Darling Scarp
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The Darling Scarp or Darling Range is a low escarpment running North-South to the East of Perth, Western Australia.
Geology
This escarpment is an ancient fault-line. When the scarp first formed, the land that now holds Perth dropped below the level of the rest of the continent. As time moved on, the seas covered the plains of Perth, which is why Perth is such a sandy city, having spent many years on the bottom of a sea-shelf.
Landuse Conflict
The Darling escarpment has had over the last hundred years been exploited for Forestry and Bauxite Mining. Extensive Timber railways and timber mills and the supporting communities existed along the escarpment due to the high quality Jarrah Forests.
In the early twentieth century, most of the the main rivers flowing off the escarpment had mainly been utilised for dams for water supply.
Also in the early to mid-twentieth century numbers of rock quarries existed on the edge of the escarpment - visible and affecting both the aesthetics and the environment of the escarpment. The area where the Helena River emerges from its valley to the sandplain - there are still four quarries evident despite being unused for fifty years or more. Legislative restrictions upon such developments were initiated in the late twentieth century.
In the late twentieth century, the proving of bauxite deposits correlating to the extensive Jarrah Forests saw wide ranging protests against the proposals to mine the forests. The lengthy process of protest forced Government and miners to check their original proposals - and wide ranging processes to guard segments of the Jarrah Forests from mining ensued.
Also in the late twentieth century, dieback effecting Jarrah timber in particular infected large tracts of the forest.
In late 2004, the largest bushfire in the Northern Jarrah Forest for at least 100 years has created significant issues for the forest as well.
The escarpment is currently the site of a number of approved mines of bauxite (or Aluminium ore), which are mined by the company Alcoa along with others. The bauxite mines (and rehabilitated areas after mining) have erased all the evidence of the networks of the Timber railways.
The potential for further landuse conflict exists in the presence of unrelinquished mining leases over large tracts of the escarpment; plans by Governmental operations in Forest reserves; water authority sensitivity towards access to its water catchment areas; bushfire control measures; and demands for further intensification of urbanization on the escarpment. Fortunately, a network of reserves of crown lands on the escarpment have been connected into a national park to maintain and conserve parts of the escarpment.