Environmentalists fear a vulnerable eagle species will disappear from the ACT when the CSIRO allows developers onto its large research field station in Canberra's north-west.
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The little eagle, a very small eagle species native to Australia, remains in the ACT only in limited numbers.
One of the few remaining nesting and foraging areas for the eagles is thought to be the CSIRO's Ginninderra Field Station, a 701-hectare stretch of land between Gungahlin and Belconnen.
The eagle is listed as a vulnerable species in the ACT, NSW and Victoria, and is particularly susceptible to the impact of urban development and human activity.
The Conservation Council of the ACT fears that a remaining breeding pair could be wiped out if the CSIRO pushes ahead with plans to transform its research site into a housing development.
Executive director Larry O'Loughlin said numbers had already dwindled to one or two breeding pairs in the ACT, from numbers in the teens 20 years ago.
"We do not expect the little eagle to remain if the Ginninderra Field Station is replaced by urban development," Mr O'Loughlin said.
"The little eagle's breeding is disrupted by disturbance such as urban development, its diet has tended to be dependent on rabbits and reduced rabbit populations and the eating of Pindone-poisoned rabbits has had an impact, and it faces competition from wedge-tailed eagles."
The CSIRO has devoted significant effort to monitoring and managing the breeding pair in recent years.
The organisations says the breeding pair has not returned to the nesting site since 2014, but has pledged that its development will employ the "highest standard of environmental management" that will extend "well beyond legislative requirements for protecting threatened species and ecosystems".
The CSIRO says it will create buffer zones around the nesting site, and maintain a large section of land – 12 per cent more of the property than the 19 per cent that is legally required – as a foraging habitat.
An exclusion area around the nesting site will also prevent development on that part of the property until the research into the foraging habitat is complete.
The CSIRO has invested in tracking, researching, and managing the eagles since the first sighting of one flying over the northern part of the field station in December 2013.
It sought specialist advice after learning that little eagles had successfully bred on the site in 2014, and acted to ensure the breeding habitat was maintained.
The CSIRO said it avoided visiting the nest site during incubation and nestling periods, and did not remove trees, logs, or woody debris from the area.
The organisation said it has consulted with government experts, and purchased two specialist GPS tracking devices to capture and track the little eagles.
They were unable to use the devices, because the pair did not return to the nest site.
"While the breeding pair has not returned to the nesting site since 2014, CSIRO is keen to provide best-practice management of identified little eagle habitat," the organisation said.
The tender documents for the proposed development list the "little eagle foraging area" as a potential risk of the project.
The CSIRO began considering its options for the land in 2011, when a review found it was being significantly underutilised for research.
It plans to embark on a sustainable, affordable housing project that would partner with a developer and utilise its national research expertise.
The developer is required to make combined payments of more then $100 million to the CSIRO, which would not be dependent on any returns from the project.
The CSIRO has said the earliest the project could begin is 2019. It plans to establish a "new suburb[s] comprising residential, commercial, retail and community infrastructure and services", according to tender documents.
The field station is considered national land, and had previously been zoned as "hills, ridges, and buffer spaces".
But that changed in May, when the federal government changed National Capital Plan to rezone the area as "urban", paving way for the development.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has criticised the decision to rezone the land, saying the development is being used by the CSIRO to prop up its finances.
