Spring 2017 – Page 2 – National Parks Association of NSW

Farewell CEO Kevin Evans

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017in Spring 2017Leave a comment

On Friday 21st July, NPA celebrated Kevin’s 7½ years of amazing commitment to NPA as its CEO. NPA President, Anne Reeves, gave a warm speech of recognition for his achievements.

Kevin came to us from Adelaide Zoo where he had a major role in setting up the then new Panda exhibit. And before that he had a long history of working with animals, particularly birds, including a stint with Taronga Zoo. Kevin’s life long interest in animals, with skills honed by his 28 years experience in a succession of zoologically related employment, means we have been fortunate to have a CEO who has served NPA with amazing commitment as an administrator and campaigner – and a great grasp of animal psychology! Emotional intelligence he calls it.

Read More “Farewell CEO Kevin Evans”

Forests not Woodlots

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017in Native Forest Logging, Spring 2017Leave a comment

^{Margaret Blakers, director of the Green Institute and a long-time environmentalist}

Rosemary Beaumont’s article is timely. The Great Southern Forest is part of a larger picture which will see the fate of over 6 million hectares of Australia’s most loved native forests decided between now and 2021. Either they will be handed to the logging industry for another 20 years, effectively to become woodlots, or the federal government will resume environmental oversight and give the forests a chance.

Which was the World’s First National Park?

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017in Spring 20172 Comments

^{Bob Crombie, First National Park, October 2014}

When people ask, “Which, of all the world’s national parks, was the first national park?” the obvious approach is to compare dates of establishment. Let’s look at four famous names: Yosemite 1864, Yellowstone 1872, Mackinac 1875, and Royal National Park, 1879. In each, the term ‘national park’ was used to mean a number of different things.

NPA Illawarra Branch

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017September 1, 2017in Spring 2017Leave a comment

^{Graham Burgess, Illawarra Branch President, National Parks Association of NSW}

NPA Illawarra has a rich history dating back around 37 years. In 2010 there was a turning point as most of the long-standing and hardworking branch executive decided to call it a day and hand over to some fresh faces. Over the last seven years or so the new executive has focused its efforts on being part of the community conversation about protecting nature in our region. Most of our work relates to the impact of urban development on the Illawarra Escarpment and other bushland on our quite narrow coastal stip. With this focus our involvement on Wollongong Council’s community reference groups is an important feature and we have positions on two of these groups.

NPA Campaign updates – Spring 2017

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017in Campaigns and Conservation, Spring 2017Leave a comment

Stand Up For Royal

It has been a hectic time for Royal National Park, our oldest national park and one of our most beloved (let’s face it, 3.6 million visitors every year can’t be wrong). Not only has the State Government set aside money to explore options to extend the F6, including slicing off at least 60 hectares of this wonderful park ($15 million in the 2017-18 budget for planning work on the F6 and a further $20 million to carry out geotechnical testing and other development work in relation to the project – announced in December 2016), it has also blithely attacked the NPA for sticking up for this precious icon.

Despite rapid reassurances from the Government that no route has been determined it would appear that slicing off another section of Royal is well and truly the intent of this government. Why else did the then Minister for the Environment, Mark Speakman, state that “if there was a need to use any part of the Royal National Park it would be compensated for by additions to the park.” And from where?

Southern Sydney Branch will remain vigilant, watching what geotechnical tests are carried out, monitoring what is offered as “compensation” and holding this Government and its representatives to account. This will be a lengthy campaign but Royal is too important for us to lose that campaign. #Standup4Royal

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The Great Koala National Park

In July NPA staff took a trip to the north coast of NSW to build support among the local community for the Great Koala National Park (GKNP). Media coverage was huge which reflects the depth of concern for koalas. Our Senior Ecologist was on local TV, and NPA made the front page of the Bellingen Shire Courier Sun.

Our (now retired) CEO, Kevin Evans, found scats from a mother and joey koala in an area of the GKNP scheduled for logging. This led to widespread calls to stop logging, and all the coverage provoked the Member for Oxley, Melinda Pavey to claim, bizarrely, that a national park would not help koalas! Needless to say we responded, as did others. Local, state and federal Greens have now joined Labor in expressing strong support for the GKNP.

Find out more about the campaign

Forests For All

In June, NPA State Council formally approved our plan for a better future for public native forests. The plan, called Forests For All, had input from many experts within and without NPA and is a document we can be proud of. It seeks to protect all native State forests in a variety of NPWS reserve categories, and increase public access to forests for recreation, education and nature-based tourism.

The Regional Forest Agreements begin to expire from 2019 in NSW. They have failed to protect forests or forest industries, so we should change tack. Forests For All offers the NSW Government an economically and socially viable alternative use of valuable public property. We believe that by implementing Forests For All while simultaneously incentivising plantations and the NPWS, we can generate a net jobs gain and make forests a key part of regional communities.

We are in the process of building partnerships among other groups who have an interest in seeing forests protected, and together we will urge the Government to change the use of our public native forests.

Find out more about the campaign

Biodiversity law update

Posted by NPA NSWon September 1, 2017August 30, 2017in Spring 2017Leave a comment

A recipe for regulatory failure?

^{Rachel Walmsley}
^{Policy & Law Reform Director, Environmental Defenders Office NSW}

Just before Christmas last year, the NSW parliament passed legislation to repeal our Threatened Species Conservation Act, Native Vegetation Act, Nature Conservation Trust Act and parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Act. In place of the repealed laws, a new Biodiversity Conservation Act and an amended Local Land Services Act will now govern how biodiversity and native vegetation are managed in NSW.