STI News: GREEN NATURE LOVERS: Don't reclaim birds' feeding ground; leave wider strip of green corridor

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GREEN NATURE LOVERS: Don't reclaim birds' feeding ground; leave wider strip of

green corridor

by Sharmilpal Kaur

 

 

 

A HISTORIC compromise between greenies and golfers over the Kranji Sanctuary

Golf Course near Neo Tiew Lane 3 is falling apart.

 

A key issue was resolved last year when the developer of the course, the

National Service Resort and Country Club, agreed to maintain a 60m buffer zone

between the new course and the marshlands to protect its 141 bird species.

 

This meant 8 ha being taken from the 72-ha course being built on the Kranji

freshwater marshlands. It is due to be completed in August next year.

 

Now the Nature Society Singapore says that the club is not keeping up to its

end of the deal and is putting at risk the marshland vegetation in the area,

which many different species of birds use as feeding and breeding grounds.

 

These include rare and threatened birds like the lesser whistling duck and

purple swamphens.

 

The society's chief worry is the proposed reclamation of an area, which it says

was not mentioned in the earlier plans for the golf course or the compromise

deal with the society.

 

Called Jelutong bay, at the northern-most tip of the golf course, it is part of

Sungei Jelutong, which leads out from Kranji reservoir.

 

The society had asked for this part of the coastline to be left untouched

because it is a feeding ground for birds from the Kranji marshland and the

nearby Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

 

It found out about the reclamation plans during a site visit a few months ago,

said its conservation head, Dr Ho Hua Chew.

 

Reclamation would disrupt the food sources and cause the bird population to

dwindle, the society believes.

 

But the developer insists that it needs to push out the coastline by 25 to 30m

to accommodate one full hole and part of three others. If not, it says, the

course cannot be built.

 

The reclamation has already been approved by both the Urban Redevelopment

Authority and the Public Utilities Board, which governs reservoirs. The bay area

is part of the land leased to the club.

 

The society is also concerned about keeping open a green corridor between this

feeding area and the inland marshes near the SingTel transmission site near Neo

Tiew Road, so that the birds can move easily from one marsh to another and

intermingle.

 

Besides the Kranji birds, herons from the nearby Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve

also feed at the Jelutong bay area.

 

The developer has agreed to leave a metre-wide stretch along the upper boundary

of the course, starting from the bay.

 

Not enough, said Dr Ho, who explained that the green band needs to be very much

wider if the birds are not to be disturbed by golfers.

 

A third point of contention is the ponds.

 

Dr Ho thinks that instead of carving out fully man-made ponds as 'water

hazards', the club should use the marshy pockets and turn them into ponds, to

preserve as much of the natural vegetation as possible.

 

Colonel (Ret) Tang Mun Poh, 57, the club's general manager, said that the ponds

would help conserve nature as they would have soft banks rather than concrete

ones to support native plants and wildlife. Plus, an existing marshy pocket near

the SingTel site would be expanded.

 

But does this mean the uneasy truce between golfers and greenies is over?

 

Clearly disappointed, Dr Ho said: 'They have not kept their end of the bargain

for some points they had earlier agreed to, like the marshy ponds.'

 

Not so, said Col Tang, who argued that the club had done all it could to

accommodate nature.

 

He said he was sure the birds would return when the course was ready. 'Birds

are very resilient,' he said.

 

Though time is running short, Nature Society president Geh Min is not giving up

hope.

 

This has been a good opportunity to show that golf and nature can be

compatible, she said. 'If they fail to do so, it will be a great pity. But we

will never give up... because we cannot afford to give up on nature.'

 

 

 

DISPUTE: Nests of rare birds and marshland trees

 

The Nature Society maintains: The 14 nests of Baya Weavers, uncommon and

reclusive birds that nest in colonies suspended high in trees near marshes have

been lost. The 14 nests were all built on a single acacia tree, and when a work

road was built from Turut Track near the nests, the birds vanished and no new

nests have been sighted since.

 

The club said the nests had already been abandoned when work began and that

was why the acacia tree was chopped down.

 

Dr Ho Hua Chew, who is head of conservation in the society, disagrees. 'They

did nothing to save the Baya Weaver. They were nesting there before construction

started. Now they are all gone.'

 

The golf course developer says: Before construction began, about a dozen trees

that the National Parks Board had identified to be saved, had been transplanted.

 

They will be replanted on the golf course.

 

Another 5,000 trees which he described as being native to that area will be

bought from Malaysia and transplanted on the course.

 

But these are dryland trees, not freshwater marshland shrubs, according to

the Nature Society's Dr Ho.

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