Cairns Bruce Highway Upgrade and Cairns Transit ... - CAFNEC

Coordinator’s ReportBy Sarah Hoyalcan’t believe where the time has gone. LastI time I looked it was Christmas and now Aprilis almost upon us! It has been as busy as everin the CAFNEC office – that month of quiettime in January Steve promised seemed to beremiss this year!I have continued to work over the last 3 monthswith Sustainability TNQ - the regional initiativewhich seeks to drive sustainability through abroad partnership across all sectors of thecommunity. I have been particularly involvedin organising an Energy Efficiency Summitplanned for early May and also througha Planning project group which includes theMayor working on a project to drive sustainabilityin local planning.As the Conservation Director of the NorthernGulf Resource Management Group (NGRMG)I have been involved in supporting the community’sneed for financial support to destockland that has been affected by the Gulf Floodsof 2009. Over 1 million hectares of land wasinundated for several weeks and is strugglingto recover (see Dec 2009 Ecotone for moredetails). On the 22-24 February I also attendedthe NGRMG general meeting in Mt Surprisewhich gave me more of an insight intothe diverse, positive and collaborative projectsgoing on in that region.CAFNEC recently received almost $10,000from the State Government to rollout their LowCarbon Diet program to the southern part ofCairns. Anna McGuire has been engaged tocoordinate this project which will run for about6 months in Mooroobool, Edmonton and Gordonvale.Through the Climate Change Appeallast year we raised over $4,000. This money isbeing used to support Anna one day a week toundertake climate change work in the region.Thank you to all those who supported this Appealand particularly to NRA EnvironmentalConsultants for their donation of $3,000.Administratively we have been doing our strategicand annual planning - looking for innovativeways to keep the organisation healthyand focused. This includes some alternativemethods of fundraising which we plan to triallater this year.In mid-February I went to Brisbane for a weekto participate in a planning meeting for theCoral Sea campaign and a State EnvironmentRoundtable with the Minister for ClimateChange and Sustainability, Kate Jones.Kate has also visited Cairns recently as partof Community Cabinet meetings where sheattended a Cairns Environment Roundtablethat CAFNEC hosted. Reports on these twoRoundtables can be found elsewhere in Ecotone.In the last few months I have also supportedlocal community campaigns including Ella Bayand False Cape. If you want to know moreabout these developments or where the campaignsare at, please don’t hesitate to contactour office.It looks like Envirofiesta and the WildernessBike Tour will be on again this year. We arevery fortunate at CAFNEC to have volunteerswho come back year after year with the energyand enthusiasm to make theses eventspossible.As ever, the door is always open (sometimesmetaphorically!) so please contact the CAF-NEC office if you have any issues or concernsthat you think we may be able to help you with.NEW CAFNEC PRESIDENT –ELLEN WEBEREllen completed her science degree fromJames Cook University in Townsville in1994, graduating with a first class Honoursin Botany. She moved to the JCU Cairnscampus in 1996, and with three other lecturers,established the School of TropicalBiology. During this time she also undertooka higher research degree studyingrainforest plants in the Daintree lowlands.She first joined the CAFNEC MC in 1997, including a stint as Secretary.It was a busy time, and in 2000 she left the committee. Twosons later (Louis and Frank), Ellen is delighted to be back at workingfor CAFNEC. She remains in awe of the energy, commitmentand productivity shown by staff, management committee, membersand volunteers. The midges at Cominos Houses still drive her madand she is a bit nervous about being elected President, given thecalibre of her predecessors.NEW CAFNEC VICE PRESIDENT –JEREMY LITTLEJeremy has always had an affiliationwith nature and conservationfor as long as he can remember.This developed into a quest for natureconservation through a careerin the environment.Jeremy completed a Science degree in ecology, with Honours infire ecology. Jeremy then worked in various jobs for NSW andQLD National Parks in wildlife and bushfire research and in Parkmanagement. Jeremy is currently at James Cook University completinga thesis on “Climate change and bushfire impacts on rainforest,eucalypt forest and woodland distribution in the Wet Tropics.”Jeremy has lived and worked in FNQ for 12 years and has beeninvolved with CAFNEC throughout this time.Her day job is at the Wet Tropics Management Authority, in thePlanning and Conservation Program, working on vegetation mapping,threatened species, climate change, heritage conservationissues and building research partnerships with other organisations.In 2009, Ellen won first prize in the banana cake (iced) category atthe Cairns Show. She beat a number of entrants from local, stateand commonwealth government agencies in this competition, andwas awarded the inaugural trophy for the inter-governmental cakebaking challenge. This year she intends to enter her mango chutney.- 10 -Jeremy is a keen photographer, enjoys bushwalking, camping,exploring, music and spiritual awareness.He dislikes complacency, apathy and a lack of vision in dealingwith the difficult task of creating a sustainable existence in the21st Century.