Safeguarding Bellingen rivers and coast
https://bellingenshirenews.com.au/2025/12/04/new-plan-to-safeguard-bellingen-rivers/

Explore the responsible visitor tips:
"Watch your pooch when it poops: One 10 cent-sized piece of dog waste contains 23 million faecal coliform bacteria – rain washes it into rivers and harms wildlife. Bag it, bin it, keep our waterways clean."
https://www.visitbellingenshire.com.au/Plan/Tips-on-how-to-explore-with-care

The Gleniffer Valley is a beautiful place, but..
http://www.bellingennow.com/about/index.html
#water #rivers #Bellingen #BellingenShire #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #shorebirds #platypus #biodiversity #wildlife #ecosystems #PromisedLands #Gleniffer #dogs #pets #waste

Bellinger River snapping turtles backup

"Conservationists release largest group of zoo-bred Bellinger River snapping turtles after virus wipe-out. The snapping turtles occupy a 60km stretch of the Bellinger River."

"Nearly 100 captive-bred Bellinger River snapping turtles have been released into the wild, the biggest number yet for the breeding program after a virus nearly wiped them out in 2015."

"Nearly 90 per cent of the population was wiped out in 2015 due to a mysterious virus... Monitoring remains crucial to prevent the virus from spreading through the species again.Nearly a decade after a virus nearly wiped out a population of turtles unique to northern New South Wales, researchers say its origins remain a mystery as a project to repopulate the species hits a major milestone."

"Before the disease outbreak, there were estimated to be up to 4,500 of the freshwater turtles living in Bellinger catchment and today about 200 remain — largely as a result of release efforts."

"It's one of the rarest freshwater turtle species in Australia...Turtles have a really important role in our ecosystem as food scavengers."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-09/bellinger-river-snapping-turtle-conservation-release-zoo-bred/103681974
#BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #turtles #bellinger #pollution #mystery #Bellingen #CaptiveBreeding #biodiversity #habitat #CitizenScience #cattle

Pets, pesticides and polluted rivers

"Fipronil and imidacloprid are widely used in flea treatments, which are typically applied to the back of the pet’s neck once a month.These two chemicals are extremely potent neurotoxic insecticides and it is deeply concerning that they are routinely found on the hands of dog owners through ongoing contact with their pet. Pet owners will also be upset to learn that they are accidentally polluting our rivers by using these products.”

"The insecticides used in the flea products flow down household drains when pet owners wash their hands after applying the treatment. Wastewater from sewage treatment works is a leading source of fipronil and imidacloprid pollution in rivers, with concentrations exceeding safe limits for wildlife."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/01/vets-pesticide-flea-treatments-river-pollution-pet-owners-toxic-insecticides-hands
#pesticide #pets #dogs #cats #wildlife #rivers #pollution #OneHealth #neonicotinoids #neurotoxins #fipronil #Bellinger #platypus #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle

Australian freshwater turtle conservation

"Australian freshwater turtles support healthy wetlands and rivers. Yet one in three turtle species is threatened with extinction."

"Threats include habitat loss, being eaten by foxes or feral pigs, disease, fire, and moving species into new areas where they breed with existing turtle species. To manage these threats, we need to move beyond engagement to an integrated approach, where conservation advice is co-determined by First Nations people who are closely involved in implementing recovery plans and action plans."
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https://theconversation.com/moonlight-basking-and-queer-courting-new-research-reveals-the-secret-lives-of-australian-freshwater-turtles-215531

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Our research reveals some fresh insights into turtle behaviour, survey methods and conservation strategies. Report:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.13403

"The Bellinger River snapping turtle was listed as Critically Endangered under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 after a virus, now known as the Bellinger River virus, caused mass mortality of the turtles in early 2015.16 Nov 2022"
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/keeping-up-with-the-bellinger-river-snapping-turtle

#FreshwaterTurtles #conservation #rivers #water #pollution #roads #cars #foxes #dogs #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #extinction

Macroinvertebrate monitoring citizen science program in Belllingen

"Twice a year, community members and scientists come together to test for waterbugs at six sites along the Bellinger and Kalang catchments. Macroinvertebratese include juvenile stages of many insects like dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies, caddisflies, water beetles, and more."

"Our macro program was requested by the scientists supporting the recovery of the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping Turtle."

"The ongoing recovery of the Bellinger River Snapping Turtle in the Bellinger Catchment is linked directly to the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities of the catchment’s rivers. Not only are aquatic macroinvertebrates an important component of the Bellinger River Snapping Turtle diet, the macroinvertebrate communities are sensitive to changes in water quality and will, therefore, be an important indicator of river health into the future.”

https://www.ozgreen.org/macromuster
#macroinvertebrate #waterbugs #water #pollution #monitoring #Bellinger #Kalang #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #RiverHealth

"European settlement had a big effect on creeks and rivers, we’ve often used them as convenient waste dumps. Pump industrial waste, chemicals or sewage into them and watch it float away. Once we might have thought “problem solved”. Now we know differently. Treating rivers as dumps can (unsurprisingly) damage or even wipe out the life in it."
https://theconversation.com/many-urban-waterways-were-once-waste-dumps-restoration-efforts-have-made-great-strides-but-theres-more-to-do-to-bring-nature-back-206407

Bellinger River Rehabilitation Project
https://www.bellingerlandcare.org.au/current-projects/upper-bellinger-river-aquatic-and-terrestrial-habitat-connections/
#water #rivers #RiverCare #pollution #waste #restoration #platypus #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #biodiversity

Bellingen Update in two parts:
Part 2/2
The increased human encroachment on living beings 'out there' in the bush consitutes an existential threat. The vehicular disturbance of noise, light and vibrations from vehicles causes stress and alters their behaviour. Road noise and/or vibration is believed to disrupt communication in birds. Motor noise is audible over 200m penetrating the environment. Species adjacent to roads flee the area.
The fragmentation of their home or loss of habitat can put yet another species on the extinction list. Survivors have a bigger chance to get under someone's wheels as #roadkill.

The once closed canopy above some roads gave the koalas some connectivity. The new widening does not provide any canopy bridges. A good way to undo the NSW #koala strategy.

In #Bellingen town the many logging trucks and heavy machinery shooting through the blissful latte strip of #HydeSt. go unnoticed. The surrounding #forests with their inhabitants are perceived as mere material for economic #Exploitation. #Deforestation, #BiodiversityLoss, #Extinctions and #Climate disruption are not yet on/at the level of the military dictatorships of the Amazon or Myanmar, but one has to keep up with the neighbours.

The Sisyphus 'highway to hell' is paving the way to go past the 1.5C threshold. 'Upgraded' roads speed up the destruction and extraction. A hotter, dryer climate will invite more mega #fires. It's the fast-track towards extinction.

Pt 1
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/110388410575056761

#BellingenLogging #PanicLogging #River #care #NorthBankRoad #BellingenShireCouncil #NoFootpaths ##NoBikePaths #Mobility #Bushfires #GKNP #Biodiversity #Runoff #Platypus #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle

#Construction and widening of #Roads in #Bellingen. No visible #Erosion, #Sediment and runoff control >
See images:
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/110360330694011556
#GlenifferRd
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/110349060174269664
#NorthBankRoad

A resource guide for local #Councils,#Erosion and #Sediment Control #NSW
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Water/Water-quality/resource-guide-local-coucils-erosion-sediment-control-0642.pdf

Thanks to @treevan regarding the #SiltControl reminder
#Bellingen #Rivers #Turtles #BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #BellingerRiver #Ocean #Road #Pollution #Infrastructure #Runoff #Weeds #Externalities #BellingenShireCouncil