The critically endangered plains wanderer is one of the world's rarest birds. Conservation efforts are on a collision course with a large-scale development.
A $561 million egg farming proposal at Torrumbarry may be on a collision course with a state-backed conservation project targeting the same landscape, as questions emerge over impacts on one of the world's rarest birds, the plains wanderer.
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Queensland-based McLean Farms is seeking state government approval for a major poultry operation across three linked sites near Torrumbarry and Patho, housing more than two million birds and generating up to 474 jobs.
The development is being assessed by the Department of Transport and Planning under the Development Facilitation Pathway, bypassing Campaspe Shire Council.
The proposed sites sit within a landscape that conservation organisation Trust for Nature has identified as a priority area for its new $13 million habitat protection project, funded through the Federal Government's Australian Bushland Program.
Announced this week, the project aims to permanently protect 4000 hectares of private land across Victoria by 2030, with the Torrumbarry region one of three focus areas.
Among the species it is designed to protect is the critically endangered plains wanderer, a ground-dwelling bird found almost exclusively on Victorian and New South Wales grasslands.
The proposed site of a large-scale egg farm on the corner of Baillieu Rd and Arnold Rd, Torrumbarry.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
The North Central Catchment Management Authority, a partner on the conservation project, has made a formal submission on the development, with CEO Brad Drust warning the facilities may increase predator numbers and raise the risk to plains wanderers of H5N1 and other pathogens.
The authority has called for a rigorous ecological and biosecurity assessment by recognised plains wanderer experts.
The proposed development would introduce up to 2.8 million birds into an area the CMA says directly adjoins and surrounds a network of native grasslands actively managed for plains wanderer conservation, including sites supported by previous Australian Government investment.
The tension raises broader questions about whether state and federal agencies are co-ordinating their land use and conservation objectives in the Patho Plains.
Trust for Nature declined to comment on the development when approached by Country News, instead directing inquiries to Zoos Victoria.
