The National Parks and Wildife Service has apparently passed over the environmental concerns of more than 1,700 objectors to the glamping proposals by Wild Bush Luxury Experience. The NPWS also pre-empted the environmental assessment processes by claiming these lease proposals are of low impact. Meanwhile other facilites, like the Lost City Walk, have apparently removed threatened plants, and the environmental assessments for such facilities have not been published, as promised. Given this trend, its time to elevate these concerns.
Send an urgent email to Premier Chris Minns requesting effective regulation and accountability for proposed visitor facilities in our national parks and reserves. Copy the points below, rework these suggestions into your own words, and when you've finished copy it to Premier Chris Minns using the link below. Remember to ask questions, as doing so obliges a response.
Further information on the need for more effective development control in the Gardens of Stone SCA to help you write your letter.
The Hon. Chris Minns, MP
Premier of New South Wales
GPO Box 5341
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Dear Premier Minns,
Development control for visitor facilities in protected areas
Please ensure proposed visitor facilities within national parks and reserves are advertised, and subject to adequate environmental assessment, public comment and review processes.
I make this request in the knowledge that a walking track at Lost City, in the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area, was constructed through a population of threatened plants. Unless more effective regulatory action is taken at this reserve, other developments, like Forest Camp and proposed bike tracks, are likely to cause needless harm through removal of threatened plants and damage to geodiversity.
Under no circumstances should commercial accommodation be developed among pagoda landscapes in the Gardens of Stone for the same reason that adventure tourism was rejected at Lost City for blighting the scenery.
I am disappointed that the NPWS claims the proposed private developments in the Gardens of Stone have low impact before environmental assessments are complete. Published details of the proposed lease sites indicate sensitive pagoda landscapes, when the NPWS reported that these accommodation proposals are not in such sites.
Will you also ensure compensation is provided for loss of endangered species already caused by building facilities in the Gardens of Stone SCA? Such payments provide the administration with an incentive to stop the damage in our precious national parks and reserves.
Your assistance in protecting our national parks and reserves through improved development control would be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Your name
Address
Please send a copy of your e-letter to
The Hon. Penny Sharpe, MLC, Minister for the Environment