Long-time locals Jack Miller of Bermagui and Doug Mein of Wallaga Lake know of three sites across the town that have been cleared over the last six months. 

“You can’t cast any aspersions, but you also can’t escape the conclusion some people will get better views with illegal clearing,” ex-Bega Valley Shire Councillor Mr Miller said. 

One site where major clearing has been taking place is on the Moorhead Beach side of the Bermagui North Lagoon Flora and Fauna Reserve. Mr Miller estimated at least 20 trees, mainly coastal banksias, had been felled close to the sand dunes. 

He said on an environmental level the trees were needed to hold the banks of the dunes together and any animal that fed on banksias would have to look for food somewhere else. 

The clearing had been occurring gradually, Mr Miller said, starting from the north and moving south. 

“It is probably done to open up views from a property with no real understanding of the coast and coastal dunes,” he said. 

There is another spot at Bermagui North Lagoon, off the end of Keating Drive, where more casuarinas and banksias have been felled. 

Also, one site where clearing is obvious is on Pacific Drive, overlooking the ocean. But in response Bega Valley Shire Council installed a sign in the cleared area stating trees had been vandalised and reminding the public such actions were illegal. 

“Council saw the clearing and put the sign up off their own bat and it’s a credit to them that they did,” Mr Miller said. 

Due to the difficulty in prosecuting those accused of illegal clearing, both Mr Mein and Mr Miller agreed installing signs in vandalised sites was the best method to deter future clearing, saying it was an “expense worth wearing”. 

“The people doing it possibly have a lot of money and are not too concerned about fines,” Mr Mein, a former engineer for BVSC, said.