State of the Environment Report 2023

We need photos for our SOER web content

• The birds return.

  by Eagle D, over 2 years ago
  

  
  
  These photos typify the increase in biodiversity, witnessed and experienced on my property, with better land management practices.

  By destocking, removing fences, planting trees, and ultimately creating a 17 hectare wooded grassland we have seen the number of new species on our land increase every year.
  In most years, I photograph and identify, as many as six species not seen here previously.
  I am also witnessing the massive increase on Kangaroo numbers, right across the Fleurieu Peninsula, to populations never seen before.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  These photos typify the increase in biodiversity, witnessed and experienced on my property, with better land management practices.

  By destocking, removing fences, planting trees, and ultimately creating a 17 hectare wooded grassland we have seen the number of new species on our land increase every year.
  In most years, I photograph and identify, as many as six species not seen here previously.
  I am also witnessing the massive increase on Kangaroo numbers, right across the Fleurieu Peninsula, to populations never seen before.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Why the Gov't should not be considering a sand pipeline from Semaphore/Largs Bay to West Beach

  by Maggie Gordon, about 3 years ago
  

  My name is Maggie Gordon and I have been a Largs Bay resident since 1975. I am one of the founding members of the Semaphore Largs Bay Dunes Group and one of the two SLDG representatives on the Adelaide Coastal Communities Alliance. ACCA was formed last year to seek alternatives to the proposed environmentally harmful West Beach to Semaphore/Largs sand pipeline. It is made up of the environmental groups stretching along the coastline from North Haven to Henley.

  I primarily wish to discuss the Semaphore and Largs Bay coastal environment, one that I have closely observed over many years. In... Continue reading

  My name is Maggie Gordon and I have been a Largs Bay resident since 1975. I am one of the founding members of the Semaphore Largs Bay Dunes Group and one of the two SLDG representatives on the Adelaide Coastal Communities Alliance. ACCA was formed last year to seek alternatives to the proposed environmentally harmful West Beach to Semaphore/Largs sand pipeline. It is made up of the environmental groups stretching along the coastline from North Haven to Henley.

  I primarily wish to discuss the Semaphore and Largs Bay coastal environment, one that I have closely observed over many years. In particular, I wish to describe the harmful effects incurred by the Department of Environment and Water’s sand carting program over recent years. This program was instigated in an attempt to solve West Beach’s large-scale erosion problems (caused by the building to its south of two large breakwaters in the 1990’s). Its underlying concept was that the sand had been removed from West Beach by the littoral drift along the coast and neatly deposited on our northern beaches. This is only partially true. Only a small portion is deposited between Semaphore and Largs Bay jetties, which was the main area chosen for sand carting and also the peninsula’s premier beach. A large proportion is deposited either on sand bars off the coast or on the new beach formed at the tip of North Haven. Also, all sand taken in the littoral drift is ground down by this process into smaller grains, rendering all the Lefevre Peninsula sand unfit for West Beach restoration. At the end of each year this finer sand has been washed back off West Beach into the sea. Some West Beach residents have even complained about this fine sand being blown into their gardens and houses.

  However, not only did the sand carting program not solved the West Beach erosion problem, it also caused serious erosion problems along Lefevre Peninsula, particularly at Semaphore and Largs Bay, the two beach areas targeted in sand carting. I include two photos to prove my point. Since the program began, we have lost 8-10 metres of our foredunes. These all-important erosion buffers no longer gently slope down to the beach in their natural formation. Instead, they terminate in fragile cliff-like erosion scarps, ready to collapse further at the slightest disturbance.

  This is because the program's large-scale and prolonged removal of sand from the beach has resulted in a lowering of the beach level allowing wave surges in any severe storm event to flow further up the beach and cut into the exposed face of the foredunes. The foredune, for example, in front of the Semaphore Palais has already been breached as a result of sand removal (See red arrow in bottom photo}. If this approach is continued, Adelaide may well become notorious as the only coastal city in the world to be busily engaged in lowering its coastal beaches in an era of climate-induced sea level rise. It is vitally important that our dune system remains robust and able to protect the low lying hinterland of the Lefevre Peninsula.

  This is why ACCA is strongly opposed to the building of a sand pipeline which would remove enormous quantities of sand from Semaphore and Largs Bay beaches for a 20-year period in the first instance, with every likelihood that the process would continue once it has become the accepted approach. It would also entail for prolonged periods the presence of large trucks on the beach with their polluting noise and fumes as well as an even noisier sand collection unit - which resembles nothing so much as a noisy and dangerous industrial facility in the middle of what is meant to be a peaceful beach (See photo of Glenelg SCU).

  ACCA has been actively exploring alternatives to the proposed pipeline and has forwarded these to the S.A. government’s Sand Management Review which has just begun. These include world best practice methods of sand restoration and a detailed appraisal of South Australia’s many sand sources. The basic premise is that Adelaide’s beautiful metropolitan beaches should not be used as a sand source. They are too valuable an asset to the wider Adelaide community to be wantonly squandered in a pointless and destructive exercise.

• Erosion on Adelaide Northern beaches

  by Ronni Wood, over 3 years ago
  

  The breakwater at Semaphore South was built to collect sand to mitigate the erosion at Semaphore Park.

  However in recent years the sand collected at this breakwater has been entirely redirected to West Beach, leaving Semaphore Park more vulnerable to the increasing frequency of storms. With the added impact of sea level rise this combination of factors has led to severe erosion along the beach at Semaphore Park and neighbouring Tennyson Dunes.
  This is impacting houses and the planned future coastal path.

  The breakwater at Semaphore South was built to collect sand to mitigate the erosion at Semaphore Park.

  However in recent years the sand collected at this breakwater has been entirely redirected to West Beach, leaving Semaphore Park more vulnerable to the increasing frequency of storms. With the added impact of sea level rise this combination of factors has led to severe erosion along the beach at Semaphore Park and neighbouring Tennyson Dunes.
  This is impacting houses and the planned future coastal path.

• The View That Tells Many Stories

  by Becky Hirst13, over 3 years ago
  

  This is the view from our home in beautiful Blewitt Springs near McLaren Vale, just 45 minutes south of Adelaide. I love this photo because I think it tells many stories about our precious environment.

  Let's start in the foreground. The plants in our garden. What we plant in our South Australian gardens is so important. I am fortunate that many of the plants the former owners planted don't need much water. This is both handy for my low maintenance approach to gardening, but to also limit our water use. We rely on rainwater here but water use is something... Continue reading

  This is the view from our home in beautiful Blewitt Springs near McLaren Vale, just 45 minutes south of Adelaide. I love this photo because I think it tells many stories about our precious environment.

  Let's start in the foreground. The plants in our garden. What we plant in our South Australian gardens is so important. I am fortunate that many of the plants the former owners planted don't need much water. This is both handy for my low maintenance approach to gardening, but to also limit our water use. We rely on rainwater here but water use is something our whole population needs to be aware of. I have been trying to learn about revegetation and have an ambition to one day have the property full of plants native to this exact location, specifically Pink Gum Woodland. But that's a big goal and something I'm having to work on long term.

  Working up the picture. The bench. Our natural environment is a place of solitude. We need time in nature for positive mental health. Since living here I've become an avid bird fan, spending many hours obsessing over many different bird species. From the tiny Fairy Wrens and Yellow Thumped Thornbills at ground level, to the pairs of Wedged-Tailed Eagles soaring high above, there are birds everywhere. How does what we do as humans affect their worlds?

  The rainbow in the photo not only gives hope of pots of gold, but is a visual outcome of sunshine and rain. Our climate is changing. The seasons don't seem to be as clear cut as they use to be. Observing the weather is important for us all to do so that we can adapt our lifestyles around it.

  The tree in the photo isn't a native to Australia. I know this is not ideal as it doesn't at all align with my ambition to revegetate our property to Pink Gum Woodland! But this tree provides beautiful shade to our house in summer then loses its leaves to allow the warmth of the winter sun shine through. Passive house design is something we are passionate about and is again something we are keen to adopt in the future. We all play our part in both protecting the environment, but also working with it to live comfortably.

  Moving up the picture again, the paddock may look lush and green. But apart from minimal sightings of native grasses, it's full of weeds! The average person doesn't know this so our education about invasive species is so important.

  In this paddock though, we get a healthy Rain Moth population each year. I'm told this is a good thing!

  Moving up the picture, the neighbouring paddock is used for livestock. We enjoy that the resident sheep keep the grass low (tall grasses pose a serious bushfire threat) and lambing season is very cute. However, what's the impact of agriculture on our environment? How can we limit its impact by practicing Sustainable Agriculture? These are important questions.

  In the very distance, whilst not clear on this photo, is the horizon. Rising sea levels don't affect us at this distance but figuratively speaking, it's in our line of sight and something we must all also be thinking about, given so many of our population live along the coast line.

  Thank you for the opportunity to share my little piece of paradise and its connections to the bigger landscape.

• Whyalla Veterinary Clinic switches to Electric Vehicles.

  by Andrew Melville Smith, over 3 years ago
  

  It has become obvious over the last few years that internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE cars) that run on petrol and diesel are rapidly becoming obsolete and a new cleaner, more efficient technology is emerging, the Electric Vehicle or EV.

  Economics:

  Cost is a major driving force for change and with the rising cost of fossil fuels (Diesel or Petrol), this leaves us in a precarious position with our ability in Australia to transport people and goods. Currently 90% of Australia’s fuel comes from overseas and the war in Ukraine and cutbacks in Middle East production have shown us... Continue reading

  It has become obvious over the last few years that internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE cars) that run on petrol and diesel are rapidly becoming obsolete and a new cleaner, more efficient technology is emerging, the Electric Vehicle or EV.

  Economics:

  Cost is a major driving force for change and with the rising cost of fossil fuels (Diesel or Petrol), this leaves us in a precarious position with our ability in Australia to transport people and goods. Currently 90% of Australia’s fuel comes from overseas and the war in Ukraine and cutbacks in Middle East production have shown us that whilst they do not affect us directly, the flow on effects in the fuel supply chain do, resulting in higher prices.

  We can break out of this cycle. Australia has the potential to produce enough solar energy to power all our energy needs, and we have the raw materials to build the batteries to store it, to that we can end our reliance of fossil fuels and the high costs associated with them. All that is lacking is the planning and political will.

  ICE cars also require far more maintenance than EV’s, so their service costs are much higher and with many times more moving parts, the life span of an ICE car is a lot less than an EV. In addition, ICE vehicles are about to become stranded assets, where they will be prematurely written off with a substantial financial loss to the owners.

  It makes sense to reduce our transport costs now and change our vehicles to EV’s

  Pollution and pets

  ICE cars use a lot of toxic chemicals that can be detrimental to our pets. Petroleum can cause skin irritation and poisoning if ingested. Radiator fluid containing ethylene glycol is attractive to dogs and if ingested causes kidney failure.

  ICE vehicle exhaust gas emissions contain a cocktail of toxins that are poisonous to our pets and the environment we live in

  • Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a potent greenhouse gas leading to climate change.
  • Nitrogen oxides (NO2) is released from burning fuels and contributes to smog.
  • Carbon Monoxide (CO) is highly toxic to animals.
  • Sulfur dioxide (SO2) forms corrosive acids.
  • Hydrocarbon’s (HC) from fuel.
  • Benzene(C6H6) from unburnt fuel causes cancer.
  • Particulates: Soot from exhaust damages lungs.

  Even worse for Australia, the lack of emissions standards will lead to automotive manufacturers dumping polluting vehicles in Australia, that they can’t sell in other countries because of their higher emissions standards.

  The time is right to protect our patients and our environment by switching to zero emission electric vehicles. It has been an interesting journey away from our traditional vehicle suppliers, Toyota, and Honda, who no longer make products relevant to our transport needs to the new electric vehicle manufacturers, Tesla and BYD.

  
  

• Feral European Honeybees in Tree Hollow

  by Hefree, over 3 years ago
  

  Feral European Honeybees are a serious threat to biodiversity in many parts of South Australia. They displace native fauna from tree hollows, and they can outcompete native fauna for nectar and pollen. This photo of a very large, established feral colony was taken in the Dry Creek Corridor at Modbury.

  
  

  Feral European Honeybees are a serious threat to biodiversity in many parts of South Australia. They displace native fauna from tree hollows, and they can outcompete native fauna for nectar and pollen. This photo of a very large, established feral colony was taken in the Dry Creek Corridor at Modbury.

  
  

• Nature Play in Kensington Gardens Reserve

  by Kerry Hallett, over 3 years ago