NSW 37,000 WA 8,000 TAS 4,000 VIC 1,828 Land clearing is slaughtering our wildlife at a frightening rate. If it continues apace, there will be a major wave of extinctions in the next century. On World Environment Day in 1998, the Queensland Conservation Council released a report, which revealed the devastating impact of land clearing on animals. The 1997 NSW State of the Environment Report estimates that between 1,000 and 2,000 birds are killed for every 100 hectares of land cleared. Given Queensland's current rate of 322,000 hectares, this means between 3.2 million and 6.4 million birds are killed every year in Queensland.
Land clearing is also responsible for the degradation of rivers in rural Queensland.
The removal of native vegetation, particularly along riverbanks, has profoundly damaged our rivers and the aquatic life they contain. Enter European settlers and the landscape chemistry changes violently. This had huge consequences for native fish, animals, water plants and insects. When an open woodland system is cleared, it grows back as thick woody regrowth. Native grass growth is suppressed in the competition for water, light and nutrients, leaving the soil exposed and the country highly vulnerable to major soil erosion from wind and rain.