A PROPOSED telecommunications tower near Bennett Brook has raised concerns about the potential loss of native vegetation and wildlife habitat, with a conservation volunteer questioning the accuracy of information provided in a clearing application.

Friends of Bennett Brook member Emily Hethey said the proposal threatened years of revegetation work along an ecological corridor connecting Whiteman Park to the Swan River.

BMM Group Pty Ltd has applied to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) for permission to clear 0.14ha of native vegetation at Lot 200 on Deposited Plan 63095 to construct a telecommunications facility.

Ms Hethey, who has worked with the friends group since 2012, said her knowledge of the area had led her to question several details in the application.

“The inaccuracy in their application is one thing,” she said.

“I’ve done a lot of work around that area, so there’s a lot of inaccuracies, I believe, in what they’ve put into their application.”

Ms Hethey questioned the application’s description of Bennett Brook as being between 350m and 500m east of the proposed clearing area.

“There’s a bridge over the brook, 50m from where the proposed site is,” she said.

She also raised concerns about photographs used to illustrate the proposed cable installation area, arguing they did not adequately represent existing vegetation.

Ms Hethey said vegetation planted during a community planting day around 2006, attended by about 140 volunteers, could be affected.

She said flora surveys also appeared to have missed pink fairy orchids growing within the proposed clearing area, where she had previously counted about 40 plants.

Beyond the vegetation itself, Ms Hethey said the area provided important habitat for native wildlife.

She reported regularly observing quenda foraging near the proposed clearing area and had photographed their tracks during a recent site visit.

Ms Hethey also identified the corridor as important for Carnaby’s black cockatoos travelling between Whiteman Park and the Swan River.

“One of our concerns, for me, is, oh, this gets approved, and then there’s another bit approved there, and another bit approved there,” she said.

“And then the ecological value disappears altogether.”

She said years of volunteer revegetation work had helped improve habitat along Bennett Brook, including areas where she had since observed evidence of rakali, or native water rats.

Ms Hethey said  about $200,000 had been invested in revegetation work over the years, alongside thousands of volunteer hours.

In Hills’ groups to benefit from latest environment grants, Friends of the Bennett Brook received nearly $20,000 to improve biodiversity and water quality in the Bennett Brook Reserve.

Ms Hethey said clearing established vegetation also risked undermining the efforts of volunteers who had helped restore the area.

“It devalues the people that are working so hard, and what they have done,” she said.

Her concerns have been compounded by recent clearing associated with Reid Highway works, where she said another revegetation area had been removed without the friends group’s knowledge.

“We turned up the other day to do some work in our revegetation area and it’s gone. It’s been bulldozed,” she said.

Ms Hethey questioned why the telecommunications facility had been proposed within Bush Forever site 305 rather than on previously degraded land.

“Why a site within a Bush Forever site was chosen over more suitable sites that are degraded?” she said.

“Why are you destroying marri trees, and the black cockatoo foraging habitat, in this very important linking corridor, when there are alternatives?”

She said replacing cleared vegetation was not necessarily straightforward, particularly for orchids and other native species that were difficult or expensive to source.

“When you take plants out, you cannot replace them,” she said.

DWER has listed the clearing application for public comment until November 23.

A DWER spokesperson said application documents are made publicly available.

“Interested parties may make submissions on an application before the closing date, including raising concerns about the accuracy of information provided in the application,” they said.

“Community groups may make a submission on this application before the closing date of November 23.

“DWER notified the City of Swan and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage’s Bush Forever office about the application (and) advice was also sought in relation to Aboriginal heritage matters.

“As part of the application process, BMM Group provided a letter of authority from the Western Australian Planning Commission, as the registered landowner of Lot 200 Lord Street, Caversham, authorising BMM Group to access the property and undertake clearing of native vegetation.

“BMM Group also provided a copy of the development approval for the proposal granted by the commission.”