Letter to the Editor: Funding cuts to Jetty Dunecare Group

DEAR News Of The Area,

SINCE 1982, the volunteers of Jetty Dunecare Group Inc. (JDG) have restored and cared for the dunes at the Jetty Foreshore.

The project area now covers over 100 hectares (7.5 km) of coastal bushland between Coffs Creek and Boambee Creek.

Rutile mining in the 1950s and 60s, followed by decades of neglect, left this strip vulnerable to invasive species, causing loss of habitat, erosion, and degraded recreational values.

Before restoration began to stabilise the dunes, windblown sand stopped trains, and tidal surges flooded amenities blocks at the Jetty.

Over the decades, JDG has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal funding to restore this land which now protects critical infrastructure to the west.

Through Coffs City Council’s Environmental Levy, JDG has enabled professional bush regenerators to continue this work.

Under the long-term leadership of a founding member Jane Ireland, JDG built a culture of environmental commitment and inclusiveness, long before Landcare existed.

In the early 1990s, Jane’s friend and co-founder Eileen Moody asked her, in her final days, to promise to continue the work “all the way to Sawtell.”

What once seemed an overwhelming task became reality through tenacity and partnerships with the Environmental Trust, Jaliigirr, Coffs Harbour Aboriginal Land Council, the Department of Corrective Services to name a few, plus the hundreds of volunteers who have contributed.

Today this wildlife corridor is a passive recreational asset for the whole community, and the healthier dunes demonstrate a natural, self-healing response to extreme weather events.

In other coastal LGAs, where weed monocultures have taken hold, the result has been costly coastal erosion requiring expensive engineering solutions.

Coffs City Council has recognised this by investing substantially through the Environmental Levy funds in this area, including aerial spraying of bitou bush which was planted after mining in an attempt to stabilise the dunes. With half this total area currently under active management, JDG continues working steadily toward completing the vision.

The cuts to JDG funding proposed in the council’s draft budget, would jeopardise decades of hard-won progress. Submissions are now open for comment on this draft.

Please “have your say” on this draft budget (refer to p.191) and help JDG finish what it started.

Redirecting funds from community environmental restoration projects to street trees is like painting a house when the foundations still need repair.

Together in restoration,
Lindy DAVIS,
Moleton.