hello jennifer, most of the land clearing around our area [northern vic ] has resulted a fairly large area of occasionally productive weedy farm land with almost no natural grassland and that is for the most part, only loved for the money it makes . when i asked some young irrigation and dryland farmers why they wouldn't plan to preserve for their grand children the little native vegetation and biodiversity they had left, they simply answered "there's no money in it ! " reading farmers' opinions in the "weekly times" [vic] and the "land" [nsw] , the abuse of native grassland and biodiversity will continue unabated wherever many farmers think they can get away with it, almost on principle. to them biodiversity is a dirty word thought up by uncaring lefty scientists . i think you could do more to save the natural environment as you get a fair bit of space in the media , however , who pays you may have other ideas on your inputs . ps. thanks for what i thought was a surprising note of caution ?? on the wa canal project .