Forests).
The year long road construction alone caused air pollution, noise, erosion, habitat loss, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The long term effects for wildlife and residents have been the loss of a livable habitat: Intensification of traffic on Gleniffer Road and Roses Road. Speeding, night time noise from traffic. More garbage in the 'gutter'.
Many fossil fuel enthusiasts are going for their ritualistic 'Sunday drive' on The Loop Drive to the Promised Land. Hoards of wanna be 'bikies' are now attracted to cruise the loop with their souped up machines. No, 'bikie gangs' are the others, here we have the fat grey nomads that finally can afford the 'Easy Rider' Harley-thingy-toy.
The area is also a niche for many local motorbike riders that are exceeding the 94 decibels limit in the age of electric motorcycles. People actually move to the countryside to enjoy the freedom of lawlessness in under-policed areas.
Many now flock to natural places for the best selfie background
"Trampling plants, damaging rock art, risking your life: taking selfies in nature has a cost."
"Someone goes swimming, puts it on social media and suddenly there’s 100 people a day coming to go wild swimming where the platypus and the glow-worms live. And in a wet year, suddenly all the vegetation around the rock pool is trampled, it turns into a muddy mess."
A visit to the cafes, eateries and restaurants on The Mid North Coast reveals menus that consist of mainly animal foods. Hamburgers, crispy bacon, pork, beef, poultry and fish are what the consumer demands. The menus are almost identical, reflecting the desire of the customers. In between a thoughtless bowl of some vegetable matter can also be found.
Ideally there is (door2door) parking and one can just roll out of the one seat onto the cafe seat. Meat and petrol have formed the landscape all around. It's known as the 'view'.