Recently members who travel along Akoonah Drive were distressed to find that a grove of Banksi integrifolia var monticola (White Mountain Banksia) had been cut down.
It is believed they were in a public road reserve.
These trees are not common in this area but are a valuable resource for gliders and birds such as Honeyeaters and the Black Cockatoos. In the photo below you see where a Cockatoo has opened the follicle of the middle cone in search of seeds.
It was a great joy to walk past this cherished habitat. It may surprise some that our members know these various habitats as well as they know the neighbouring houses.
Many people live in Beechmont because it is an environmentally special area and the preservation and protection of the natural world is a very high priority for them.
Our members spend countless hours revegetating public reserves, planting trees, making sure they have enough water in the early stages and weeding around them until they are bigger.
Perhaps because of this they understand the brutal imbalance between the time needed to grow and to destroy.
We hope the lesson that will be learned from this episode is that, in Beechmont at least, when it seems trees need to go, that the community is consulted so that they can suggest alternative solutions or, at the very least, so that they can understand why precious habitat has to be removed.
