Why this rare bushland keeps on getting rarer

The planet’s rarest type of bushland exists in just a few remnant patches (mainly on the Northern Beaches). It’s called “Duffys Forest Ecological Community” (or DFEC for short). Over 90% of its original distribution has been lost.

It was 1999 when I first poked a tentative toe into local environmental activism. I was compelled to join numerous other community members in an attempt to stop a UK construction company (named “Wimpey”) clear biodiversity in the Manly Dam catchment. That same land now contains an Allambie Heights housing estate called “Madison Way”.  As protesters, we learned about the rare Duffys Forest bushland, threatened by bulldozers and the scarce “Red Crowned Toadlet” frogs, later to be squashed. 

The case went to the “Land and Environment Court” and was initially labelled “disgusting” by the presiding Commissioner…before being meekly approved on appeal. 

Especially galling was the fact that the DFEC wasn’t formally classified as “endangered” until just after the court case was concluded. At least such environmental destruction “could never happen again”, we were reassured. Little did we know what was in store.

Several years later, over 6 hectares of “DFEC” was earmarked as the site for the Northern Beaches Hospital project. This was home to Powerful Owls, Swamp Wallabies, Sugar Gliders and Bandicoots. Even Koalas and Tiger Quolls had been sighted in the area. It was a vital wildlife corridor that linked Garigal National Park with Manly Dam and the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment. In July 2014, bulldozers moved in to clear the critically endangered vegetation. 

As the project was designated “State Significant”, it meant that all environmental laws could be overridden. Since then, the Mona Vale Road “upgrade” has taken out more DFEC, as have various school expansions, including the, recently commenced, new Forest High school build. 

Just around the corner, on Allambie Rd, there are current D.A. plans to clear a patch of DFEC for a car park. Northern Beaches Council has even resolved to create a new mountain bike track through DFEC in Manly Warringah War Memorial Park. At least the Beaches Link Tunnel project (which would have erased two more hectares of DFEC) has, mercifully, been cancelled. 

The previously labelled “Warringah Council” seemed justifiably proud of having segments of this rare bushland within its domain and even created a “Duffys Forest Defenders” website (now defunct). It stated that: “Some people don’t know much about Duffys Forest and can hurt it without understanding the consequences. If no-one helps, Duffys Forest may be lost forever.” The site included many educational tips to encourage schools and school children to value and protect this unique part of our environment.

If a development proposal isn’t deemed as “State Significant”, NSW’s shonky environmental laws allow a developer to simply “offset” the destruction of endangered species habitat by purchasing “BioBanking credits”. This scheme has been exposed as flawed and open to corrupt practice by several Guardian articles.

In 2022 Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, pledged to protect 30% of Australia’s land and waters by 2030, joining over 115 other countries that have signed on to this “30 by 30” target: www.hacfornatureandpeople.org

But currently, 95,000 hectares of native vegetation is being cleared every single year in NSW alone with 70% erased in the past 200 years. It seems that our precious Duffys Forest Ecological Community is yet to catch an even break.

Note: The suburb “Duffys Forest” and consequently the DFEC, was ironically named after a logger and land-clearer named Patrick Duffy who received a local land grant in 1857.