Stop work at Aussie airport after warning project will be 'nail in the coffin' for rare animal
A stop work has been ordered in Australia's capital after a warning bulldozers were on a pathway towards one of Australia's rarest animals. Canberra Airport announced its decision after experts warned the project would dissect one of the last three populations of Canberra grassland earless dragon.
Little remains of the species' original habitat and Friends of the Grasslands president Professor Jamie Pittock said he was 'shocked' by the airport's decision to start clearing land for its new Northern Road.
Fresh talks between the Federal Government and stakeholders about the future of the controversial road were announced in October 2023, and Pittock said it was 'disappointing' that construction had begun before they were resolved.
'This is one of the nation's most critically endangered animals. We're down to several dozen surviving in the wild, and this mob want to whack a two-lane road through the habitat of one of the three remaining populations. It simply doesn't add up,' he told Yahoo News.
The majority of the new works are understood to have occurred at the airport's southern end in an area where the lizard has not been documented. But completing the plan involves extending the road to the north where the lizard lives. Scientists warn the tiny lizard will be unable to cross the large road, further fragmenting the last of the dragons, which have long been decimated by development around the city.
Related: Hunt for rare dragon lizard not seen for 30 years
On Monday, Pittock, who also specialises in environmental governance at Australian National University, joined the ACT Conservation Council and called on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to halt works at the site. The Canberra grassland earless dragon is one of 110 threatened species she had earmarked for recovery in 2022 and he warned the project could be one of the last 'nails in the coffin' for the species' future in the wild.
Speaking with Yahoo he added: 'There are already so few there are problems with their genetics, and this would only be made worse if they're split into two populations. Roads do things like enable more effective hunting by cats and foxes. They do things like enable the spread of weeds that transform the habitat.'
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Plibersek's office referred questions from Yahoo News to her Department, which confirmed Canberra Airport had agreed to suspend work on the upper portion of its proposed road 'due to the higher conservation values of this area'.
'Canberra Airport continues to work with the department, the ACT government and species experts to manage potential impacts on the Canberra grassland earless dragon,' it said.
Canberra Airport, which is privately managed by Capital Airport Group confirmed with Yahoo it will now develop what it's dubbed a 'nature-positive' plan.
"Canberra Airport remains committed to balancing critical environmental conservation with infrastructure needs," its head of aviation Michael Thomson claimed in a statement.
"The Northern Road project has been rigorously assessed and approved by the relevant authorities, ensuring no net loss of habitat, no fragmentation, and no increased risk to the Canberra grassland earless dragon population."
But Chief Executive of the ACT Conservation Council and critic of the plan Dr Simon Copland isn't confident the suspension of works will result in a fairytale ending for the dragons.
'The real question is why did they start construction if they didn't already have a plan to protect the species in place? It feels like they're just reacting to pressure,' he told Yahoo.
Legally, Canberra Airport can go ahead with the road project because it has federal environmental approval. But Copland has called on Plibersek to revoke it, noting that a protection plan has not been produced.
The road was green-lit by then Environment Minister Peter Garrett in 2009 before the true significance of Canberra's dragons was understood.
For decades it was thought there was only one species of grassland earless dragon in Australia, but in 2022 genetic testing revealed there were four, including one in Canberra that had been pushed to the brink of extinction and only existed in the wild at three sites.
West of Melbourne, debate is occurring over the future of its grassland earless dragon, where a tiny population was rediscovered at a site earmarked for development. Several have been successfully bred at Melbourne Zoo, but less than 1 per cent of its original wild habitat remains.
Pittock argues it's pointless to continue breeding Canberra's dragons in captivity if there's no habitat left to release them into.
'The airport has said it's all okay because there's a captive breeding program in place. But I'm sorry, I'm a scientist, and conserving a threatened species in a shipping container at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is no conservation strategy on its own,' he said.
'This project really is the most environmentally damaging project underway in Canberra today.'
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