Saving the Punggol End Grassland!

[ziedrich]

the piece of land is reclaimed for the sake of housing development in the first place. the place is left to the 'wilderness' for the soil to settle.

unless you can provide enough evidence that the ecology found there is not only unique but valuable, i don't think there's anyway you can stop development.

for your information, a forest fire some 2 years back over there burnt everything to ashes.

yup... i dun think the ecology is unique, anyway i think the marine ecology is already hugely damaged by the reclamation...

personally i think the "wilderness" is kind of special, at least the birds are. grassland is a form of ecological successional phase from the newly reclaimed land. and spore no grassland. so it may be something worthwhile to keep? (spre like to have alot of things from various parts of the world what heh)

Actually it is very prone to fire; oh yah thanks for mentioning that! fire is natural in grassland and happens quite often and some grassland plants rely on fires in reproduction, oops. this brings to question whether a grassland kind of resort is possible, cos cant possibly burn the place down once in a while.

yah i tink damn hard to wrestle the place out of original development plans. hopefully main argument is:

residential development can still go on but not at punggol end spot, leave it for a mix of tourists and locals, for memory's sake, for people's yearning for natural, open spaces, for a peek into the grassland environment (and import chipmunks in? j/k heh). the small scale tourist facilities can act as some sort of income. and jetty can be a minihub for malaysian tourists and to changi, to ubin, to coney island.

 

[raincool2005]

got leh, went there to take today, but went wrong time lah, afternoon, sun damn harsh! everything white white. thinking of going tml evening leh, hopefully sky more blue, will be more convincing haha.

will try to post some pics here anyway.

Thanks everyone for your replies!! very helpful emotionally and in terms of the thinking process hehe.

i think i know where liao... that place was rumoured to be mass burial spot during ww2.. the japs dug a huge whole and dumped the bodies from Sook Ching operation.. i remember someone wrote abt the small hill facing the grassland.. the japs actually set up a machine gun on top and fired from it. Of cos, after the war the place is clean up. No worries. :sweat:

 

[Sandman77]

coney island will be linked via LRT.

i like it the way it is.

a pity commercialism has to step in.

Ho ho ... I Love that place too .. use to swim there 2 time a week .. And .. SandFlys ...

 

[eikin]

well we got to make way for 6.5million people, nature is at the expense. but the good thing is our friends are not selling sand to us so mayb there will be some more time left

this is going way out of the forum here but i think i should share some thoughts. there's this lingering sentiment that development is always bad. i think that ought to be removed first. this piece of land in question has been gazetted for development long long ago, since the time when it was only sand bars and mud flats. well, no one stopped the reclamation then. nature conservation effort should be channelled towards protecting natural primary forests and mangrove habitat, not wasted on dry weed fields with ocassional fauna visitors.

the criticism over putting 6.5 million people on this island is overhyped as well. Singapore has enough space and resources to house the other 2.5 million people. in fact, a study some time back actually suggested that the city area alone can accomodate 1 million extra inhabitants (details not clear, done by architect Tay Kheng Soon if i remember correctly) having the passion for nature and history conservation is good, but the passion must be channelled effectively to the right places.

also, the concept of conservation has much evolved in today's world, especially for conservation of history. so let's not get too worked up unnecessarily. my home in Singapore is in Punggol, i love the wilderness there and enjoyed photography there. if there's anything i would say it'll be that conservation came too late for Punggol, most of what were worth conserving are already gone.

 

[eikin]

residential development can still go on but not at punggol end spot, leave it for a mix of tourists and locals, for memory's sake, for people's yearning for natural, open spaces, for a peek into the grassland environment (and import chipmunks in? j/k heh). the small scale tourist facilities can act as some sort of income. and jetty can be a minihub for malaysian tourists and to changi, to ubin, to coney island.

URA already has plans in place to develop the coastal regions into recreation, food+beverage and other low-rise development.

i think it's easy to get worried when you see bulldozers running over field. well that's construction for you. most of the time, even for low-rise developments in Singapore, they just strip the land bare first, and put things back later :sweat:

 

[Funny]

I love punggol nature...... hope u all can save the punggol end grassland....

 

[CYRN]

if there's anything i would say it'll be that conservation came too late for Punggol, most of what were worth conserving are already gone.

couldn't agree more.

 

[ziedrich]

this is going way out of the forum here but i think i should share some thoughts. there's this lingering sentiment that development is always bad. i think that ought to be removed first. this piece of land in question has been gazetted for development long long ago, since the time when it was only sand bars and mud flats. well, no one stopped the reclamation then. nature conservation effort should be channelled towards protecting natural primary forests and mangrove habitat, not wasted on dry weed fields with ocassional fauna visitors.

the criticism over putting 6.5 million people on this island is overhyped as well. Singapore has enough space and resources to house the other 2.5 million people. in fact, a study some time back actually suggested that the city area alone can accomodate 1 million extra inhabitants (details not clear, done by architect Tay Kheng Soon if i remember correctly) having the passion for nature and history conservation is good, but the passion must be channelled effectively to the right places.

also, the concept of conservation has much evolved in today's world, especially for conservation of history. so let's not get too worked up unnecessarily. my home in Singapore is in Punggol, i love the wilderness there and enjoyed photography there. if there's anything i would say it'll be that conservation came too late for Punggol, most of what were worth conserving are already gone.

well said! i was about to ask. v insightful. cos the planners surely hav their reasons for development. actually this isnt meant to be a fiery conservation post (sorry for the possibly misleading title).

btw thanks everyone for ur replies! (kit and niki: ok, noted thanks)

regarding the "enough space for more people", does it refer to physical space? cos actually personal i feel lah, pple's relationship with open spaces is related to their emotional space also. too packed not so good. and how do they normally measure how much space can support how much population? 'cos some pple may need more "personal space" (not referring to fat or thin guy lah, but some may be a bit claustrophobic)

"conservation came too late"... i agree, i think in general the whole island conservation came too late. er but tts from my laymans point of view la. i think better late than never though.

 

[jopel]

I love punggol nature...... hope u all can save the punggol end grassland....

I will save it for you :bsmilie:

 

[eikin]

I will save it for you :bsmilie:

nicely printed and framed up right? :bsmilie:

 

[Funny]

I will save it for you :bsmilie:

Kns....yeah! U all r the punggolian savers mah.... often go there take pics.... shld be one of the savers.....:sticktong :sticktong :sticktong Eikin, faster come back n save punggol....:sticktong

 

[westwest1]

well we got to make way for 6.5million people, nature is at the expense. but the good thing is our friends are not selling sand to us so mayb there will be some more time left

will u help us import more sand?

this is going way out of the forum here but i think i should share some thoughts. there's this lingering sentiment that development is always bad. i think that ought to be removed first. this piece of land in question has been gazetted for development long long ago, since the time when it was only sand bars and mud flats. well, no one stopped the reclamation then. nature conservation effort should be channelled towards protecting natural primary forests and mangrove habitat, not wasted on dry weed fields with ocassional fauna visitors.

the criticism over putting 6.5 million people on this island is overhyped as well. Singapore has enough space and resources to house the other 2.5 million people. in fact, a study some time back actually suggested that the city area alone can accomodate 1 million extra inhabitants (details not clear, done by architect Tay Kheng Soon if i remember correctly) having the passion for nature and history conservation is good, but the passion must be channelled effectively to the right places.

also, the concept of conservation has much evolved in today's world, especially for conservation of history. so let's not get too worked up unnecessarily. my home in Singapore is in Punggol, i love the wilderness there and enjoyed photography there. if there's anything i would say it'll be that conservation came too late for Punggol, most of what were worth conserving are already gone.

good one there...clearly more research have to be done on this topic...

 

[raincool2005]

that place is a free hotel for lovers spending time in their cars and vans late at night

:lovegrin:

 

[redstone]

Anyone knows the status of Coney Island?

 

[Cheesecake]

Anyone knows the status of Coney Island?

u can't access it currently unless u own a boat. or u can swim to the island...

 

[Cheesecake]

that place is a free hotel for lovers spending time in their cars and vans late at night

:lovegrin:

HUAT AH!!!! 2005!!!! HUAT AH!!!!

 

[redstone]

u can't access it currently unless u own a boat. or u can swim to the island...

I wanna know if is it an island now... :sweat:

 

[Cheesecake]

I wanna know if is it an island now... :sweat:

:think: yes. it has always been an island and belongs to the Republic of Singapore.


it will be joined to the main land via LRT in the near future. the gov's plan for it seem to be... island resort type.

 

[ykia]

Conservation is more than a thing or a place, and it includes the "spirit" of the place -- as a Punggolian, over the years my home has come to mean an escape from the Singapore rat race. It's a place where I can return to and relax to a very different Singapore.

The moment commercial infrastructure is setup at Punggol end, this "spirit" dies a little. The busy-ness of business, traffic of cars/trucks and "drive-by peepers" makes home less peaceful.

But Singapore marches on, under the banner of progress, limited land and the needs of the many. So my corner of the world has to march along.... Only memories I'll have will be the photos taken and the memories shared with friends and family who march to a different drum.

 

[limmatwest]

Sounds like a great project. Very good intention indeed. Your greatest adversary is sure to be some development company or other.

I had to grin when I read about your enthusiasm for the lalang grassland. Half of Singapore was covered by lalang once upon a time. The grass took over when land cleared of trees were not put to use or ceased being used. I can remember a whole hillside covered with swishing lalang grass. In my childhood days, nature was left very much to itself and lalang grew very dense and many feet tall.

The grass-blades felt dry and almost brittle but were very tough and had very sharp edges. Their undersides were covered with minuscule sharp 'hairs' that gave the grass a silvery colour. Also when the grass is flowering, long silvery stalks of feathery 'ears' (like wheat) waved above the grass most gracefully. This was four or five-foot tall lalang grass that I am remembering. When grown-ups walked through on the narrow tracks, their heads bobbed between waves of a silvery grass-sea in which we children flitted about like tropical fishes.

I've read that the lalang root or rhizome is used as a herbal medicine.

And oh, we used to look for 'fighter spiders' in the grass to keep in emptied matchboxes. Unlike house-spiders, 'fighters' were black with a tinge of iridescent electric-blue.

I can also remember seeing what must have been azure magpies (corvidae and likely to have been Cyanopica) flitting about the hillside bushes outside my class-room window. I have often wished that I was old enough those days to have recorded more details and taken photos of all the things I saw in nature. Looking for nature nowadays in Singapore is like going on a quest for the Holy Grail.

Good luck and much success in your project!