ACT Planning and Land Authority
ACEPDcustomerservices@act.gov.au

Re. Minor Plan Amendment MA2024-m, Extending nature reserve overlay and rezoning under future urban area (Bluetts Block)

Friends of Grasslands (FOG) is a community group dedicated to the conservation of natural temperate grassy ecosystems in south-eastern Australia. FOG advocates, educates and advises on matters to do with the conservation of native grassy ecosystems, and carries out surveys and other on-ground work. FOG is based in Canberra and its members include professional scientists, landowners, land managers and interested members of the public.

Bluetts Block has been recognised as conserving some of the most intact ecosystems close to the southern and western suburbs of Canberra. The area is home to over 100 different species of plants and supports 146 species of birds, including threatened woodland species and also rare marsupials. The site provides important landscape connectivity from the woodland ecosystems to the south, on to the Murrumbidgee Corridor and then to Black Mountain and beyond. Two critically endangered ecological communities, Natural Temperate Grassland, and Box-Gum Grassy Woodlands, occur at the site. Bluetts Block provides a valuable recreation and education resource for nearby residents.

FOG supports the recommendation that a nature reserve be established over Stromlo Block 403 and Denman Prospect part Block 12 Section 2. For effective reserve design and improved connectivity, we urge the Territory Planning Authority and ACT Government to include Stromlo Block 402 in the new reserve as well, and to progress discussions with ANU to enable this to occur. Our reasons follow.

1. All three blocks comprising Bluetts Block contain high value ecosystems, which include a number of threatened and rare species.

Block 12

The land previously referred to as the “Deferred Area” on Block 12 Section 1 Denman Prospect is directly adjacent to Blocks 403, and includes significant areas of recovering Box-Gum-Grassy Woodland and habitat for woodland birds.

Block 403

Block 403 (1,447,960 m2) has varying topography and contains a number of different habitats, including Dry Forest, Box-Gum Grassy Woodland and Natural Temperate Grassland.  It supports a correspondingly varied flora and fauna, including a diversity of orchids, and the vulnerable Pink-Tailed Worm Lizard and Superb Parrot

Block 402

Block 402 (1,973,160  m2) is currently leased to ANU, with a 15-year lease renewal granted in 2023.  This block includes a number of different habitats, including extensive Natural Temperate Grassland and Box-Gum Grassy Woodland.

2. All three blocks provide an important connectivity link across the ACT.

The variety and quality of habitats on Bluetts Block, and the absence of similar habitats on either the northern side farmland and southern side suburbs, means that the area offers valuable landscape connectivity.  Ideally, connectivity is best facilitated by wide areas, rather than narrow “corridors”. 

3. To be a truly viable nature reserve, Block 402 should be included in the nature reserve.

As demonstrated above, the nature of the flora and fauna on Block 402 mean that it is in itself sufficiently important to warrant the protection of a nature reserve. In addition, its inclusion with Block 403 and Block 12 (and the existing Molonglo River corridor which it adjoins) will also allow for more effective and efficient management of all these areas as a single unit, and together they will deliver the scale of habitat that improves the viability of plants and animals in the area.

Effective reserve design dictates that larger, more block-shaped areas are better for long-term conservation outcomes.  Should the reserve be limited to the areas of Blocks 403 and 12, that reserve will have a large boundary to area ratio, which means it will have a relatively large edge relative to its area.  The addition of Block 402 to a reserve will decrease the boundary to area ratio and will result in a far more effective reserve design.

4. The population of the Molonglo valley is growing rapidly, and unless protected, these ecosystems next door could be rapidly degraded by domestic animals, weeds and inappropriate human use. However, properly conserved and managed, Bluetts Block can be a valuable educational and recreational asset to the Molonglo community and the ACT generally.

The features of Bluetts Block that we have described make it an attractive recreational and educational area, which will particularly appeal to the many tens of thousands of residents soon to come to the Denman North and Stromlo Reach housing developments bordering Bluetts Block.

Yours sincerely

 

Professor Jamie Pittock
President, Friends of Grasslands

10 October 2024