National Parks Journal - Environmental News and Action

Speakers, including Richard Le Plastrier, Mayor Peter Macdonald, Phil Jenkyn and others, will focus on the implications for the public purse and the heritage — and the certain threat to integrated management of
the whole of North Head.
Options have always been available — yet never considered. This proposed lease of publicly owned land has been foisted upon the public in the face of overwhelming community opposition. This could be your last
opportunity so please make it big!

ACTION!
For attendance in Room 814/815, registration with David Barr’s Electorate Office is essential.
Tel: 9976.2773 Fax: 9976.2993
Email: abarr@parliament.nsw.gov.au.
Supporters who can rally outside the Parliament with banners, posters and flags.

Hang gliding at Kattang 'up in the air'?

A decision about hang gliding in Kattang Nature Reserve may still ‘up in the air’ after more than a year’s delay in adopting the Kattang Nature Reserve Plan of Management (PoM). The draft plan recommends that hang gliding not be permitted in the reserve, the existing platform be removed and the area
rehabilitated.

The case for excluding hang gliding from Kattang is clear. The existing hang gliding site has resulted in a degraded area of approx 800 square metres
which contains a deeply eroded informal access track, a gap in the dunal woodland canopy created when trees were removed and bare dunal sands around the platform.

DEC’s ‘Hang Gliding and Para Gliding Policy’ (Nov 2004) states that these activities are contrary to the purpose and principles of nature reserves and are not permitted in these areas.

NPWS had closed off the access track due to the public liability risk posed by the unsafe structure but in a surprising development the week before Christmas 2004, the hang gliding platform was illegally removed! The Friends of Kattang were not involved in its removal and surmise that this direct action is a sign of community frustration over the delay in resolving this issue!

Janet Cohen
Friends of Kattang

Stop Press!
At time of print, the Minister for the Environment told NPA that Kattang will no longer be used for hang gliding. An alternative site will be sought in nearby national parks or on other public lands.

Kosciuszko — last call on being loved to death

It is sincerely hoped that all the years of work that have gone into the review of the Kosciuszko Plan of Management will deliver a plan that protects the park now so that all future generations can see, enjoy and
acknowledge its values.

Inappropriate recreational and commercial activities have increased. In
Kosciuszko high impact users such as horse riders, off-track mountain bikers and illegal 4WD-ers, pig hunters and brumby runners continue to leave their mark.

In resorts, the change from snow-based activities to 52 weeks a year activities and events in resorts, as well as the successful push by Snowy Hydro for cloud seeding and other infrastructure which impedes the natural river flows (i.e. closure again of the Mowamba River outlet into the lower Snowy) — add many users and further impact on the park. The media also often uncritically presents the clever self interest strategies of these users, rather than countering their claims with scientific facts.

Photo by D. Thompson

So what hope is there? Good planners, a sympathetic and educated public and strong government commitment are needed over the life of this new Plan for Kosciuszko. At the very least there is a need at the front end for sufficient human resourcing and funding to manage, educate, research, protect, monitor and police through the Plan so that we can all celebrate Kosciuszko National Park’s existence.

Di Thompson
KPOM Community Forum
representative

ACTION!
The final plan is due to go to the Minister for the Environment in April or May. Send him a last-minute letter asking him to wind back high impact recreation and reign in the all-season resorts.
Mail to PO Box A290, Sydney South, NSW 1232.

Too soft on horses

A new National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Horseriding Policy for national parks is close to finalisation. The latest draft seen by NPA still does not set out clear circumstances when horseriding in national park is not permitted, as the present policy does.
Instead it relies on the discretion of the NPWS Regional Manager. Given the pattern of NPWS readily allowing horseriding in response to local pressure, this is of major concern. The Minister for the Environment is due to finalise the policy in the coming months. Please send a letter to the Minister asking for a stronger policy that prevents horseriding in environmentally sensitive sites, not a weaker one.

A.C.

Coming up ...
• Earth Day 22 April '05
• International Day for Biological Diversity 22 May '05
• World Environment Day 5 June '05

Attempt to dissolve Jenolan Caves Board

Last year, the Board overseeing the management of the Jenolan Caves Karst Reserve was not reappointed when its term expired. Instead an Administrator under NPWS was installed to develop a new funding model. The Board, which included an NPA representative, was dependant on income generated by visitors to the caves, which had recently declined in number. Strangely, once the Administrator started, the Government
injected long-needed funds to improve rundown infrastructure and for urgent repairs on the precipitous Five Mile access road.
The Government attempted legislative changes to prevent the Board from being re-established, but withdrew this when it realised that it didn’t have the support of the Opposition or progressive Legislative Council members.
The Government has discussed the future management of Jenolan Caves with the NPA. This is a major opportunity to put in place a sound commercial tour and accommodation arrangement that can be used as a model for the management of commercial activities in NPWS reserves throughout the state.
We don’t want Quarantine Station and Kosciuszko situations arising again.

- A.C