Biodiversity of Callum Brae Nature Park
Threatened by Proposed Crematorium Complex
Who will speak up for the critically endangered trees, birds and wildlife in the ACT? Threatened ecological communities are all around us in Canberra. They are our neighbours that provide beauty and peace to our daily lives. They provide refuges for plants, animals and people every day. To protect what we have in this period of dwindling biodiversity and accelerating climate change, we must be advocates for our critically endangered neighbours here in the ACT.
Callum Brae Nature Reserve (Narrabundah and Mugga Lanes, Symonston, ACT) protects “one of the largest, best-connected and most diverse areas of critically endangered Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland remaining in Australia” and “provides high-quality breeding and foraging habitat for woodland birds“ .
(https://www.parks.act.gov.au/find-a-park/canberra-nature-park/callum-brae-nature-reserve) Callum Brae Nature Reserve is home to the beloved ACT icon, the Gang Gang Cockatoo, the endangered Perunga grasshopper and the only known breeding sites for the small ant blue butterfly. Four other birds listed as threatened under the Nature Conservation Act 2014 - the Scarlet Robin, the Varied Sitella, the White-winged Triller, and the Little Eagle are in the Callum Brae Nature Reserve. Swift Parrots are frequent visitors to forage in the winter.
This Australian treasure is under severe threat by a private crematorium complex proposed by InvoCare (Development Application 2020139789) right on the northern border of Callum Brae Nature Reserve. The proposed private crematorium complex of several buildings, a large car park, two cremators and extensive landscaping will remove at least 15 mature endangered native trees, estimated to be 200-300 years old. The proposal will seriously disrupt the flow of wildlife, including birds among Waniassa Hills, Isaacs Ridge, Callum Brae, Mt. Mugga Mugga, and Red Hill Nature Reserves.
We don't need another crematorium in the ACT. We already have two crematoria in the ACT with a third planned for Hume, Southern Memorial Park, only 5 km from the InvoCare proposal. The current crematoria are estimated to be operating at 18% capacity. (Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association Survey October 2020).
