I guess this is good news in the same way that it was good news when the lifeboats saved people on the Titanic. The attempt to save this site from the planned Bulahdelah bypass project has been a long fought battle between conservationists and the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority - see Alan Stephenson's reports in the Orchadian or in the OGD archives. The RTA did manage to have their arm twisted enough to delay construction of the bypass and commission research into the relocation of Rhizanthella slateri, Cryptostylis hunteriana and Corybas dowlingii. However, while the successful outcome of the relocation project is good, I don't think it fully negates the fact that the government authority was forced into doing the bare minimum of what it should have and that a stretch of orchid habitat several metres wide is now under a couple of inches of bitumen. Habitat loss is inevitable in the name of progress but I would have expected (whether or not that expectation is grounded in reality) an Australian government department to have handled this situation a lot better.
I honestly think they shouldn't disclose the location of the habitat though... Some reckless people might just stop by the highway and dig them up...
