One of Australia’s rarest birds may be threatened by a controversial land clearing project in Queensland’s far north that is under investigation by the federal environment department.
Conservationists claim the Olive Vale property in Cape York, owned by a cattle company that won approval to clear 330 sq km in the dying days of the Newman government, is “smack in the middle of core habitat” for the endangered buff-breasted button-quail.
Award-winning ornithologist Lloyd Nielsen said he was “just horrified” to learn bulldozers were clearing woodlands he was certain were home to “probably Australia’s rarest bird at the present time”.
The buff-breasted button-quail is the only known Australian bird not to have been photographed in the wild, where breeding pairs are thought to number fewer than 500.
The federal environment department is investigating whether Olive Vale owner, beef industry player Ryan Global, has breached environmental protection laws.
Ryan Global won approval days before the election in January to clear land mostly to grow sorghum to feed cattle and expand its numbers on the property from 15,000 to 25,000 beasts.
It did not share its plans with the commonwealth, which requires proponents of any development likely to affect protected species to seek approval.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the bird had been “completely ignored” in a “serious breach of process”.
ACF program manager Andrew Picone said it was “entirely appropriate for the commonwealth to intervene”.
“The clearing at Olive Vale sets the worst kind of precedent. North Queensland is not lawless,” he said.
“The blank cheque granted to the proponent to clear over 30,000 hectares of Cape York is astonishing.”
The buff-breasted button-quail is among 17 species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act which conservationists say Olive Vale is home to.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last month told parliament the Newman government’s secret approval of the clearing days before losing office was “absolutely disgraceful” and announced a separate investigation by the state.
The clearing was approved under a relaxation of tree clearing laws in what the Newman government described as a bid to enable intensive agriculture but not grazing.
Nielsen, a field naturalist whose work contributed to a joint federal and state recovery plan for the bird, said the clearing should be halted to avoid grave impact on a species close to extinction.
“I’ve seen the bird 25 times in the wild over about 20 years, and I’ve put a lot of time into it,” he said. “That’s how rare it is. I’ve been working on the button quail for 15 years and it’s on the verge of extinction, no doubt about that.
“We check all the areas every year and it’s quite a special habitat they prefer, quite a bit on Olive Vale.”
The bird existed only in a strip of land stretching 800km long and 150km wide from Iron Range to Mareeba, Nielsen said.
“There’s plenty of clearing in [330 sq km] so it would have a pretty adverse effect, I would say,” he said.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It’s just ridiculous because that land up there, they’ve had many attempts over the last 80 or 90 years to clear land and grow crops and every one’s a failure.
“This one, they’re supposed to be growing sorghum for cattle but we think it’s just a diversion. They just want to clear the land. I grew up on a farm and I had 20 years experience growing sorghum and they’re growing on dry land of all things and they’re going to get hit with pests and all things like that.”
Picone said Ryan Global had “admitted uncertainty around the viability of the enterprise”.
“Millions of hectares in southern Australia are now unproductive due to this reckless attitude to the land,” he said.
The mysteries around the buff-breasted button-quail include its diet and whether it has jettisoned the “polyamorous” behaviour of other button-quails because of its tiny numbers.
Asked about whether the buff-breasted button-quail formed part of its deliberations, a federal department spokeswoman declined to comment on an “ongoing investigation”.
