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Huntlee will deliver significant environmental outcomes to the Lower Hunter.
Under its Voluntary Planning Agreement with the State Government, Huntlee will transfer almost 6,000ha of high value conservation land to the government to enhance the region's green corridor. This land will create substantial extensions to the existing State Forests and become key holdings in the State Government's strategy to establish and maintain significant green corridors.
The extensive conservation plan for Huntlee has been designed to complement the NSW Government's Lower Hunter Regional Conservation Plan (LHRCP) which was endorsed by cabinet in February 2010. LWP has worked closely with regulatory bodies over several years to ensure Huntlee complies with and in some instances exceeds the conservation outcomes required by the LHRCP.
LWP has undertaken extensive studies of the site to identify areas of environment significance and its planning processes are guided by a range of principles including retaining adequate threatened species populations and endangered ecological communities; maintaining wildlife corridors; and ensuring existing extensively cleared and degraded areas are used to achieve housing density.
Additionally, as well as the comprehensive plan to protect the Persoonia Pauciflora (see more here), Huntlee has committed $5million to the rehabilitation of Ayrefield Colliery. This colliery, which has lain abandoned since 1974. has continued to degrade. Since LWP took over management of the land in June 2007, we have been working closely with Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) regarding the maintenenance of the site and have been monitoring dust, gas and leaching into the groundwater.
Another part of the conservation plan is $1million dedicated to the clean-up of the parts of Black Creek which border Huntlee. |
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Preserving the Persoonia
As part of the overall conservation plan for Huntlee, a comprehensive management plan has been produced for the critically endangered Persoonia Pauciflora.
Of the 395 recorded plants in the region, only 28 (or 7%) are situated within Huntlee. These plants will be protected entirely thanks to the management plan which includes the dedication of 17ha to create Persooonia Park.
To further protect existing plants and advance research into propagation of the species to ensure its survival, Huntlee has contributed $100,000 to the Government's North Rothbury Recovery Plan.
LWP has been assistng DECCW since 2007 on propagation of the Persoonia Pauciflora. In that period, considerable time and money has been spent on researching propagation methods for the Persoonia, which had never before been successfully propagated.
In an exciting development, cuttings collected in 2010 have resulted in the successful propagation of 22 plants through the CSIRO research centre at Mount Annan Botanic Gardens. Huntlee has commiteed an additional $20,000 to fund the establishment of a community-based Persoonia Protection Society which will be tied to the objective of the North Rothbury Recovery Plan.