Land Clearing

17 April 2003

Easter Treeclearing Approvals for the Daly

This week the Minister for Planning, Kon Vatskalis approved another 720 hectares of treeclearing applications in the Daly catchment on top of the 6300 hectares approved last month.

The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) is calling on the Northern Territory Government to publicly release all future plans to clear for large scale farming on the Daly River.

"Minister Vatskalis has approved yet more clearing permits in the Daly catchment. This clearing will have impacts on the health of one the Territory's most valuable recreational fishing Rivers." Mr Henry Boer, ECNT Woodlands Campaigner said today

"Clearing thousands of hectares in one area of the Daly catchment will cause impacts throughout the catchment and along the entire river. The Government must recognise that they can't keep handing out permits to clear trees in the Daly Catchment without there being a decline in water quality."

"The Northern Territory Government is planning some very big farm developments in the Daly which they have yet to make public. These new broad scale agriculture developments could result in the clearing of hundreds of thousands of hectares and the extraction of millions of litres of groundwater."

Mr Boer said, "The Territory Government has not released these farm plans because they know there is a lot of public opposition to large scale tree clearing and agricultural expansion in the Daly catchment."

"This Easter thousands of people will visit the Daly to fish and enjoy nature. These visitors will be enjoying the benefits of a healthy river system- a system which is now under threat from the Government's relentless commitment to clearing large tracts of land in the Daly."

"The Northern Territory Government is repeating the same development mistakes that are leading to the collapse of the Murray-Darling River system. Minister Vatskalis should give the public a chance to make decisions about the Daly before agriculture development has gone too far." Mr Boer concluded.

For more information on Land Clearing contact ECNT:
Phone: 08 8981 1984
Email: ecnt@octa4.net.au

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