Sydney Region Branch: Conservation Conversations

Sydney Region Branch: Conservation Conversations

You are invited to connect with NPA members and friends in a stimulating evening of conservation talks that celebrate our natural world and inspire new ways to experience our country.

This will be the second Conservation Conversations event hosted by Sydney Region Branch of NPA.

We have invited a panel of experts to share their understanding and experience of our oceans, bushland and Sydney national parks. We would be delighted to have you joins us for these talks and follow on drinks, nibbles and discussion. Bring along your friends, connect with old friends and make new friends as we learn from the experts and each other.

Date: Wednesday 20th November, 6:30-8:30pm

The government’s koala strategy can’t work—the Great Koala National Park can

The National Parks Association of NSW Inc (NPA) is renewing calls for the government to create new protected areas for koalas, including the Great Koala National Park, following the release of a critique of the NSW government’s Koala Strategy authored by WWF, North East Forest Alliance and NPA.

Harrington Park Public School make BEE-autiful Pollinator Habitat

Students at Harrington Park Public School have been doing an unBEElievable job conserving native pollinators. Last week, Mr Martin’s year 4/5 class and Aboriginal students from kindergarten to year 6 learnt all about Sydney’s native bees and their habitat.

“The majority of Sydney’s 200 native bee species are solitary – live on their own – so they have completely different habitat requirements to social bees, like the honey bee, which live in hives,” says Margot Law, National Parks Association’s Citizen Science Officer.

“Solitary native bees live in small holes in wood, pithy stems and in clay soils. In an urbanising landscape, it’s important to provide safe habitat for bees to continue the vital work that they do pollinating our plants,” says Ms Law.

Harrington Park Public School made pollinator habitat, colloquially known as bee hotels, to support native bees in their homes and the school yard.

“Students made 55 bee hotels for their favourite Sydney bee species, including the leaf cutter bee and carpenter bee. This is the second year that we have run pollinator activities with Harrington Park Public School. It was great to see that our bee hotels from last year have got some guests!”

“It’s important to remember that providing native bee habitat in backyards is a fantastic first step towards pollinator conservation, but it needs to be accompanied by planting native flowers too. There’s no point having habitat, if there’s no flowers to pollinate”

The nearby Harrington Forest is a site for “Bringing back the Buzz to the Cumberland Plain Woodland” – a project that aims to restore the endangered ecological community with bushcare. We have been monitoring how pollinators and butterflies have been responding to bushcare since 2016. The community can help restore pollinator habitat at Harrington Forest with the Bushcare group that meets on the third Saturday of the month from 9am to 12pm.


Media Contact: Margot Law, 0439 407 063

‘Bringing back the Buzz to the Cumberland Plain Woodland’ is managed by the National Parks Association of NSW with support from the NSW Government’s Environmental Trust

NPA welcomes Koala-ity Nature Reserve in the Southern Highlands

The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) welcomes an addition to our reserve system: a 402ha nature reserve on the bank of the Wollondilly River in Canyonleigh. This new reserve is strategically placed between Blue Mountains and Morton National Parks.

Blairmount is Buzzing for Pollinator Week

Students at Blairmount Public School kicked off pollinator week a bit early with the ‘Bringing back the buzz to the Cumberland Plain Woodland’ project. Pollinator week, 12-19th November, is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our native bees and contribute to their conservation.

Australia trumps science to become first nation to cut ocean protection

Australia will trump even Donald Trump and become the first nation to cut protections of its ocean estate if it implements plans, released today, to expose vulnerable areas of the marine environment to industrial fishing exploitation, a national alliance of environment groups said.