A HEALESVILLE environmental group claims damage done to a critically endangered plant at Castella is a sign of worse to come with the construction of the North-South Pipeline.
Healesville Environment Watch Inc. (HEWI) chairperson Steve Meacher said he was shocked during a visit to the roadside reserve with officials from VicRoads, to discover the main stem of a Round Leaf Pomaderris among a number of trees which had been cut down.
Mr Meacher said the Pomaderris was one of five mature specimens in the area. The stem had been broken off.
He said information from the Department of Sustainability and Environment indicated only 100 mature specimens of the plant are known to exist.
HEWI’S presumption that the damage to the rare plant was the result of survey work in the area has been neither confirmed nor denied by The (Pipeline) Alliance.
“We must honestly recognise that there will be some impact on vegetation – times when there is an unavoidable need to trim or cut plants to facilitate important survey work,” project director Rod Clifford said.
Mr Clifford said The Alliance had received assurances from DSE that vegetation removal was allowed under the relevant planning scheme, but said a lot of work had been done to minimise the impact of investigative works on local vegetation.
“This has included an audit of species in our areas of operation, briefing of workers and marking of plants and trees of particular significance,” he said.
Mr Meacher however said the incident was inexcusable.
“This is the sort of casual vandalism we were afraid of,” he said.
“It was the Pipeline Alliance themselves who identified that this species was present at this location. And then their surveyors find the plant is blocking their sight line and just break off its main stem.
“They just don’t seem to care,” he said.
Mr Clifford said, however, the plant was listed as “vulnerable” under the DSE advisory list and added that the Alliance had found a further 208 specimens of the plant.
He said The Alliance had developed a propagation program to help with the survival of rare species in the area, which would include the Round Leaf Pomaderris.
HEWI in the meantime has applied for the plant to be listed for protection under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act and is expecting the application to be considered later this month.
Advisory Committee Report on the pipeline presented to the Minister for Planning a month ago has still not been made public.
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