Nature NSW – Page 16 – National Parks Association of NSW

South Coast Islands New South Wales reprint

Posted by NPA NSWon February 29, 2024February 29, 2024in Autumn 2024Leave a comment

The sold-out book on the islands of the South Coast of NSW has supported NPA’s marine campaign and is now available again.

By author Helen Moody

One Sunday in 2018 a group of walkers from the National Parks Association Milton Branch stopped at the Wasp Head lookout in Murramarang National Park. Questions were asked about the two islands we could see – what they were called, who named them, why they were nature reserves. These questions had been raised each time we had walked here, so this time I decided to do a little bit of research to find some answers. Little did I know then that the ‘little bit of research’ would become a five year project – leading walks and paddles past 61 islands; writing and self-publishing a book about the islands; selling out the book in five weeks; and finding a publisher who is now marketing a second print run of the book.

Falling short: can NSW meet 30by30 target for marine waters?

Posted by NPA NSWon December 7, 2023December 7, 2023in Summer 2023Leave a comment

David Booth, Professor of Marine Ecology, University of Technology, Sydney

Our report “Creating a World Class Marine Protected Area System: Getting New South Wales Back on Track” was launched in NSW Parliament last week amid bipartisan support and wide community interest. It highlighted the current science behind a marine 30 x 30 push for NSW, why no-take Sanctuaries are vital, why NSW has dropped behind, and what should be done next. You can download the Booth Report here. 

Some good news for the Great Koala National Park: Koala Hubs protected from logging, well sort of…

Posted by NPA NSWon December 7, 2023December 7, 2023in Summer 2023Leave a comment

James Sherwood, Conservation Campaigner

On September 11, the Minister for the Environment announced the suspension of logging operations from Koala Hubs within the proposed area of the Great Koala National Park. The hubs cover about 5% of the 176,000 hectares that will be assessed in the creation of the park. Koala Hubs are critical multi-generational resident koala populations and their habitats and 42% of the recorded koala sightings in state forests have occurred in them since 2000.

Where are we at with protected areas conservation in NSW?

Posted by NPA NSWon December 7, 2023December 7, 2023in Summer 2023Leave a comment

Danielle Ryan, Conservation Campaigner and Gary Dunnett, CEO

Back in March 2023 a new NSW Government came into office carrying a lot of expectations from the conservation movement. Labor’s election platform contained clear Protected Area commitments, notably the creation of koala-focused national parks on the mid north coast and in southwest Sydney, along with a long overdue revamp of the National Parks Establishment Plan. At a national level the Commonwealth had just signed onto the Global Biodiversity Framework including the elevated aspirations for Protected Areas under 30by30. More generally, the hope was that we would start to see serious progress on those most intractable of NSW environmental issues, the future of public native forests, bringing the disastrous rates of native vegetation clearance under control and a whole range of policies to address climate change and biodiversity loss.

Nature Kids – Summer 2023

Posted by NPA NSWon December 6, 2023December 7, 2023in Summer 2023Leave a comment

Birds, bandicoots, beaches and more

Read More “Nature Kids – Summer 2023”

Book Review: Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia

Posted by NPA NSWon December 6, 2023December 7, 2023in Summer 2023Leave a comment

Author: Joëlle Gergis.

Publisher: Melbourne University Press, 2018.

Reviewed by: Sam Garrett-Jones and Graham Kelly, NPA Environmental Book Club

Australians are no strangers to ‘droughts and flooding rains’¹. Joëlle Gergis charts a history of Australia’s climate since European settlement and before, with a focus on its high variability and the consequent disasters of flood, drought and fire. She uses written accounts of early colonists and ‘formal records’ of weather from William Dawes’ 1788 observations onwards.