Bahrs Scrub is a biodiversity hotspot. Clearing for fast-tracked development to accommodate an additional 11,000 residents as outlined in the South East Queensland Regional Plan, will destroy at least nine flora species unique to Bahrs Scrub, interrupt vital riparian corridors, as well as decimate the wildlife population, including koala and platypus. Clear-felling of native forest is being carried out in the Bahrs Scrub Precinct presently, under decades old Gold Coast City Council development approvals.

Modern equipment allows developers to remove every trace of vegetation from a site within a very short period of time at comparatively low cost. Such methods, however, are devastating for the wildlife that depend on native vegetation for survival, and add dramatically to carbon emissions, affecting climate change. Animals are either killed directly by bulldozers, or are unable to find a new location to exist in, coming into direct competition for resources with wildlife already found in undeveloped areas. Clearing also contributes to ‘edge effects’ on adjacent vegetation, increasing the drying out of forested areas and the infestation of weeds, litter, feral animals and so on. Clearing in sensitive areas also rids Australia of its precious natural heritage of unique species of plants, often before they have even been properly identified.

Throughout Australia, and in South East Queensland, the senseless, old-fashioned practice of clear-felling native vegetation has not only caused the extinction, or near extinction, of many species of wildlife, but is contributing to catastrophic climate change by removing vital carbon sinks, and further releasing carbon into the atmosphere in the form of decaying vegetation.

Since 2009, in addition to what had already been carried out for existing housing, clearing of native vegetation has been carried out with devastating results in many areas within the Bahrs Scrub Precinct. In every instance, clearing has been carried out with no attempt at sustainability practices despite conservationists’ alerts to authorities of the natural flora and fauna values of the Precinct, despite the present era of climate change awareness and the importance of forest for carbon storage, despiteLogan City Council’s public statements supporting the vital need for sustainability , despite the recent admission by the State Government that the SEQ koala population is under grave threat of extinction , and despite the admission at Federal Government level that “Australian biodiversity is in rapid and serious decline ”.

The clearing that is presently being undertaken is being carried out under past approvals by the Gold Coast City Council. Many of these approvals were granted decades ago, in the era when the critical importance of habitat protection and forest carbon sinks was not popularly or officially acknowledged or understood. These approvals cannot be rescinded under present Queensland legislation without embroiling the new local authority, Logan City Council, in protracted and expensive legal cases, due to the concept of injurious affection.

Present environmental laws cannot be triggered to protect the very high natural values of the Bahrs Scrub Precinct because these values have not been officially acknowledged by the Qld Environmental Protection Authority or the local Council. The EPA has not rigorously surveyed the area for the presence of koala or platypus, key species known by conservationists and local residents to have once existed in plentiful proportions and still present despite the threats posed by urbanization. In addition, Bahrs Scrub has long been known by locals and experts to contain unique species of plants. So great is the need to preserve and regenerate the integrity of Bahrs Scrub that EPA officials recommended the area as a National Park as far back as 1981; however, this recommendation was overruled by the state government of the day.

 One of the key thrusts of the Save Bahrs Scrub Alliance is to have rigorous flora and fauna mapping conducted of the Precinct by reliable and independent environmental consultants to reveal the very high natural significance of Bahrs Scrub, thereby enabling the protection of the area under Queensland and Australian Government laws.

The Save Bahrs Scrub Alliance has been compiling lists of flora and fauna known to exist in the Precinct. Community input for confirmation of these lists and/or to add to these lists is welcome.

Mass tree clearing is presently underway at a variety of points within the Bahrs Scrub Precinct.

The Alberi Park housing estate development located on the corner of Wuraga and Teys Rds, followed the common practice of felling almost every tree within the estate’s boundaries. The forest here was dense and tall and was home to a range of native fauna, including koalas. The second stage of this development has seen similar devastation of native vegetation and habitat.

Clearing has been extended in Windaroo on the Park, on the eastern slope of Bahrs Hill. This area contained more dense native vegetation, including some rainforest. Considerable habitat has been lost to local wildlife as a result and significant, possibly dangerous erosion has occurred with the exposure of bare soil on an extreme slope. It is further speculated that the site will be quarried for valuable stone and other materials before being opened to housing development.

Clearing has also been carried out in the second stage of Windaroo Outlook on the Beenleigh-Beaudesert Rd, possibly affecting the vital riparian link for wildlife from Bahrs Scrub forest, across the busy roadways and housing to the nearby Albert River.