The Mole Crab Albunea symmysta at Bramston Beach North Queensland

I put in a lot of hours walking beaches for three very sound reasons.

Firstly beaches are relaxing places to walk and wind down, secondly the exercise is good for me and last but not least ...

... you just never know what you will find on a beach and the creature I am about to introduce you to is proof of the pudding.
Well there it is, Albunea symmysta in all its glory, but let’s rewind and start at the beginning as that is always a good place to start a story!

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Cowley Beach . . . Looking Back 50 Years at Better Days

Yvonne Cunningham from Innisfail’s Violets and Lace Garden Centre was kind enough to share this story with me and give permission for me to share it with you too.

Of course Yvonne has her own site. This particular story appears in the May edition of her newsletter.
Yvonne has put together some terrific stories and a favourite is called cassowary. I also found a story on burning National Parks very interesting and Yvonne raises some very valid points.

Well once again I have talked too much so I will hand you over to Yvonne without any further ado!

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Easter Holiday Brings more Foreshore and Dune Damage by Vehicles at Cowley Beach

Cowley Beach Scientist Mr Richard Piper has been an advocate for coastal protection and management at Cowley beach for many years now.After working with Richard (conducting chemical trials in the field under extreme and arduous conditions) I was highly impressed by his cool headed thoroughness and commitment to excellence. I can see why he is so highly regarded by both his scientific and business associates.

As we both have a strong interest in damage to this beautiful beach by totally uncontrolled/unregulated dune and beach driving we often are in touch via email.

I was saddened to be informed by Richard and others of the damage inflicted on this beach over the Easter holidays and am grateful that adverse weather conditions would have reduced the damage to some degree.

I will share a recent letter with you which highlight the frustration we feel as bystanders watching the desecration of this beach whilst council watches on.

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Cassowary Coast Regional Council Mismanagement at Cowley Beach receives damning report card from DERM Principal Coastal Scientist Sel Sultmann

I sometimes strongly disagree with the management practices of the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. In my story ‘Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Upset Ma:mu Traditional Owners and Conservationists at Ella Bay’, I was mightily unimpressed with their beach driving antics and lack of consultation with traditional owners.

Well there is another side to the coin and after reading a recent report by DERM Principal Coastal Scientist Sel Sultmann I was very (read extremely) impressed with his work. It seems like DERM have some staff that are well and truly on the ball and Mr Sultmann is one of them.

This report was prepared for the council after Mr Sultmann’s inspection of damage to Cowley Beach on the 15 October 2009. Sadly the document disappeared like a fart in a fan factory and despite repeated requests by Cowley Beach scientist Mr Richard Piper to council for access to this document it never materialised. I was carbon copied in to these emails to councillor Jennifer Downs and other council representatives but for some reason Mr Piper was never given a copy of this report.

Smelling a rat Mr Piper obtained the report via other means and I thought in the interest of transparency and fair play you good people might like to see the contents so here it is… enjoy!

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Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Upset Ma:mu Traditional Owners and Conservationists at Ella Bay

This will be a long story as it covers some pretty important topics like, respect for country, traditional owner’s rights, and long term conservation goals.

On 7 January 2010 I was very disappointed to observe two fresh sets of quad bike tracks exiting the Ella Bay Pty Ltd property and travelling north along Ella Bay.
Ella Bay Pty Ltd management and staff have made assurances that they would no longer drive vehicles along this turtle nesting beach.

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Cowley Beach access decision likely - reports Innisfail Advocate

Environmental damage from unregulated traffic including cars, four wheel drives, quad bikes and motor bikes continues along the dunes and foreshore of Innisfail’s Cowley Beach.

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Cairns Post reports ‘Fears over beach 4WD’ at Cowley Beach

Once again Cairns Post www.cairns.com.au journalist Julie Lightfoot has beaten other regional papers to the punch and reported on the dangerous and environmentally destructive situation at Cowley Beach in her story ‘Fears over beach 4WD’ published today in the Weekend Post. My respect to the Cairns Post for reporting local news for local readers.

Click on image to enlarge.

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Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s mismanagement encourages dune damage at Cowley Beach

I decided to visit Cowley beach a week ago and see for myself just how bad the vehicle damage to Cowley’s coastal dunes really was.

I posted a story about Cowley Beach a few months ago "Council inaction encourages environmental abuse at Cowley Beach". Surely what I’m being told is exaggerated I thought.

In no time at all I saw firsthand that I was wrong, very wrong!

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Pig Hunters coming from Satori’s property into Ella Bay National Park?

Well before I start this story I want to let you know Satori’s property is sealed off to unauthorised vehicle traffic. The access road is blocked to vehicle access by a rather solid gate with the mama of all padlocks on it!
Oh and hidden cameras too!

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Council inaction encourages environmental abuse at Cowley Beach

When I started this blog I wanted to focus on Ella Bay and Bramston Beach but I have since realised that conservation issues in the coastal wet tropics of Australia are all interrelated and so will sometimes do stories on nearby beaches such as Mission Beach and Cowley beach.

I will remain focused on Ella Bay however the sad situation at Cowley Beach is a warning that can not be ignored.

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