FERA held their third round of community information meetings on Saturday 26th at Ruffy and Upton Hill.
A summary of the preliminary environmental survey was presented by Inka Veltheim from Biosis. The initial survey has identified a number of threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna across the area proposed for development by FERA. The initial survey was mostly done by reviewing existing data sources such as the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. Further field studies will be conducted over the next 12 to 24 months to provide more details. Inka commented that even if a particular species is not actually recorded during the surveys, if the habitat for that species is found then it is most likely that the species would actually be there and would be recorded as such. Inka also said that based on the initial survey it is most likely that a full Environmental Effects Statement would be required due to the threatened species already identified and the size of the proposed development.
FERA agreed to a request in the meeting that they ensure that there was transparency in the design of the ecological surveys and that they implement a meaningful process for anyone in the community to provide input into the design. This would ensure that the surveys were conducted across a wide enough area and at appropriate times (eg to capture seasonal movements) to capture a representative sample of all the threatened and vulnerable ecological communities. Biosis were very receptive to having community input into their research, acknowledging the deep understanding that landholders have of the biodiversity on their properties.
We continue to encourage everyone to log observations of any interesting flora and fauna into iNaturalist, as Biosis will be using this data as well as data from other State and National biodiversity databases.
FERA then presented an overview of climate change and the need for renewable energy, a topic which the local community is already fully aware of and has no argument with, but unfortunately FERA did not provide any further information about their actual project other than that they may opt to construct multiple 132kV transmission lines along the roadsides to reach the main transmission line near Alexandra. Such a proposal should be strongly discouraged as it would require an easement of approx 45m wide along the route of the transmission lines, leading to removal of almost the entire roadside remnant vegetation across the project area.
Those who attended the meetings left disappointed that FERA continue to treat the community with disrespect by withholding almost all information about their project and not engaging in an open discussion.