A proposed change of zoning for land in Ingleside could jeopardise the future operation of a planned fauna corridor, including a fauna bridge and underpass on Mona Vale Road East.
This could isolate threatened fauna in Ingleside Chase Reserve, leading to long term decline and possible local extinction.
Fauna bridge on Mona Vale Road East. Ingleside Chase Reserve is on left. Photo David Palmer
The land is a critical element in the pathway for native fauna populations in Ingleside Chase reserve to cross Mona Vale Road east and disperse through bushland in Ingleside to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
The land was set aside in the 2016 Ingleside Precinct Structure Plan, and marked as a fauna corridor. This was part of an agreement between Transport for NSW, (then RMS) and the NSW Department of Planning to create a corridor, fauna underpass and fauna bridge over Mona Vale Road East which would link Ingleside Chase Reserve with Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
However, in the new Local Environment Plan for the Northern Beaches this land has been zoned C3 which allows housing. If houses are built on it, then native animals which cross the fauna bridge or use the underpass will have nowhere to go.
Pittwater Natural Heritage Association secretary David Palmer is calling for action by the Department of Planning to remedy the situation.
“Whilst RMS kept their side of the bargain and built the fauna bridge, the Department of Planning didn’t keep their promise to zone the land for conservation. So now we have a situation where sometime in the future housing could appear on this land and the fauna Bridge over Mona Vale Road would lead into residential back yards and fences, rendering it a useless waste of money.
“We would like Northern Beaches Council to ask the Planning Department for a solution to this problem,” he said.
Cr Miranda Korzy will put a motion to Northern Beaches Council calling on Council to liaise with the Department of Planning, which owns the land, and other agencies to identify ways to protect it.
PNHA hopes that her motion will be supported by other Councillors as the long-term viability of native fauna populations in Ingleside Chase Reserve, which is under Council’s control, will be affected.
PNHA President, Marita Macrae says Pittwater Natural Heritage Association has been advocating for protection of native fauna in Ingleside Chase Reserve since 1994 when much of it was privately owned and threatened by a plan to subdivide it.
“Our campaign spurred Pittwater Council to take action to protect it which resulted in the creation of the nature reserve. We thought that with the creation of the fauna corridor and crossings over Mona Vale Road, our campaign would be over, but sadly our vision seems to have been thwarted,” she said.
PNHA member Jacqui Marlow has been involved in rescuing native fauna in the area for many years. She says that protection of the fauna corridor land is critical for the long-term survival of native animals.
She explained that “If native animals are not able to move between habitats, they will face gradual population decline leading to local extinction. We have many threatened mammals and birds in Ingleside Chase reserve including Eastern Pygmy Possums, which are listed as vulnerable in NSW. They depend on being able to move safely through the landscape to find food, shelter and mates.”
Eastern Pygmy possum near the fauna bridge on Mona Vale Road East. Photo David Palmer
The map below shows recorded sightings of Eastern Pygmy Possums on both sides of the fauna bridge and underpass on Mona Vale Road East.
Eastern Pygmy Possum sightings near the fauna bridge and underpass on Mona Vale Rd east. Image: Atlas of living Australia 2025
Native animals have been photographed using the fauna bridge, showing that it is working, and as the vegetation on and around it grows thicker, more animals will use it. But if, after crossing the fauna bridge, animals encounter back yards, fences and domestic pets, then it will prove to be a bridge to nowhere.
PNHA has commissioned Pittwater Pathways to produce a three minute You Tube video titled “A Bridge to Nowhere?” explaining the issue. Click on this link or watch it below.
MP for Pittwater, Jacqui Scruby, stated:
“Pittwater is home to extraordinary natural heritage that must be protected. Wildlife crossings were built as part of the Mona Vale Road East Upgrade. For these to be most effective, adjoining land in Ingleside must be rezoned to ensure wildlife can move safely into Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. If this doesn’t happen, the significant investment already made in building the wildlife crossings will effectively have been wasted. I strongly support the Pittwater Natural Heritage Association’s calls to ensure that our precious wildlife is permanently protected.“
Profile of the Week A community legacy: Art Auction of works from the Home of Susan Duncan & Bob Story to Support West Pittwater RFSKey details
- Online auction: Open now, closing Monday 9 March at midnight
- Live auction: Saturday 7 March, Elvina Reserve, 3.30pm
- Approximately 20 works will be concluded live
- Live auction works will pause online bidding from 1.00pm on Saturday 7 March
- All other works remain available online until final close
- Printed catalogue available at the live event by donation
Full event details, images and catalogue previews are available here: airauctioneer.com/the-art-of-living
History On International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026 we Remember those Lost and the work of Sister Muriel Knox Doherty, Of Avalon Beach, at the Bergen- Belsen CampInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January each year that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of two-thirds of the European Jewish population along with countless numbers of individuals of other minority groups, by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945.
The choice of 27 January for the annual commemoration aligns with the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army in 1945.
However, the European Jewish population were murdered in several other Nazi camps as well.
One of these was the Bergen-Belsen camp to which Avalon Beach Nursing Sister, Matron Muriel Knox Doherty, was tasked to when peace was regained. Her letters home described the challenges of trying to help thousands of people, many very ill, all of them homeless.
Bergen-Belsen began as a camp for Allied prisoners of war. After it was turned over to the SS, it became a Nazi concentration camp in 1943. Beginning in fall 1944, the SS deported to Bergen-Belsen large numbers of prisoners evacuated from Nazi camps further east.
As a result of overcrowded and horrific living conditions, where disease and starvation flourished, tens of thousands of people imprisoned there died. Anne Frank and her older sister Margot died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February or March 1945.
Enthusiastic to provide aid in Europe, Sister Doherty arrived in Germany on July 11th 1945 as Principal Matron for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Muriel wrote extensive 'Community Letters' to family and friends in Sydney, recording her insights of the camp and the extraordinary suffering she witnessed.
Muriel was then deployed to Poland, to Warsaw. This Issue her insights in her voice.
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Pictures From Red Dust to Blue Water: Bush to Beach Celebrates 21 Years of Changing Young Indigenous Lives
Community News Group Bike Ride Feb. 1: Wear A helmet - Follow the Rules, Northern Beaches Police Area Command Appeal for Information: Wakehurst Parkway, AOK: Urgent - Thursday Volunteers Needed, MWP Care Seeking Volunteers, Congratulations Tilly -Nixon, SNB Branch Championships 2026, Congratulations Cindy Gardiner, NSW Libs establish New portfolio - announce shadow Parliamentary Secretaries: Davidson MP Matt Cross Announced as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Health, Bayview baths, wharf and tidal pool upgrade: Project update, Bronze Medallion Course at WBSLSC: starts Feb 12, Mali Thai Careel Head Road: History Query, Development Coordination Authority (DCA) changes: Feedback invited, Fix our Feeds, Scam Alert: Counterfeit currency, Narrabeen Lakes Amateur Swimming Club: Saturday Afternoons, Zonta's IWD Breakfast 2026: Tickets now available, Oppose the Planning Reforms: Petition, McCarrs Creek road landslip, Term dates for NSW public schools: 2026, Monika's Doggie Rescue Pets of the Week: Snowy + Koda and Kenai, NSW Netball Privacy Policy: Ask Permission, Petition: Stop Politicians from spamming & harvesting our data, 2026 Manly Junior Rugby League & NSWRL Season Dates, Pittwater Residents Associations, Sports, Environment and Groups, Pittwater Offshore Newsletter
Environment The fauna bridge on Mona Vale Road East – will it be a bridge to nowhere?, Synthetic grass fragments are increasingly prevalent microplastics in waterways across Metropolitan Sydney: Report finds Microplastics Have tripled in Sydney's waterways in three years - Manly Cove's 'very high' reading - NSW microplastics report 2026, Summer BirdFest 2026: Play antics of New Locals - Blue-faced Honeyeaters Breeding In Pittwater, Wildlife Dies in Extreme Heat: Please put water out - ‘Sad and distressing’: massive numbers of bird deaths in Australian heatwaves reveal a profound loss is looming + We know how to cool our cities and towns. So why aren’t we doing it?, Mona Vale Dunes bushcare group: 2026 Dates, Bangalley Headland WPA Bushcare 2026, North Head visitor access Changes: open for feedback until Feb 27, Shelly Beach Echidna, Oil-Gas Exploration in Southern Seas reopened by Albanese Government: feedback closes Feb 6, community invited to have a say on recreational opportunities In Great Koala National Park: Feedback closes March 1, Royal National Park plan draft amendment: Have your say until Feb 20, Ku-ring-gai Council fined for water pollution in creek incident from Legacy Landfill beneath North Turramurra Golf Course, DNA breakthrough for elusive Rufous Scrub-bird in NSW, Australian Government pilots national solar panel recycling program, Australia’s circular economy: unlocking the opportunities - Jan 2026 Report, $60,000 penalty to Forestry Corp NSW for Mogo State Forest water pollution: EPA, Birdwood Park Bushcare Group Narrabeen, Where did southern Australia’s record-breaking heatwave come from?, Anatomy of a heatwave: how a cyclone, humid air and atmospheric waves drove brutal heat in the southeast, Fossil fuels are doomed – and Trump can’t save them, Will killing dingoes on K’gari make visitors safer? We think it’s unlikely, Red flowers have a ‘magic trait’ to attract birds and keep bees away, Paying attention to birdsong while walking in nature can boost wellbeing - new research, Welcome to the ‘Homogenocene’: how humans are making the world’s wildlife dangerously samey, How to cut harmful emissions from ditches and canals – new research, PFAS are turning up in the Great Lakes, putting fish and water supplies at risk – here’s how they get there, Octopus numbers exploded around the UK’s south-west coast in 2025 – a new report explores this rare phenomenon, Sydney Wildlife (Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services) Needs People for the Rescue Line, 2025-26 Seal Reveal underway, 622kg of Rubbish Collected from Local Beaches: Adopt your local beach program, This Tick Season: Freeze it - don't squeeze it, Protect wildlife: dispose of fishing gear responsibly, Notice of 1080 Poison Baiting, Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed, Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 Recycling Batteries: at Mona Vale + Avalon Beach, Reporting Dogs Offleash - Dog Attacks to Council, Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs, Stay Safe From Mosquitoes, Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land, Report fox sightings, marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast, Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing, Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed, Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when, Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities, Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater, Ringtail Posses, Pittwater Reserves, Environment History insights + Walks, Birds +
Aquatics Synthetic grass fragments are increasingly prevalent microplastics in waterways across Metropolitan Sydney: Report finds Microplastics Have tripled in Sydney's waterways in three years - Manly Cove's 'very high' reading
Children Sunday Cartoons and animations: Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions The Tellyscope, Summer BirdFest 2026: Play antics of New Locals, Call Of The Surf: 1932, Battle of the Bands – Youth Edition: at Palm Beach, Sports registrations for 2026, A red Moon, a blue Moon, a supermoon and more: your guide to the southern sky in 2026, Curious Kids: in ancient Egypt, what was the Sphinx all about? + Where do seashells come from? + how does our brain send signals to our body? + why is the sea salty?, Stories this week: This book is Mine! + 'Ricky, the Rock That Couldn't Roll' read by Marissa Bode, local groups for you
Youth Summer BirdFest 2026: Play antics of New Locals, Blue-faced honeyeaters Breeding In Pittwater, Sierra Kerr - The First Female Backflip: Surfing Australia, Scheriya seals her future in the waterproofing industry, Opportunities: Battle of the Bands – Youth Edition: at Palm Beach, Fix our Feeds + Play Women's Social or Competitive Cricket with Cromer! + Pittwater Peninsula Netball Club 2026 rego + Avalon Bulldogs Announcement: Female Tackle Teams Kicking Off in 2026! + Female Tackle Coming to the Sharks in 2026!, Financial help for young people, School Leavers Support, Word Of The Week: Chord, Animation on never giving up on your dreams: The Necktie - by Jean-François Lévesque, Can shoes alter your mind? What neuroscience says about foot sensation and focus, It’s easy making green: Muppets continue to make a profit 50 years into their run, Submarine mountains and long-distance waves stir the deepest parts of the ocean, Friday essay: how hard is it to govern?, A brief history of sugar, Did a tsunami hit the Bristol Channel four centuries ago? Revisiting the great flood of 1607, Rethinking Troy: how years of careful peace, not epic war, shaped this bronze age city, In ancient Mesopotamia; what was a ziggurat?, A red Moon, a blue Moon, a supermoon and more: your guide to the southern sky in 2026, Beach swimming was once banned in Australia. How did it become a treasured pastime?, How interwar fiction made sense of an increasingly noisy world, Local services for you
Seniors NSW Seniors Festival Comedy Show serving up laughs in Sydney: tickets available from 10am Tuesday 3 February 2026, AvPals Term 1 2026 Short Courses at Newport, MWP Care Seeking Volunteers, Congratulations to 2026 Senior Australian of the Year, Establishing the Neale Daniher National MND Clinical Network, Your experiences matter – please share them with us, Star power lineup confirmed for 2026 Premier's Gala Concerts: to be Live Streamed, 2026 Resident Experience Survey has started, Small improvements in sleep, physical activity and diet are linked with a longer life, ‘Bold’. ‘Elegant’. ‘Introverted’? How words describing wine get lost in translation, People who survive cancers are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s – this might be why, How interwar fiction made sense of an increasingly noisy world, Local groups, clubs, events and services for you
DIY Ideas How To Keep Your Home Cool During Heatwaves - With much of NSW forecast to experience severe to extreme heatwave conditions over the coming days, a few tips residents can take to beat the heat.
Food Summer Salad Ideas - Summer lightness prompts us to opt for some less heavy fare. This Issue, a few tried and tested recipes and combinations for a whole meal salad that could also accompany something else as a side dish for those who have to have meat.
Events Battle of the Bands – Youth Edition: at Palm Beach, WRC IWD Lunch at LRGC 2026, Pittwater Regatta 2026, Zonta's 2026 International Women's Day Breakfast, Manly Writers Festival, Music, Markets, Social Groups + Heaps more on!