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25.01.2022 "He is not educating people; he is spinning a preferred project

23.01.2022 Calling on local citizen scientists to help out with frog research...

20.01.2022 NPWS conducting hazard reduction burning in the Dharawal National Park between now and Friday. For more detailed location information, go to www.rfs.nsw.gov.au.

20.01.2022 The NSW government has given the green light for a coal mining extension under the Woronora catchment, one of Sydney's drinking water reservoirs. After receiv...ing 10,000-plus signatures opposed to the expansion, a debate was scheduled for Parliament last week to discuss the controversial project but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. We need a moratorium on all planning decisions during the pandemic. It must not be used as an excuse to approve projects such as this that need comprehensive community consultation. https://www.smh.com.au//strict-rules-for-new-coal-mining-u?

18.01.2022 BREAKING: A bill that will push koalas closer to extinction has been delayed in parliament! If this bill passes, developers and big agribusiness will be... free to destroy koala habitat. Upper house MPs are now expected to vote tomorrow. We have time to make sure every upper house MP knows the harm this bill will do. Send an urgent message to MPs and tell them to protect koalas from extinction in NSW nature.org.au/koalas : Skyler H

13.01.2022 State Government Announces Plans for New Koala Reserve in Georges River Bush-land Between Long Point and Appin The State Government today released the draft Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan. The new plan seeks to ensure conservation outcomes across the Greater Sydney Region. The draft plan provides further detail to the promise by the State Government to implement a Koala Reserve in the lead up to the last election. The draft plan seeks to conserve 1,885 hectares of bush-l...and within the National Parks estate. Most of this land is owned by the State Government and significant funding will be provided to undertake maintenance/conservation works prior to a handover to National Parks. The draft plan is on exhibition until the 25th September. NPA Macarthur will be making a submission and will provide further information as we read through the documents. To view the draft plan, goto https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au//Cumb/Community-engagement

12.01.2022 Our first Macarthur Heritage Nature Talk for 2021 is on next week 8 April. We will be screening 'Forest Defenders - The Fight to Protect Tasmania's Native Forests'. Covid restrictions are in place so seats are limited. To secure your place at this event, please call us on the number provided below.

12.01.2022 The upper George’s River above the impact of coalwash spill and uncontrolled 4WD and trail bike access is only stained naturally by plant tannins but otherwise ...clear. Just a few kms downstream the river is a milky grey. Polluted water from the Appin North (Westcliff) Pit top is charged with visible suspended sediments and invisible nutrients and toxic metals. What compounds the problem is the muddy runoff from the deeply rutted and vastly wide vehicle tracks that are also ripping koala bushland apart. Shame on the mines and the land owner, the Office of Strategic Lands who couldn’t care less! And recreational users, with big mechanised toys that do this, tell us why it is OK to ruin water and destroy bushland? Why is it just all about you? See more

10.01.2022 Wollondilly Council is proposing a 316km bushwalking track to "highlight iconic areas of unique natural beauty including the Burragorang Valley, Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, National Parks and conservation areas." Interestingly this and proposals by other local councils all too often involve building facilities on someone else's land. While Council is happy to come up with the idea it is often left to other agencies such as NPWS to manage increased visitor access, illegal activity,erosion, weeds, feral animals, maintenance and liability. It is great to have ideas to allow people to access these areas but we need to ensure that the current and future governments commit to funding these initiatives into the future.

08.01.2022 Last week the Sydney Morning Herald published an opinion piece by Anna Clarke in which she wrote about a very special place in the Macarthur Region. The Bull Cave is a record of the contact between Europeans and the Aboriginal people shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. Sadly, large scale urban development was allowed close to this significant site from the 1970s. Authorities attempted to protect the site by placing a steel cage at its entrance but that didn...'t stop determined vandals. The bushland on the western side of the Georges River between Glenfield and Appin has many sites of Aboriginal cultural significance. As the urban areas of Campbelltown have expanded over the last 40 years more and more sites have been damaged or have come under threat. Back in the late 1960s when planning was underway to develop Campbelltown into a City, the natural and cultural significance of the Georges River bush land was recognised and successive State Governments have purchased this blocks within this area as they became available. Sadly though little has been done to properly manage this bushland. NPA has long advocated for the dedication of the Georges River bushland between Glenfield and Appin as a national park. With well over 90% of the area in public ownership, and with the forecast population growth in the Macarthur Region in the coming decades, now is the time to protect the area within the National Parks system.

07.01.2022 "...all National Party ministers who support this policy would have to resign immediately" because "their continuance in office would be a fundamental breach of the constitutional principle of responsible government".

02.01.2022 This just seems to keep happening....

02.01.2022 Have you ever wondered how many platypus still live in the Georges River? This new project aims to find out.

02.01.2022 State Environment Minister Matt Kean yesterday announced that the Government will create a new national park to protect koalas to create a continuous link between Kentlyn and Dharawal National Park. We applaud the Government for it's announcement but make the point that a continuous Koala link exists from Glenfield to Appin. Successive State Governments have been buying up land along the Georges River in this area since the late 1960s. There already exists a bushland corridor... which if it has been lacking anything its been management. The corridor has suffered because of a lack of consistent, coordinated management over a very long time. We note with thanks the inclusion of the road corridor known as the Georges River Parkway within the proposed National Park. For years it had threatened to cut a wide swath along the edge of this precious bushland. We are glad to see this Government abandoning that road proposal. It is however disappointing to see large areas of bush, already in Government hands, purchased for the purpose of passive recreation and conservation left out of the proposed park. Peter Meadows Creek and Myrtle Creek are identified in the draft Cumberland Plain Conservation Report as having important koala habitat but have been left outside the park. What is the future for these lands that didn't make it into the Park? Its also concerning that the dedication of the park will occur over the next twenty years. The land identified by the Government for purchase along the Georges River between Glenfield and Appin from the late 1960s comprises somewhere around 2,500 Ha. Over 90 % of this identified land is owned by the State Government (and has been since the 1990s). The Government has the capacity to declare a national park over a large area of high quality koala habitat now. Macarthur Branch will be reviewing the draft Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan and will be making a submission. The Government will be accepting comment until 25 September. We would welcome feedback from readers on what they would like to see us put into our submission. To see the draft plan go to https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au//Cumb/Community-engagement

01.01.2022 ON THIS DAY... On this day in 2001 Macarthur Branch was excited to get notice of a decision of the Land & Environment Court which ended a chapter in our fight to protect the O'Hares Creek catchment. Wollondilly Council and NPA had sought a costs order against a developer who had appealed a decision of Council in the Land & Environment Court and then withdrew the proceedings just before the case was heard. Noel Import (Australia) Pty Ltd had applied to extend an existing clay ...mine into previously untouched bush land within the O'Hares Creek catchment. O'Hares Creek catchment had been a long standing park proposal by NPA Macarthur and members had campaigned tirelessly for its inclusion in the National Parks Estate. As with other development proposals for the area, NPA Macarthur made detailed submissions opposing the development. Wollondilly Council considered the application and refused consent. The developer appealed this decision in the Land & Environment Court. As we had prepared a submission NPA was entitled to apply to the Court to participate in the appeal. We did just that and the Court granted permission to appeal. We set about preparing for the appeal, sourcing expert witnesses and taking witness statements. Most of this work was done by Branch Members as we could not afford to pay lawyers to do this leg work. The Environmental Defenders Office, while not representing us did however provide general advise on what we needed to do and what Court procedure we needed to follow. We did manage to find a Barrister (Tom Howard) who agreed to represent us pro bono. Two weeks before the appeal we provided a copy of our witness statements to the other parties and considered the evidence they would be relying on. Lawyers for Noel Import had Council and and our expert witness statements peer reviewed and following this review they determined that their case was "less than likely to succeed." On that basis the developer withdrew their appeal one working day before the matter was to commence in Court. Wollondilly Council and NPA then applied to the Court for a hearing to consider the awarding of costs for those costs thrown away as a consequence of the matter not proceeding. The matter of costs was heard in July 2000 and 0n 9 November 2001 the Judge handed down his findings, awarding both Council and NPA costs. This was a great result for the Branch and the bushland in the the O'Hares Creek catchment. Most of the O'Hares Creek Catchment was eventually protected in the Dharawal National Park. The developer didn't submit a new application for the area and the area remains as an untouched upland swamp today. https://www.jade.io/article/164368