Honeyeater unites green council

By Melissa Donchi
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges will lobby state and federal governments to secure more habitat for Victoria’s critically endangered bird emblem, the helmeted honeyeater.
In a last-minute agenda item, councillors unanimously supported the idea as part of a motion to protect roadside vegetation on Macclesfield Road in Yellingbo.
Cr Noel Cliff reminded fellow councillors of the reputation they had to uphold.
“We are the green council and I don’t want to be part of a machine that pays lip service and then doesn’t back it up,” Cr Cliff told the council last week.
“We should be lobbying federal and State Government to buy back farm land and turn it into reserves.”
Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater and other landcare and community groups called on the council to support their applications to Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria for a percentage of Crown land, referred to as the “Missing Link”, to be included in the existing conservation reserves in Yellingbo.
The submission by community groups followed plummeting numbers of the helmeted honeyeater and news that up to 10 conservation licences are due to be renewed.
The licences, for the areas between the Yellingbo and Sassafras creeks, still allow cattle access to the fragile native vegetation.
Bob Anderson, president of Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater, said the council had given the honeyeater a fighting chance.
“This is an opportunity for us to protect the environment of the helmeted honeyeater and improve its chances of survival,” Mr Anderson said.
With numbers dwindling below 50, Mr Anderson said not enough was being done to support the species.
“We want to stop these licences from being issued so the streamside vegetation can be conserved,” he said.
Crs Dunn and Cox agreed with Cr Cliff that they were the green council and should be doing more to lobby both governments, which Cr Cox described as “rolling in money”. He said it was “about time they helped”.
“We’re good on words but slack on the action,” Cr Cliff said.
“We need to start learning how to live in this environment as well as protect it.”