Legal fight looms as plans to demolish ‘unspoilt’ Dalmeny forest stall

Thousands of dollars have been raised for legal fees as a south coast community group prepares to fight plans to demolish 100 hectares of “unspoiled” forest.

Residents of a far south coast town have made an “urgent” plea for support as they prepare for a long legal battle to halt plans to bulldoze 100 hectares of local forest.

The parcel of land near Dalmeny was sold to Sydney-based developer and director of Heppa Constructions Andrew Scarano for commercial low-density housing in September 2021.

The sale drew criticism from local activist group Dalmeny Matters, which launched a fundraising campaign in early April to hire legal support to help stop the project.

The campaign has so far raised around $3000 in less than a week, putting it less than $1000 shy of its goal of $4000. Some single donations were as large as $850.

Group organiser Sally Christiansen said any development in the spotted gum forest would not only threaten rare birds and animal species, but would forever change the culture of Dalmeny.

“If you look at a map, and you look at the area that is marked for this development, it’s the same size as what is already existing here,” she said.

“We’ve got so many people coming every year to holiday here, because the water is beautifully clean and it’s such a lush and peaceful area to live.”

Ms Christiansen said visitors from Sydney and northern NSW often told locals that they remembered when areas they live in used to look like Dalmeny does now, and how overdeveloped they had become.

“That’s why it’s such an important tourist opportunity, so many people rely on that as their business. There’s so many implications for people’s livelihoods,” she said.

Ms Christiansen believes many threatened native species fled to the area during the Black Summer bushfires, but now find themselves in peril once again.

“It’s a really good habitat for different species,” she said.

“Since the fires, we’ve particularly been seeing lots of glossy black cockatoos that feed on the casuarinas after so much of that plant was lost.”

Ms Christiansen said local residents had also recorded scratch marks believed to be from threatened yellow-bellied gliders. Rare swift parrots, of which less than 2000 remain in the wild, were also believed to frequent the area.

For the Eurobodalla Koala Project, a locally-led conservation group, the area also holds particular value for the dwindling koala population in southeast NSW.

Project lead Keith Jolliffe said for a viable koala population to inhabit the Eurobodalla area, the forests in Dalmeny were “pretty important”.

“It’s so close to Bodalla State Forest which is an important area if there is to be any survival or revival of koalas in the Eurobodalla,” Mr Jolliffe said.

“Some koalas may well have survived bushfires in the area, so any patch of bush that can provide part of a range of connectivity is important.”

In October, a member of the Dalmeny Matters group relayed to the Eurobodalla Koala Project a possible sighting of a koala in the area – a rarity given the species dissemination.

Ms Christiansen said she had engaged an environmentally-focused legal firm to seek advice on how to proceed, but also hoped to meet with the new Eurobodalla council soon.

The council, prior to local government elections last year, had carried out community consultation sessions in December to determine possible control measures, which Ms Christiansen said left locals wanting.

Dalmeny bush and Mummaga Lake.

Spotted gum forest near Dalmeny.

“It was really just the council wanting us to put down a few lines on a piece of paper about whether there were any really special areas in the bush that we’d like to see protected, or some walking tracks, which was a bit of a token,” she said.

“We haven’t had anything since then, in terms of the drafts of the plans that they’re making.”

Ms Christiansen said the council was due to release its draft plan in February, but had pushed it back till the end of the year. Evidence, she said, that the campaign was working.

With much work still to be done, Ms Christiansen said the 300-some group was readying itself for whatever was to come next, but was ready for the fight.

“We need to value what makes Dalmeny and this part of the coast different,” she said.

“That’s why people love coming here, because of the unspoiled nature of it.”

The Eurobodalla Shire Council was contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.