COMING EVENTS

CITY OF RYDE “HAVE YOUR SAY” – WASTE, RECYCLING AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
City of Ryde is reviewing its Waste Management Strategy to move towards a circular economy approach. They invite submissions, which must be received by 11.59pm Sunday 23 February 2025.
You may provide your submission by email or post, or complete an online survey. Go to https://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/HaveyourSay/Have-Your-Say/Waste-Recycling-and-the-Circular-Economy

PAST EVENTS

After holding several events in recent months and with the promise of track works set to take place, we held no special events at the Reserve during the past two months.

YARNKNIT RUG RAFFLE PRIZE

Donated once again by Holy Spirit Yarn Group, you could be the lucky winner when the raffle is drawn at the AGM in early 2025. The handmade article is suitable for both winter and summer use. Keep it yourself, give it to a family member or friend or donate to a worthy organisation. Funds raised support the Society and the organisations we support.
Tickets are available at the Visitors Centre or buy online by transfer to our Bendigo Bank account: RYDE HUNTERS HILL FLORA AND FAUNA PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC, BSB 633-000, Account number 190716589.
Include your name and “raffle” in the transaction description, and please email your contact details to rhhffps@gmail.com
One ticket for $2, Three tickets for $5

PRESIDENT’S NOTE -

Members have reason to be concerned about the outcome for the environment of Donald Trump’s election as the next President of the United States. Trump is a climate change denier who has promised to increase fossil fuel production and withdraw the US from the Paris climate deal, among other worrying pledges.
The US has walked away from global climate agreements before, for example, refusing to join the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. But readers of the on-line journal The Conversation will have noted an article by Wesley Morgan (Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney) and Ben Newell (Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Director of the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney) published in the 11 November edition.
It sets out 10 reasons why Trump can’t derail global climate action.
(1) The global clean energy transition can’t be halted,
(2) Clean energy momentum is likely to continue in the US,
(3) The US still wants to beat China,
(4) The federal government is not everything in the US,
(5) The US climate movement will be more energised than ever,
(6) Global climate cooperation is bigger than Trump,
(7) The rules-based global order will remain,
(8) Australian Diplomacy matters,
(9) Australia’s clean energy shift is accelerating, and
(10) Trump cannot change the science of climate change.
The detail behind each of these reasons may be read at https://theconversation.com/. Each reason has a solid basis but reasons 5 and 8 are particularly relevant for the Society where we can contribute constructively.
The US climate movement will be more energised than ever and during Trump’s first presidency, the US climate movement developed policy proposals for a “Green New Deal”. Many of these proposals were later implemented by the Biden administration. Initial reactions to Trump’s re-election suggest we can expect similar policy advocacy this time around. Our Society can do likewise and contribute to policy proposals.
Australian diplomacy matters and Australia is seeking to co-host the United Nations climate talks with Pacific island countries in 2026. Hosting the conference, known as COP31, would be a chance for Australia to help broker a new era of international climate action, even if the US opts out under Trump. Our Society can support the momentum in Australia for continuing diplomacy to pursue international climate action As Morgan and Newell state in their article, On gloomy days – like, say, the election of a climate denier to the White House – it might feel humanity won’t rise to Earth’s biggest existential challenge. But there are many reasons for hope. The vast majority of us support policies to tackle climate change, and in many cases, the momentum is virtually unstoppable.
Frank Breen, President

About RHHFFPS

The Society has been active in local conservation issues since 1966 and is well networked with the broader conservation movement across NSW.

The Society's Constitution states its Aims and Objectives as:

a. The education of the members and the community, particularly in the local area, in nature conservation and protection of the environment;

b. To promote ecologically sustainable land use and development;

c. To promote nature conservation including an adequate system of national parks, wilderness areas, nature reserves, wildlife refuges and corridors and urban bushland reserves; adequate protection measures for native wildlife;

d. Achieving satisfactory measures to safeguard the environment from all forms of pollution to ensure clean air, clean water and a healthy environment;

e. To work for the permanent retention and conservation of all natural areas in the local district and an increase in the area set aside for nature conservation and

f. To undertake the management of the Field of Mars Reserve with Ryde City Council as a major conservation project

We have a regular newsletter Wallumetta which is issued six times a year which attempts to update members on both local environmental issues and issues of wider impact. Our volunteer members keep the Visitors Centre open each weekend. Please contact us if you have concerns about threats to our local natural areas and the precious native fauna which depend on our sensitive bushland areas and waterways.

History of The Ryde Hunters Hill Flora and Fauna Preservation Society

In the mid 1960s, with an increasing amount of waste needing disposal, Ryde Council looked to an expansion of the small tip in the Field of Mars Reserve. Council proposed to pipe Buffalo and Stranger's Creeks to facilitate a landfill area to a depth of up to 15m feet which could then be re-developed into playing fields. Local residents united to form the Anti-tip Action Group and lobbied to reverse Council's plans for a tip at the Field of Mars. The tip was moved to Porter's Creek which to this day still requires substantial funds to control the environmental damage arising from past use as a tipsite. With the Field of Mars saved the Society was established in January 1966.

In September 1966, Ryde Council advised the Society that it agreed to their proposal to development of the Field of Mars Reserve as a flora and fauna sanctuary. Hard work over following decades has seen restoration of old degraded areas of the Field of Mars and protection of the area as a Wildlife Refuge. A Visitors Centre was built and then the Environmental Education Centre which is visited by about 10,000 students each year.