By John Tomlinson in Australia:
Traveston
29 June 2009
The Queensland Government is threatening to build a dam on the Mary River at Traveston Crossing.
This dam will endanger the Queensland Lung Fish, flood the nesting sites of the endangered Mary River Turtle and endanger the Eastern Cod. All these species are legally protected in the catchment of the Mary River.
The song below should be sung to the tune of Glen Campbell’s Galveston.
Traveston, oh Traveston, I still hear your river flowin
I still see your lung fish blowin
I was 16 when I left Traveston
Traveston, oh Traveston, I still hear your cod fish thrashing
While I watch your turtles flashing
I wipe a tear and dream of TravestonI still see the dam wall’s slaughter
Backed up; stagnant pools of water
Slime strangling nature’s daughter
On the bank where we used to run.Traveston, oh Traveston, I am so afraid you’re dying
Before I dry the tears you’re crying
Before I watch your black ducks flying in the sun
At Traveston, at Traveston
Indian dam causing decrease of dolphins: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Wild pigs wiped out on turtle breeding island
ABC June 29, 2009, 9:39 am
A leading turtle researcher says he is confident the flatback turtle population has not been badly affected by wild pigs which were introduced to a significant breeding site.
Wildlife officers have eradicated the pests from Wild Duck Island, off Mackay, which is the major breeding ground for flatback turtles.
Up to 30,000 eggs are laid on the island each year, but a large portion have been eaten by the pigs.
It is believed the pigs were introduced to the island in the last couple of years.
Doctor Col Limpus says they posed a significant threat but the problem was solved in time.
“If the pigs had not been removed, if they’d been left there to cause the continuing damage that they were doing to the eggs, it would seriously threaten our capacity to maintain a sizeable population of flatback turtles on in Eastern Australia,” he said.
“Had it continued for decades, it would have been disastrous – in 20 years time, when the young turtles from this period are coming back to breed, we may not even be able to detect much more than a minor reduction in breeding numbers.”
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Dawson River dam has snails in search of new home
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Brian Williams
July 23, 2009 12:00am
TAXPAYERS will be slugged tens of thousands of dollars to find a new habitat for an endangered snail so the giant central Queensland Nathan Dam can proceed.
A few hundred boggomoss snails cling to life near Taroom and their existence is blocking the 880,000 megalitre dam on the Dawson River, about 75km downstream of Taroom.
Wildlife Preservation Society executive director Des Boyland yesterday said at least one of the snail’s two remaining habitats would be inundated.
“Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act there is no way (Federal Environment Minister Peter) Garrett can approve the dam, but if the relocation works it would make it much easier for a go-ahead,” he said. One of the state’s most endangered species, the snail’s plight is among a raft of environmental issues facing the proposal which has been mooted for about 80 years.
The only places the snail exists are in boggomoss or artesian spring habitats at the Isla-Delusion Dawson River crossing and Mt Rose Station on the Dawson River. Mt Rose will be inundated by the $150 million dam, the fourth-largest in Queensland.
Dam water will be used for Surat and southern Bowen coal basin power stations, Dawson Valley irrigators and in the lower Fitzroy Basin.
Government quango SunWater has former Queensland Museum scientist John Stanisic looking for a suitable habitat to which snails can be translocated and given about two years to show they are healthy and reproducing.
SunWater’s Nathan project manager Peter MacTaggart said the translocation was a central part of the dam approval process.
“Ensuring the long-term survival of the boggomoss snail is essential in order for the project to proceed,” he said. “We envisage translocations will commence before the end of the year.”
Mr MacTaggart said it was hoped the dam’s environmental impact study would be lodged after the trial in 2012.
It’s thought the snail – about as big as a 10¢ piece – has lost up to 90 per cent of its numbers.
The Federal Environment Department said there was a 50 per cent probability of it becoming extinct in the wild in the next 20 years.
The project stalled in 2003 after the Queensland Conservation Council and WWF successfully took the Federal Government to court, arguing that potential impacts from irrigation, such as pollution on the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, had not been properly assessed.
The Government lost an appeal in 2004, bringing an end to the dam’s immediate prospects. In 2007, former premier Peter Beattie had SunWater start an EIS on the project.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,25821553-952,00.html?from=public_rss
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Brisbane residents still worried about dam
August 28, 2009 04:23am
MOST Brisbane residents oppose the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam, with a researcher saying the public now expects smarter solutions to water shortages.
The Federal Government will have the ultimate say on the dam, proposed for the Mary River near Gympie, north of Brisbane. But it is still awaiting a report from Queensland’s coordinator-general.
The dam will be delayed by some years even if it is approved. But opponents continue to campaign against the plan, saying it would flood valuable farm land and could decimate several rare species.
The Queensland Government remains committed to the dam, saying it is needed to supply the booming area around Brisbane, even though it cost Labor the seat of Hervey Bay at the March election.
Griffith University PhD student Rob Hales last week polled 269 people from Brisbane and found 59 per cent were against the plan.
About 74 per cent said they were against damming a river if it impacted on endangered species, and only 41 per cent agreed that damming a river in the face of climate change was the most reliable way to secure water.
Mr Hales, whose PhD centres on the public participation in the controversial decision, said the polling showed there had been a “green mindshift” away from the idea that dams were a good solution to a water shortage.
As part of his PhD research, Mr Hales interviewed lobby groups, politicians and other individuals about the political messages they were sold in relation to the dam. In his opinion, they had been sold a lemon.
“It would appear to be a political decision made prior to a thorough assessment through normal administrative channels,” Mr Hales said.
Save the Mary River Co-ordinating Group president Glenda Pickersgill said the premier should pay attention to the poll, as respondents likely included voters in her own electorate.
“There’s better ways to get a water supply than damming a river and people are becoming aware of that,” Ms Pickersgill said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25992581-5005961,00.html?from=public_rss
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