Review of State Conservation Areas Report of the first five-year review of State Conservation Areas under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 November 2008 Cover photos (clockwise from left): Trial Bay Goal, Arakoon SCA (DECC); Glenrock SCA (B. Peters, DECC); Banksia, Bent Basin SCA (M. Lauder, DECC); Glenrock SCA (B. Peters, DECC). © Copyright State of NSW and Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW. The Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW and State of NSW are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced for educational or non-commercial purposes in whole or in part, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. Specific permission is required for the reproduction of photographs. Published by: Department of Environment and Climate Change 59–61 Goulburn Street PO Box A290 Sydney South 1232 Ph: (02) 9995 5000 (switchboard) Ph: 131 555 (environment information and publications requests) Ph: 1300 361 967 (national parks information and publications requests) Fax: (02) 9995 5999 TTY: (02) 9211 4723 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978-1-74122-981-3 DECC 2008/516 November 2008 Printed on recycled paper Contents Minister’s Foreword iii Part 1 – State Conservations Areas 1 State Conservation Areas 4 Exploration and mining in NSW 6 History and current trends 6 Titles 7 Assessments 7 Compliance and rehabilitation 8 Renewals 8 Exploration and mining in State Conservation Areas 9 The five-year review 10 Purpose of the review 10 Terms of reference 10 The review process 10 Summary of the decision-making process for the SCA review 12 Part 2 – Review Findings 13 Review findings 14 Individual SCA review findings 16 Central Coast Region 16 Hunter Region 24 Illawarra Region 54 New England / North West Region 74 North Coast Region 122 Riverina / Murray Region 198 South East Region 208 South West Sydney Region 230 Western NSW Region 242 Western Sydney Region 266 Appendix A Exploration and mining titles 270 Appendix B Mineral groups 272 Index of State Conservation Areas 273 Minister’s foreword State conservation areas (SCAs) form an important reserve category in the State’s national parks network. These areas, totalling 619 149 ha or 9.3% of the total national parks system, protect natural and cultural heritage values and provide recreational opportunities. Unlike national parks and other reserves, SCAs also allow for exploration and mining to occur. This enables land that is important for its mineral values, but which also has significant natural and cultural heritage values, to be reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 and managed for conservation, public appreciation and enjoyment, without unnecessarily restricting mining and exploration activity. Mining is an important industry in NSW. It is vital for many of the goods and services that are essential to maintaining our lifestyle, and it brings significant social and economic benefits to rural and regional NSW. To protect our environment, exploration and mining activities are carefully managed across the State, regardless of land tenure. Exploration and mining proposals are subject to strict environmental assessment laws to mitigate their impacts on the natural and cultural environment. Once mining has ceased in an area, requirements for environmental rehabilitation are strictly enforced. The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and the NSW Department of Primary Industries work closely and cooperatively to ensure that any exploration or mining activities proposed in SCAs are subject to rigorous environmental impact assessment, while also allowing the mining industry to have the access it needs to carry out its business. Land that is initially reserved as an SCA may not always be required for exploration and mining. Exploration might reveal that the land, or part of it, does not hold the type or extent of mineral value anticipated. Or, mining might exhaust the resources. In these situations, the SCA category may no longer be required. The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 requires the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment to review the status of land within SCAs every five years and give reasons as to why that land should or should not be reserved as a national park or nature reserve. SCAs can be reserved as national parks or nature reserves by the publication of an order in the NSW Government Gazette if there are no exploration or mining titles that apply to them, and with the concurrence of the Minister for Primary Industries. Under the terms of the review, if there is no longer a reason to provide for exploration and mining in an SCA, then the land should be reserved as a national park or nature reserve and managed primarily for conservation and for public enjoyment and appreciation. I am pleased to present the findings of the first review, which recommends that land within ten SCAs be converted to national park or nature reserve. Carmel Tebbutt MP Minister for Climate Change and the Environment iii PART 1 STATE CONSERVATION AREAS Review of State Conservation Areas 1 State Conservation Areas in NSW 2 Review of State Conservation Areas Review of State Conservation Areas 3 State Conservation Areas The state conservation area (SCA) is a category of reserve under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (the NPW Act). SCAs protect natural and cultural heritage values and provide recreational opportunities. However, unlike other reserves such as national parks and nature reserves, they also provide for other uses including mineral exploration and mining, and petroleum exploration and production. SCA is the only reserve category that allows for exploration and mining. Because SCAs provide for these dual uses, they form an important category in the public reserve system. SCAs provide an opportunity for lands to be included in the national parks system that, because of their mineral interests, might otherwise not have been available for active conservation management and public appreciation and enjoyment. SCAs were introduced as a reserve category under the NPW Act in 2002. This amendment also changed all existing state recreation areas (SRAs) to SCAs. SRAs allowed for mining and mineral exploration, yet many were established for recreation purposes only and have no mineral values. A new class of reserve, called a community conservation area (CCA), was also created in 2005. A CCA is divided into four zones, with zone 3 being the equivalent of an SCA. CCAs are therefore included in this review. Of the 127 reserves that are considered to be SCAs for the purposes of this review, 19 are classified as CCA Zone 3 SCAs. The intention of the SCA category is to reserve lands ‘only where conservation values and mineral values do not allow for reservation under any other reserve category, such as national park or nature reserve’ (Minister for the Environment, Second Reading Speech, December 2001). As at 2 October 2007, there were 127 SCAs (including parts of the Brigalow and Nandewar CCA that are zoned 3), covering about 619 149 ha, or 9.3% of the public reserve network in NSW. They protect natural and cultural heritage values in landscapes ranging from coastal scrub and rainforest to rangelands, and may include habitat for threatened species or significant Aboriginal sites. Of all the reserve categories under the NPW Act, SCAs are making up an increasingly higher proportion of new reservations: over 100 of the SCAs have been created after the category was introduced in October 2002. These new reserves are often additions to existing reserves and may have been previously State forests, Crown land or private land. Many SCAs were created as a result of the NSW Government’s regional forest agreements which, among other things, identified high conservation value forests. These agreements were based on the findings of comprehensive regional assessments. Each reservation of an SCA follows the finding by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) that the area’s mineral values warrant its reservation as a dual-purpose reserve. 4 Review of State Conservation Areas Of the 127 SCAs reviewed, 99 have exploration and/or mining titles applying to them and are therefore prevented from being reserved as national parks or nature reserves under the SCA provisions of the NPW Act. It is anticipated that the number of SCAs to be reserved as national parks or nature reserves will initially be low and then increase over time as more SCAs are explored, information is improved and further reviews are conducted. Some reserves, including SCAs and other reserves under the NPW Act, have a depth restriction, which means that the land is reserved only to a certain depth, as specified in the NSW Government Gazette. Any exploration and mining activity below that depth would not be subject to the NPW Act, but would be subject to other relevant environmental legislation. Review of State Conservation Areas 5 Exploration and mining in NSW History and current trends Exploration and mining in NSW have a long history, starting with the discovery of coal in Newcastle in the late 1700s, gold in the Central West in the mid 1800s, and silver in Broken Hill in the late 1800s. Many regional areas were developed following mineral discoveries and the subsequent building of mines and communities. Mining continues to provide important investment and employment opportunities in regional NSW, including Broken Hill, Cobar, Wollongong, Orange, Parkes, West Wyalong, the Hunter Valley and New England. Demand for mineral and energy commodities tends to fluctuate in boom and bust cycles. In the past, this has resulted in intermittent periods of high levels of exploration, yet much of NSW has been subject to only cursory investigation of mineral or energy resource potential. Advances in technology and improved knowledge of the State’s geology are now making the discovery of mineral and energy deposits possible in areas previously thought to have no potential.