newy.com.au – Campaigners seeking national park protection for Link Road Forest will mark National Tree Day at Broadmeadow on Sunday, arguing new plantings cannot replace one of Newcastle’s last significant unprotected native forests.
The Link Road Forest Campaign will join local independent theatre and puppet group Curious Legends at the farmers market from 8.30am to 11am on 26 July. Bush clowns will feature in a short installation and roving performance during the event.
Curious Legends has toured around the world since forming in 2005 and is known for its illuminated puppet installations, workshops and roving performances.
The event comes amid the continuing campaign against the proposed Eden Estates development, which could result in tens of thousands of mature trees, as well as saplings and younger trees, being cleared from Link Road Forest. Campaigners are calling on the NSW Government to protect the forest as a national park.
Campaign spokesperson Charmian Eckersley said community planting events delivered important benefits but could not recreate the biodiversity of an established native forest.
“National Tree Day planting events are wonderful because they bring local communities together, improve Newcastle’s liveability and teach children about our unique native species,” Ms Eckersley said.
“They also give children the opportunity to watch the trees they plant grow and provide benefits to the whole community. However, planting new trees cannot replace the complex biodiversity of a mature forest that has developed over generations.”
The campaign estimates the forest stores up to 200,000 tonnes of carbon in its trees, other plants and soil, while sequestering about 3000 additional tonnes each year. It says the forest filters pollutants, contributes to Newcastle’s liveability and provides habitat for hundreds of native species, with more than 400 species recorded within its boundaries.
Campaigners have also received a photograph from a forest visitor believed to show the critically endangered Wyong Sun Orchid, which has not been identified in ecological reports for the development proposal to date.
“That discovery raises an important question about how many other rare, threatened or previously unrecorded species may still be living in this remarkable forest on Newcastle’s doorstep,” Ms Eckersley said.
“Creating new habitat matters, but the first step must be protecting the mature habitat we already have.”
Ms Eckersley urged the community to support both planting initiatives and the protection of established habitat.
“This National Tree Day, we are asking the NSW Government to protect Link Road Forest as a national park so its trees can continue supporting wildlife, storing carbon and enriching the lives of future generations of Novocastrians,” she said.
“Plant a tree this National Tree Day, but please also stand up for the forest already growing in our own backyard.”
