Summer 2022 – National Parks Association of NSW

Parsley Bay – an eastern suburbs gem under threat

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022January 25, 2023in Summer 2022, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Nicole McMahon, NPA member

In this article I would like to acknowledge The Traditional owners being the Gadigal and Birrabirragal people.

For the past 5 years, I have enjoyed learning and making lifelong friendships with fantastic people as a Bushcare volunteer for Woollahra Council at Parsley Bay and a Sydney-based NPA member.

Parsley Bay is one of my favourite places, and a treasured spot in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. A place of many celebrations, gatherings, picnics, and beach activity, where children play and laugh and have many great adventures. It is a much-loved area by the whole community.

Climate Change, Covid and our National Parks

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022in Summer 2022Leave a comment

Brian Everingham, President, Southern Sydney Branch

The last time I walked overseas – indeed, travelled beyond the boundaries of my State – was in December 2018. At that time, within limits, one could almost describe the world as “normal”, as relatively benign, and even perhaps as welcoming. I was in Sri Lanka, visiting its national parks and soaking in the wildlife.

I hasten to add that even on that trip there were dark clouds on the horizon. One location we visited had been devastated by the tsunami of 2004 and in Colombo, on our return, we had to negotiate our way through large protests about living conditions and corrupt governance.

Visiting Nature’s Gifts

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022in Summer 2022Leave a comment

Dr Graeme L. Worboys AM is an 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 is the sixth article in an 8-part series discussing our nature’s gifts.

A decade of biennial visitor surveys by Roy Morgan Research confirms the continuing rise in popularity of NSW national parks, from 38 million domestic visits in 2008 to 60 million in 2018, the latter figure a 17% increase over 2016. Expenditure associated with this increase has been a boon to regional economies. City visitors and country businesses are a potentially powerful constituency in support of our national parks and their nature’s gifts.

Read More “Visiting Nature’s Gifts”

Koala Conference brings the community one step closer towards the creation of the Great Koala National Park

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022December 1, 2022in Summer 2022Leave a comment

James Sherwood and Danielle Ryan, NPA Conservation Campaigners

NPA NSW played a key role in organising the Koala Conference (29 October 2022) in Coffs Harbour last month, including organising two special side events for the community. On Friday 28 October, we hosted a meet and greet for local businesses and private landholders with politicians, and on Sunday 30 October, we hosted a Koala Family Picnic in the Botanical Gardens. These events featured in all the main local media platforms, taking up four pages of the local paper, including the front page.

Environmental vandalism – NSW Government approves massive Snowy 2.0 transmission lines through Kosciuszko National Park

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022December 1, 2022in Summer 2022Leave a comment

Ted Woodley, NPA Executive Committee member

In a staggering act of environmental vandalism of epic proportions, the Commonwealth and NSW Governments have just approved the construction of new overhead electricity transmission lines through Australia’s iconic Kosciuszko National Park to connect the Snowy 2.0 pumped storage project.

This reprehensible decision overturns a long-standing ban on new overhead transmission lines. The last overhead transmission line built in a NSW national park was in 1976.

Book Review – A Wide and Open Land: Walking the Last of Western Sydney’s Woodlands

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2022November 29, 2022in Summer 2022Leave a comment

Author: Peter Ridgeway (2022)

Reviewer: Julie Sheppard, Macarthur Branch

The author has, in this book, achieved a long held ambition to document what most Sydney-siders have on their doorstep but barely acknowledge, value or respect. “Cumberland Plain” is a term few recognise or understand (“Cumberland Plain Woodland” even less so). The natural features of the region, its unique geology, flora and fauna are being obliterated at a terrifying pace – The conquest of the Cumberland Plain is the largest construction project ever undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere. Every minute more than 100 tonnes of concrete and aggregate is laid in the rural valley of the Plain, 8 tonnes a year for every man, woman and child. (p.2)