Members of the Save Pippi Point group will be out in force at the Central Coast Council meeting on Tuesday, July 23, as Administrator Rik Hart considers the latest staff recommendations on the controversial Dogs in Open Space Action Plan (DIOSAP).
The plan has seen several iterations since the first draft was announced in 2022, prompting community campaigns to protest the proposed removal of off-leash areas at Terrigal Haven and Pippi Point in Illoura Reserve at Davistown.
Save Pippi Point has been vocal ever since, disputing the validity of Council’s reasons for proposing the Illoura Reserve site be discontinued for off-leash activity and outlining resultant disadvantages to the community.
Especially contentious is the claim that the continued use of the off-leash area poses a significant risk to the Bush Stone-curlew.
On Tuesday night, members will don red T-shirts as they urge Hart to go for the second option suggested (but not recommended) by Council staff, which would see Pippi Point off-leash area remain as it is.
Save Pippi Point spokesperson Johny Row said residents were hopeful Hart would adopt the second recommendation and that would be “an end to it”.
“We have been concerned that in previous reports the body of the report has not tallied with the conclusion,” he said.
“We feel there have been enough reports – how much money do they want to spend on this?
“The fact that the birds are still around and migrating birds still come to vicinity after 40 years of continuous use shows dogs have no impact on them.”
The group commissioned an independent report from Principal Consultant for Keystone Ecological Elizabeth Ashby, who commented on the DIOSAP environmental report by Future Ecology.
The Future Ecology report recommends reducing the size of the Pippi Point off-leash area and expanding the conservation area that prohibits dogs.
Ashby says the recommendation is in direct conflict with reported use of the site by Bush Stone-curlews, given as a major reason for closing or reducing the off-leash site.
She says a paper published in the Australian Zoologist in 2018 established that the numbers of nests established and chicks fledged increased in the Brisbane Water population from 2012, with data available from Birdlife International showing an increase in sightings post 2010.
“These data alone indicate to me that the presence of dogs off leash at Pippi Point have not had a demonstrable adverse impact on Bush Stone-curlew,” Ashby’s report says.
She says the Future Ecology report undertook standard but limited biodiversity surveys and exaggerated a potential threat to Posidonia seagrass meadows that are vulnerable to trampling and slow to recover.
“The biggest threats to these meadows are posed by dredging and boating,” her report says.
“The DPI maps Posidonia meadows along 34 kilometres of foreshore in the Brisbane Water.
“The length of foreshore at Pippi Point along which Posidonia occurs exposed to potential trampling by dogs or their owners is 73 metres.”
As for a threat to mangroves, Ashby’s report says there is just one mangrove tree in the area.
Ashby says claims the area is a key fish habitat are not true.
“The closest mapped area is at Wagstaffe Point where Broken Bay and Brisbane Water meet,” her report says.
Ashby says the Future Ecology report exaggerates the importance of “vegetation communities” (presumably oyster leases) by not clarifying that none of them would qualify as the Commonwealth protected entity due to small size and poor condition.
“It also does not acknowledge the nature and resilience of Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest to passive recreational use,” her report says.
“Despite the stated brief to assess the impacts to threatened species from off-leash dog activity, no data were provided regarding dog use (such as numbers and types of dogs, time of day of use, behaviour) or negative interactions between dogs and native fauna,” it says.
“Despite the observation that a limitation to the fauna survey was imposed by activities typical to its urban setting, the disturbances of light, noise, movement and other human activity were not quantified or described in any detail.
“The failure to record observations of social use and dog activity in relation to activity and behaviours of the important species on site is a fatal flaw in the report.
“It undermines any conclusions that are based on a direct causal link.
“The other fatal flaw in the report is the omission of a formal impact assessment.”
Ashby ‘s report says she has undertaken Tests of Significances for Bush Stone-curlew, Pied Oystercatcher, Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Grey-headed Flying-fox and determined that “no significant adverse impact is likely”.
These tests were not undertaken for the Future Ecology report.
Ashby’s report says the recommendation for a new location for a leash free dog exercise area be located away from Pippi Point ignores recognition that Bush Stone-curlews forage on site at night when dogs are not being exercised and the population decline in Eastern Curlews is a result of habitat loss in Asia.
“In my opinion the evidence collected and presented by Council do not support the premise that the proposed changes to Pippi Point are prompted by considerations of impacts to important biodiversity,” Ashby’s report says.
“However, by contrast, the changes will impose a significant impact on the community’s use of the area by preventing use of the foreshore around Pippi Point by all users including walkers (including the less mobile) and fisher people.
“I understand that the proposed changes would remove the only accessible place for disabled owners of dogs to take their pets for beachside exercise.
“I do not believe that the mooted (but unsupported) biodiversity gains outweigh this significant community loss.”
Terry Collins
Since Central Coast has one of the largest dogs per person rate out of any LGA we should be increasing where dogs can go not limiting them. Decisions are being made without community representation on the council. Stop waisting our money and actually do things that the people on the coast want. Dogs are family. They should be treated as such.