Category: Autumn 2022

After a 20 year campaign, new protection for the Gardens of Stone

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Madi Maclean, Senior Vice-President, Blue Mountains Conservation Society

This article was first printed in Hut News Issue 398 December 2021. Thanks to BMCS for permission to reprint the article.

Cheers, tears and a storm of emails erupted in celebration within the Society when, on Saturday 13 November, the NSW government at last announced the creation of a new Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area (SCA).

The announcement came in a joint media release from the Premier, Dominic Perrottet, Environment Minister and Treasurer, Matt Kean and Deputy Premier and local MP, Paul Toole.

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Conservation update 

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Gary Dunnett, Chief Executive Officer

The final months 2021 were anything but easy for parks and nature in NSW.  Far from a graceful glide into Christmas, NPA spent the summer busily contesting misplaced proposals to ‘develop’ parks and ill-considered changes to national park laws and policies. 

My introduction describes our spirited response to the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill (2021), introduced into the NSW Parliament by a departing Environment Minister.  Other highlights of NPA’s conservation activities over this period include:

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National Reserve System and Nature’s Gifts

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Dr Graeme L. Worboys AM is a former Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University & Bruce Gall is a former Director of the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.

This article is the third in an 8-part series discussing our nature’s gifts.

The National Reserve System is a strategic, science-based collaboration between Australia’s nine jurisdictions to conserve the nation’s biodiversity. The NRS now includes over 13,000 protected areas; we’ve come a long way since The National Park (now Royal) was created in 1879.

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World Wetlands Day 2022

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Trip Report: Lake Belvedere at Bicentennial Park, Sydney

Brian Everingham, President, NPA Southern Sydney Branch

On World Wetlands Day it seemed appropriate that the entire morning in the field was spent under umbrellas, warding off the misty rain and peering through the haze. Even more appropriately, given the amount of rain that has fallen over NSW this summer, many of the birds we would expect to see here had decided to go elsewhere. Well, why not! For example, the Red-necked Avocets were nowhere to be seen!

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Why all this fuss about a moth?

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Dr Penelope Greenslade, School of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University

The Bogong moth has just been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and put on their Red List, but why? On a first impression the moth is not particularly attractive, unlike the endangered Ulysses swallowtail butterfly, as it is smaller and a nondescript brown in colour. Nor does it provide economic benefits as does another moth, the silkworm. Its existence is not threatened by any disease nor is it harvested for food any longer. Quite the opposite, as the moth is considered by some as a nuisance, as at certain times of year, large numbers were attracted to lights in cities like Canberra, entering houses and offices where they cluster in nooks and crannies to the consternation of the inhabitants who hasten to destroy them. It also can be a pest of crops such as cotton and wheat where the caterpillars cause damage and are controlled by the application of insecticides.

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