Monthly update from Friends of the Bluff

     Calling your Bluff.. .

CALLING YOUR BLUFF - Janurary 2007
Vale to the sand dunes!
That irascible loonie William Burroughs declared that there could be no honourable deal involving the exchange of qualitative merchandise (like habitat and vegetation) for quantitative merchandise (like foot paths and boardwalks). While Bill was warning of the implied dangers of cutting deals with the devil, Barwon Coast's intention to further corrupt the sanctity of the 13th. beach sand dunes by replacing a hectare of irreplaceable vegetation with a footpath would indicate that this deal is already done.
The decision to construct a 3.5 metre wide footpath atop the 13th beach dunes is founded in popularism, displays a remarkable lack of empathy for dune vegetation and is laced with an arrogance that dictates that the community desire for a better view outweighs the right of every other species to survive. When the biggest threats to habitat is the on-going fragmentation of vegetation, weeds and wildlife disturbance, 2 kilometres of treated pine boardwalk, an interpretation sign and a viewing opportunity offers little ecological solution. And I think that when we have already shaved our remaining dune vegetation into the narrowest of Brazilians jammed between Bass Strait and the golf course and resort development, there needs to be a more compelling reason to destroy 10,000 square metres of habitat than constructing a shared path for the purpose of providing yet another coastal experience.
But will it be popular? Yep. And will it be a bonus to tourism? Probably. And will it make us all a little safer? Maybe. And to who do we turn to protect our vegetation and habitat? Buggered if I know.
I am constantly reminded that vegetation is our most valuable asset yet as a community we continually make decisions that undervalue this resource and we are happy to regularly trade down for an inferior product.
Friends of the Bluff have expended 12 years of the considerable efforts and resources of its volunteers assisting in re-generation activities and developing projects that would hopefully elevate the status and profile of our flora and fauna and prick a desire to understand, appreciate and protect these amazing habitats. It becomes increasingly frustrating when the agencies charged with the responsibility of protecting and enhancing our local flora and fauna fail in that duty time and again, instead developing infrastructure schemes that distract from any ecological imperative while dismissing objections as trite and a mere nuisance. The decision to degrade our sand dunes reduces the endeavours of Friends of the Bluff to nothing but a poignant tokenism. There is no challenge in constructing a path on a sand dune. None! The real challenge is ensuring the survival of the host of flora and fauna that resides there.
So vale to the dunes. Vale to the remarkable plants, animals, birds and that last remaining vestige of wildness.

Jon Duthie