Irreplaceable biodiversity saved from destruction by the shelving of proposed Dunoon Dam

Media release – 22nd February 2021

The rainforest and eucalypt forests of the proposed Dunoon Dam site, and the high biodiversity values they support, have been rescued for a second time by Rous County Council.  

The Council’s decision last Wednesday 17th Feb to  reject a  rescission motion by three councillors reaffirms the Council’s commitment to protecting the vulnerable ecosystems of the site. 

Researchers at Southern Cross University are undertaking an assessment of the rainforest ecology of The Channon Gorge, located within the proposed Dunoon Dam impact zone. The warm-temperate rainforest in the gorge is highly unusual because it is growing on sandstone.  It forms part of an Endangered Ecological Community:  Lowland Rainforest of the North Coast.  

“We know that the gorge contains important rainforest, but we have yet to fully understand its unique features and its significance within a fragmented landscape,” says student researcher from SCU, Léandra Martiniello. 

“Rous has made the right decision to protect the more than twenty known threatened plants and animals that live in the proposed Dunoon Dam area. This community of irreplaceable biodiversity should be celebrated and protected into the distant future, long after the life span of the Dunoon Dam.” 

The iconic platypus is among the animals saved from the proposed Dunoon Dam. Researchers from UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science (CES) made a submission to the NSW FNC Regional Water Strategy regarding the impacts of the proposed Dunoon Dam on the Rocky Creek platypus population.

Large dams are barriers for platypuses and destroy habitat, and can have serious long-term impacts to downstream freshwater ecosystems if the flow regime is severely altered.

“Degradation of freshwater habitat and fragmentation of rivers because of dams and their impact on flow regimes is well documented in Australia and around the world. Dams, such as the proposed Dunoon Dam, could impact platypuses, reducing survival and breeding, subsequently increasing local extinction risk, particularly during droughts.” says Dr Gilad Bino from CES.  

Rous County Council will meet again next month to discuss the new Water Cycle Management plan for the region without the Dunoon Dam.