We must stop making deserts and instead turn our attention to turning our landscape into Garden of Edens.
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That’s the call from architect, academic and self proclaimed hippie Peter Stevens.
Researcher with Newcastle University's Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment, Mr Stevens attended the world first Derelict Mines Summit held in Singleton earlier this month.
He said remediation of these sites provided a chance to bring them back to life and actually improve their biological productivity and diversity.
“People who created these sites don’t give a toss about them once they have extracted what they wanted but as a society we cannot afford to leave then in a poor state,” he said.
He suggested using the best technology to turn them into productive lands.
Speaking specifically about the Hunter Valley he said it has the climate, the water and the capacity to be a Garden of Eden if and its a big if the landscape is treated with respect and enabled to increase it biological capacity.
Mr Stevens saw opportunities to develop this work on mine sites during rehabilitation and remediation to in his words re-hydrate the sites and make them more productive now than before mining.
He cited as an example Tarwyn Park in the Bylong Valley, now at the centre of battle between those who want it saved, and its new owners Korea’s Kepco who plan to operate an open cut coal mine in the Valley.
Although Tarwyn Park was degraded through agricultural practices Mr Stevens said the work carried out over many years by its previous owner Peter Andrews showed how a landscape could be returned to high fertility through re-hydration practices known as ‘Natural Sequence Farming’ .
“By incorporating Peter’s work and also adding some Yeomans and permaculture practices the degraded landscapes can be turned around,” he said.
For Mr Stevens mining companies have the chance now to use these methods to really make a difference to the landscape they leave behind post-mining.
He called on the miners not to be so defensive and work using collective wisdom to improve their sites and leave, a great rather, than a toxic legacy.
In new on Tarwyn Park’s future the State Heritage Council has recommended that it should be considered for State Heritage listing and the Minister for Environment and Heritage has confirmed the property is under active consideration for listing.
Tarwyn Park, if listed, would become just the secondd property in NSW to be placed on the State Heritage Register for ‘agricultural research significance’.