Dont
Overwhelm Public with 100s of Plans |
Dont Overwhelm Public with
100s of Plans
MEDIA RELEASE 29 February 2001
The National Parks Association of NSW defended recent progress by
the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) on preparing plans
of management, despite criticism by the NSW Opposition.
The Auditor-Generals report, released today, records the
numbers of plans of management for national parks and nature
reserves that the NPWS is required to prepare, and how many are
finalised.
"It showed that only 119 plans of management have been
adopted from the 498 NPWS reserves that require a plan",
said Mr Andrew Cox, NPA Executive Officer.
"While this is not satisfactory, the current rate of
preparation and public exhibition of plans of management is at
the limit of what the public can respond to without being
overwhelmed."
"All draft plans of management area are placed on public
exhibition. Already we are being overwhelmed by the number of
plans that community groups such as the NPA respond to. We
currently get several plans every month to comment on."
"NPA has been critical in the past of the rate of
preparation and approval of plans of management. Both Labor and
Coalition Governments have been responsible."
The National Parks and Wildlife Act states that the NPWS must
prepare a plan of management for each conservation reserve
as soon as practicable after they are created (s 72).
The preparation rate has significantly increased over the last 2
years."
"However there are still some national parks, such as the
Blue Mountains, Wollemi and Kanangra-Boyd National Parks that a
plan of management has been under preparation for more than 25
years! These are sitting on the Minister for the
Environments desk and should be signed immediately,"
said Mr Cox.
"But there have been about 150 new NPWS reserves compared
with five years ago (which we congratulate the Government for),
and it will take some time to develop these plans. Many of these
areas are small and preparation of a plan of management is a low
priority. When the plan is developed, they may be simple
documents."
"The NPWS has already put in place a process that ensures
national parks without plans of management are managed according
to the precautionary principle, a strategy endorsed by the NPWS
Advisory Council."
"This ensures issues such as weed, feral animal and fire
management and rehabilitation programs are properly carried
out,".
"Therefore claims made today by the NSW Opposition that the
failure to prepare national park plans of management is
contributing to escalating likelihood of animal
extinctions are false", concluded Mr Cox.
Contact: Andrew Cox 9299 0000 or 0438 588 040
28 February 2001