The uncertain fate of bushland on Shenton Park's Underwood Avenue, in the state's new environmental blueprint, has highlighted the fact that Perth's 'Bush 'Forever' sites could be anything but.
Bush Forever, a Liberal government initiative in the year 2000, aimed to preserve a 'comprehensive, adequate and representative' 10 per cent of each vegetation complex on the Swan Coastal Plain, through a network of reserves.
Now, with the state planning for a 70 per cent population explosion by 2050 (via its drafts Perth and Peel@3.5 million and Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan for 3.5 million) the Urban Bushland Council (UBC) says the Green Growth plan has left sites exposed to development.
Seemingly 'Bush Forever' sites are anything but, leaving "the status of Bush Forever as a conservation system ... seriously undermined".
The UBC says the Underwood Avenue Bush Forever site has high conservation value, with jarrah and banksia woodland forming part of the green corridor between King's and Bold parks, and provides a foraging ground for the endangered black cockatoos from a nearby roost.
President Mary Gray said stakeholders had not been privy to Bush Forever site 'reviews' done for the Green Growth plan and despite the UBC examining the huge suite of dense planning documents at length, it was very hard to work out what was actually proposed for the sites.
Their "disturbing" conclusion was that under the plan, the future of numerous sites was either "completely unclear" or open to "nibbling at the edges".
It appeared there was a plan to allow development in many sites and get developers to pay 'offsets' to fix up another area, or 'manage' the environment.
But she said there was very little vegetation left on the Swan Coastal Plain and it was not interchangeable.
"You can't just dump housing in the middle of some of these areas. You can't just replace others," she said.
"This is completely unacceptable. The region is a biodiversity hotspot."
A government spokeswoman said the Underwood Avenue Bush Forever site had never been one of those 'reserved for Parks and Recreation under the Metropolitan Region Scheme', meaning the government was not required to acquire it and classify it as Class A reserve.
In fact, the state has already approved landowner, the University of WA, to develop 17.5 hectares of it into housing and university expansion.
The approval is expiring and UWA has applied for an extension, but questions continue over the land's status.
The federal Environment Minister must approve the 'urban class of action' proposed in the Green Growth plan for development to be approved there under federal law.
The state's Environmental Protection Authority is still considering the request to extend the development approval in the context of the Green Growth plan.
Ms Gray said the government was meant to buy a predetermined portion of Bush Forever sites and designate them as Class A reserves within 10 years - but 16 years later this was largely incomplete.
A state spokeswoman said the government had spent nearly $150 million acquiring 97 per cent of the required sites - those 'reserved for Parks and Recreation under the Metropolitan Region Scheme'.
Figures provided suggest that this represents about 26,000 hectares and that only 45 per cent has been designated Class A reserve, with the remaining 55 per cent not yet in 'secure conservation tenure'.
The spokeswoman said the Green Growth plan included transferring the unprotected portion to either National Parks, Nature Reserves, Conservation Parks or 'reserved with a conservation purpose' status.
WAtoday has asked for clarification on the levels of protection these classifications might afford compared to Class A status.
The spokeswoman said the plan also committed to buying the outstanding 1400 hectares and bestowing 'secure conservation tenure'.
It also included acquisition of 1500 hectares of 'rural compIementary' Bush Forever sites, which there had previously been "no government commitment to buy or protect".
Asked why stakeholders could not see individual site reviews, the spokeswoman said "the outcomes of the review" would be "addressed in the final Strategic Assessment documents".
Ms Gray said there was an opportunity to promote the Bush Forever network as Kings Park-style tourism opportunities with the right signage, walk trails and interpretive information.
"We have something very special, a public asset to cherish for the benefit it provides to communities and to health," she said.
The state government is considering public submissions, including that of the UBC, on the draft.
