Colong Foundation celebrates Wilderness
By Keith Muir

The Dunphy Wilderness Fund has played a major role in preserving the wildest areas in NSW. It has an independent reference group on which sits the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife, that acts as a fund-raising body, and the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, the National Parks Association and the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.

Here Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, describes its recent achievements

Colong Foundation celebrates wilderness

The Colong Foundation has prepared a key plan for the environmental protection of Kosciuszko National Park, making this fragile alpine reserve its major focus for this year.

Kosciuszko, NSW’s largest national park, has many problems: it is fragmented by roads, power lines, dams and resorts; and many interest groups seek to enjoy this area, regardless of the damage they do. Feral horses are poorly managed and horse populations are rapidly growing.

Keith Muir contemplates the Bimberi Wilderness from Mount Morgan, Kosciuszko. Photo the late Reg Adler

In response to these threats, the Colong Foundation has prepared a large annotated plan titled Kosciuszko National Park – A Plan for Environment Protection and Restoration, which provides a complete answer to the park’s problems. It proposes better wilderness protection, restoration of environmental flows and pest species management, as well as a public transport vision for the park.

The Colong Foundation is Australia’s longest-serving community advocate for wilderness. Our early days were spent on land reservation for national parks. More recently, Colong Foundation has tried to ensure that nature conservation is retained as the focus of the NPWS management, rather than in satisfying the competing demands of stakeholders.

Funds provided to the NPWS have greatly increased from $42 million in 1995 to $305 million this financial year, enabling the primary objective of nature conservation to be implemented. The key issue now is the efficient delivery of conservation services.

Earlier this year, a major wilderness reservation campaign led by the Colong Foundation reached its conclusion with 273,000 hectares being declared under the Wilderness Act. Seven percent of NSW is now national parks of which one third or 1.6 million hectares are wilderness. This is really something to celebrate.

We are proud that wilderness forms the core of the NSW conservation network, providing efficient protection of wildlife diversity. Conservation theory considers large, less fragmented reserves are better than small ones; having larger, more connected wildlife populations that reduce the risk of extinction and possess greater resilience to disturbances like fire. Wilderness can be defined as the last substantial and most ecologically complete remnants of the natural environment and provides us with the best chance to put this theory into effect.

Over the last year the Colong Foundation has made detailed representations on planning issues such as a local environmental plan and a proposed sand mine adjoining the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. It has also made representations on plans for public reserve consolidation, regulation of mining in state conservation areas, water catchment protection, World Heritage Areas, park management, feral horse management and wild dog management. It has also contributed to NPWS recreation planning framework strategies and made submissions to several bushfire inquiries.

Then there are even more ticklish matters, such as the Aboriginal ownership of national parks that require careful consultation. Biologist Tim Flannery’s claim that parks like Royal National Park are marsupial ghost towns also demanded a response. What Flannery did not mention is that Royal National Park is one of the top three places on the planet for plant variety per hectare. One of the oldest national parks also has the greatest bird diversity of any area in Australia. Few national parks in Australia are like Royal, which is a 19th century national park, heavily developed and with too much vehicle access. Modern national parks are less developed and designed to protect nature.

By far the most enjoyable task this year was to assist the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife with its successful fund-raising appeal for the 13,000 hectare Green Gully Wilderness just east of Walcha. A photographic portfolio for the campaign has been compiled, and it was also a great pleasure for the Foundation to conduct a site inspection and bushwalk of the property for the Directors of FNPW. We are looking forward to working closely with the Foundation in the future.

The Colong Foundation for Wilderness has spent some considerable time this year on a book presenting the story of sixty years of campaigning for the preservation of the Blue Mountains that culminated in their World Heritage listing. The book is an investment in future generations, who, we hope, will be inspired by the tale and Henry Gold’s stunning images.

The challenge of protecting Australia’s wilderness and the realisation of a comprehensive system of national parks with protected wilderness areas is a continuing course for the Colong Foundation.

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