No rock at Yelgun: green group
A NORTH Byron environmental group has published a report it hopes will help stop the Yelgun site being used for rock festivals.
The ecological review of the Parklands site was commissioned by Conservation of North Ocean Shores (CONOS), a group of residents and environmentalists, and prepared by scientists Andrew Benwell and David Scotts.
They looked at the impact of human intrusion, increased noise, artificial lighting and pedestrian and vehicle traffic on wildlife and flora.
Activities at a permanent music festival site were seen as threats to regional biodiversity by the Environment Department, the report noted.
Undesirable effects of turning the site into an event venue included sensitive species fleeing their habitat; the arrival of pests such as cane toads, foxes and rats, attracted by cooking, enhanced roading and garbage; weeds; fire risks; disease and pathogens such as the Cinnamon fungus; chemicals in the water and human interference with native fauna including snakes, koalas, possums, wallabies and flying-foxes.
“The Yelgun site is inappropriate and far too environmentally sensitive for this type of new wave development,” said CONOS president Bob Oehlman.
“We hope that common sense will prevail, as we already have two festival sites in Byron Shire, one at Ewingsdale and one at Tyagarah,” Mr Oehlman said.
CONOS has submitted its report to the NSW Department of Planning.
