Campaign to save Anstey-Keane continues
In Perth’s south-eastern suburb of Forrestdale is a rare and fragile nature reserve known as Anstey-Keane Dampland. It is a 311 hectare oasis of heathland, dampland and banksia woodland surrounded by ever-encroaching housing and industrial development.
Anstey-Keane is part of the Jandakot Regional Park. Its diverse habitats support a rich and unique variety of plant and animal species. This dampland is one of the last intact large nature reserves in the Perth region. And it is one of the last remaining examples of a flora community once common throughout the Swan Coastal Plain. It is threatened and irreplaceable.
Over 75% of Anstey-Keane’s vegetation remains in excellent to pristine condition. Bushland of this quality is becoming scarce on the Swan Coastal Plain and will become even more so with population increases and continued urban sprawl. This highlights the need to take special care of conservation reserves such as Anstey-Keane by ensuring they remain intact and do not become fragmented.
The campaigns
The local Friends group have worked hard over many years to protect Anstey Keane .
They won a lengthy campaign to stop the proposed extension of Keane Road through the reserve.
But they lost the campaign to prevent the construction of the Water Corporation’s Balannup Wastewater Pressure Main through the reserve. Work on that 1.5 km pipeline is due to start soon. It is highly inappropriate to have infrastructure such as this in a quality conservation reserve. Unfortunately, we expect the environmental impacts to be significant.
And, in addition, escalating hoon activity is threatening Anstey-Keane. The perpetrators mainly enter the reserve through two privately owned and unfenced blocks (Lots 67 and 171) on Skeet Road. We believe that these two blocks should be acquired by the government without further delay. Once this is achieved, the installation of sturdy fencing and other permanent barriers could be carried out. Of course, we also need proper management of the reserve as a whole.
Call to Action
UBC meets regularly with the Minister for Environment but is rarely able to meet with the Minister for Planning or her staff. The Minister for Planning can take steps to secure Anstey Keane Dampland from further damage.
Please email the Minister for Environment and ask that he advocates with the Minister for Planning that the WAPC to take immediate steps to protect and secure the future of the Anstey-Keane Dampland through the acquisition of Lots 67 and 171 Skeet Road and the proper protection of the whole site from unlawful activity such as destroying fences, rubbish dumping and joyriding.
Once this precious bushland area is overrun all that will remain will be the urban sprawl, which benefits the developers but little else. The developers move on to destroy more native bushland and care little about the areas they have destroyed.
I commend the efforts of the Friends Group with their campaign to prevent the Anstey Keane area being destroyed.
Perth is being turned into a dustbowl. I see trees and bushland being bulldozed everywhere I go, it’s insane. How short-sighted can we be? Far too much of our bushland has already been destroyed for development. It’s time we realised how precious it is and take steps to preserve it, not only for the flora and fauna, but for future generations.
I agree the demolition of WA’s iconic Capricorn Club in Yanchep offering chalet accommodation among the sand dunes which mesmerised me 18 years ago and continued to attract me and my family and friends from Uk up until it was sold for housing, I always knew it was too good to be true so we went every year and my then 7 yr old son treasures many memories from those holidays. His Children will never see such things. Club Med will be here soon . So Yanchep is just another suburb – no need to stock up on supplies en route. So sad x