June 2000 Messages from the Executive

A new direction
for the National Parks and Wildlife Service

The National Parks and Wildlife Service have recently released a glossy Corporate Plan to cover the three-year period 2000-2003. The plan seeks to set a new direction for the National Parks and Wildlife Service towards greater community involvement and by the adoption of three key conservation themes. These themes are conservation across the whole landscape; management of the reserve system within a regional landscape context; and enhancement of the reserve system by agreed conservation criteria.

Looking beneath the gloss, one sees a different story.

One would think that the Service would build on its past successes as they enter this brave new world. However, the Corporate Plan has neglected the need for the Service to demonstrate to the community, through its management of the conservation reserve system, best practice management standards for the existing reserve system. The Service failed to incorporate in the final version of the Plan a series of amendments which would have set in concrete this important aspect of their work. They have failed to make a commitment to manage existing national parks in a manner where they can demonstrate to the community how best to manage land for nature conservation.

How can the Service expect private land managers to protect biodiversity on freehold land if they are unwilling to explicitly seek best practice management of land under NPWS control?

The NSW national parks system has been recognised internationally as one of the best parks systems in the world. NPWS managers should be working to continue to set standards for national park management which seeks to be amongst the world’s best.

Roger Lembit,
NPA President

A new branch of the NPA has been established in Dubbo. The new branch, tentatively known as the Macquarie Valley Branch, held its first meeting on Thursday 11th May.

The meeting was well attended with a mixture of existing NPA members from Dubbo and nearby towns such as Wellington and Geurie, and people new to the Association.

William Burns of the Wirrimbah Direct Descendants, a corporation of Aboriginal traditional owners, was the first speaker. He told the group about traditional Aboriginal peoples’ continuing interest in the Goonoo forest. The Goonoo area was part of the country of the Tabragar clan of the Wiradjuri people. He, together with Coral Peckham, talked about the importance of Goonoo to the well-being of the people, as well as the presence in the area of a range of Aboriginal sites and the need to protect the forest from damaging activities.

Following William’s introduction, I was invited by chair Graham Evans to talk about the work of NPA. I spoke about the history of the Association, its involvement in the establishment of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the vital role branches play in the work of the Association, the work of State Council committees, and NPA’s campaign work to achieve a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system in western New South Wales.

The bioregion which includes Goonoo and the Pilliga has about 2.4% of its land protected within the core conservation reserve system. To the west, the Darling Riverina Plains bioregion has 0.8% of its land reserved. To the south, the NSW South Western Slopes bioregion has just over 1% of land reserved.

The meeting concluded with a slide show of the diversity of flowering plants in Goonoo, presented by long-time member of the Dubbo Field Naturalists, Harold Grant. Harold spoke about the early botanical exploration of the Goonoo forest and the many unusual and attractive plants which occur in the area. It is expected that this spring will be a particularly good time to see wildflower displays in the forest due to the recent period of wet weather.

The previous weekend, at the NPA State Council meeting, the new branch was formally approved by the Association.

NPA State Council wishes the new Branch well as it develops momentum, and looks forward to a lively and active campaign to protect important forests and vegetation remnants in the Dubbo area.

Executive Officer leaving

Dear NPA members and friends,

I am leaving my job as NPA's Executive Officer after more than 3 years' committed work for NPA and our conservation goals. I hope that you have felt that my work has been worthwhile, but more importantly I wish to thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Best wishes,

Noel Plumb

It has been some time now since NPA membership fees were changed, and in the ensuing period costs have increased for both wages and administration. The running of head office and production of the Journal are very fine tuned to keep costs to a minimum, but in order to continue to represent you and to achieve the goals of NPA, it has been necessary to reconsider the level at which fees have been held for the past three years (our last fee increase was in early 1997). I hope you agree that in terms of outcomes for national parks, you are getting good value for money.

New levels have been calculated on the basis of the CPI increase, which from June 1997 to Dec 1999 was 3.245% (based on ABS data). With inclusion of GST, the new fee structure effective from 1 July 2000 will be:

Notice of AGM

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the National Parks Association of NSW will be held on Saturday 5 August at 12 noon in Sydney Jenkins Hall, Lane Cove NP.

It will be held in conjunction with the August State Council meeting.

Any members of the Association may attend and are encouraged to do so. You will be made most welcome.

Brian Everingham
Hon Secretary

Exciting new benefits for NPA members!
Read all about it!