43 3 Eastern grey kangaroos, Bournda National Park. A Brown The management of natural and cultural heritage values across the state, incorporating: conservation incentives, education and advice regulation and enforcement the nurture and rehabilitation of the natural and cultural heritage landscape, including protected areas and beyond the establishment of appropriate reserves the ecologically sustainable use of protected areas. 44 Conservation management Conservation management is undertaken by the NPWS and by many other organisations and communities. It is done not only on NPWS managed lands, but right across New South Wales. This chapter is about conservation management in its N Graham/NPWS broadest sense and includes activities through which the NPWS is contributing to the achievement of NSW Biodiversity Strategy objectives. Working with Aboriginal communities The NPWS works with Aboriginal communities to achieve the protection of natural and cultural heritage through mechanisms that also deliver social and economic benefits. In the north of the state, the NPWS continued to consult with the Bundjalung and Githabul communities in order to improve NPWS management of areas and ensure its sensitivity to cultural issues. Steering groups have been formed for Mount Warning (Wollumbin) and Bundjalung national parks which will focus on developing NPWS Fire Management Officer Martin O’Connell and co-management agreements for these two parks. This process is important in Arakwal Community elders Auntie Linda Vidler and promoting the cultural significance of parks and reserves in the area. Auntie Lorna Kelly discuss the fire management plan for As part of its program for improvements for the lower Snowy River corridor the Arakwal National Park. NPWS consulted with local Aboriginal communities. The lower Snowy River has hundreds of identified Aboriginal sites and is a significant Aboriginal landscape. A field inspection with Aboriginal community representatives looked at ways to interpret the area as a cultural landscape. Aboriginal representatives came from East Gippsland in Victoria, the South Coast and as far away as Melbourne. During the year the NPWS began a project funded by the Department of Land and Water Conservation into the effects of salinity on Aboriginal heritage in New South Wales. Further details of this initiative are provided in the chapter on Capacity Building. When completed the project’s results will be integrated into key land-use planning mechanisms. A detailed case study was completed during the year in the Wellington local government area in the central west of New South Wales. Joint management of national parks Arakwal Indigenous Land Use Agreement The National Native Title Tribunal registered the Arakwal Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) on 28 August 2001. The agreement is the result of seven years of consultations between the Arakwal People and the NSW government through the NPWS and the Department of Land and Water Conservation, a range of community groups and the Byron Shire Council. Arakwal National Park is the first national park to be created under the Commonwealth’s Native Title Act 1993 and was gazetted on 26 October 2001. A celebration was held at Cape Byron Headland Reserve Trust in October, attended by Arakwal Elders, the NSW Premier and the Minister for the Environment. Arakwal National Park will be jointly managed by the Arakwal People and the NPWS. The Arakwal National Park Management Committee has been established with three Arakwal people, three NPWS staff and a Byron Shire Councillor on it. Arakwal people have been involved in the development of fire, pest and communications plans for the park and have been employed in the positions of ranger, field officer and trainee field officers for the park. The possibility of developing other Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) in northern New South Wales is being investigated on a whole-of-government basis. Kinchega National Park Located 120 kilometres east of Broken Hill, Kinchega National Park is critically important for Aboriginal culture and heritage, containing occupation sites and burials in excess of 13,000 years BP. In recent years the NPWS has tried to involve the local Aboriginal community in the management of Aboriginal sites and heritage in the Menindee area (in particular Kinchega National Park), however a number of elders have expressed concern about an ad-hoc relationship. 45 2001 2002 Annual report Through the Menindee Local Aboriginal Land Council, a Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council involving Barkindji and Corporate performance target Ngyiampaa Elders was formed to negotiate an agreement Increase in the number of agreements in place with Aboriginal with the NPWS for the cooperative management of Kinchega communities for the management or use of protected areas National Park. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been established as a result of those negotiations. It Agreements in place formalises procedures in which those Menindee Aboriginal 22 elders who have traditional and/or contemporary ties to 20 20 Kinchega National Park can have meaningful involvement in 20 17 the management of the park. 18 16 15 15 15 In the MOU the NPWS agrees to consult with and assist the 13 Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council in the protection, 14 management and/or interpretation of Aboriginal cultural sites 12 within Kinchega National Park and the Menindee area. The 10 9 NPWS also agrees to consult with and assist the Menindee 8 Aboriginal Elders Council to participate in the general 6 management of Kinchega National Park. 4 2 Mungo National Park Joint Management Agreement 0 Mungo National Park is wholly contained within the Willandra Sep 00 Dec 00 Mar 01 Jun 01 Sep 01 Dec 01 Mar 02 Jun 02 Lakes Region World Heritage Area. Management of this area is directed by a comprehensive plan of management which was prepared after an extensive community consultation process to identify all the tribal groups who occupied traditional lands in the World Heritage Area. Three tribal groups, Barkindji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngyiampaa are currently working effectively in the management of the World Heritage Area, having formed the Three Tribal Groups’ Elders Council. Rather than divide the World Heritage Area up on a tribal basis the Elders Council developed a concept of ‘shared heritage’ and agreed that management decisions inside the area’s boundary were the business of all three tribes. Mungo National Park is a Schedule 14 park, i.e. it is nominated for joint management under the Aboriginal Ownership Amendment Act 1996 No. 142, the care, control and management of which is vested in a board of management. The Aboriginal community has decided not to pursue full joint management for Mungo National Park as allowed for in the Act. The NPWS respects this decision but still wishes to encourage constructive input into the management of the park by the traditional owners. To formalise this involvement and in lieu of full handback, in early 2000 the Members of the first Joint Management Advisory NPWS began discussions with the elders and other Aboriginal community members Committee for Mungo National Park, the majority of about options for co-management of whom are elders from the Barkindji, Mutthi Mutthi or Mungo National Park. These options Ngyiampaa tribes. included the establishment of an advisory committee comprising a majority of Three Tribal Groups’ Elders. This concept was the basis for S Millington/NPWS negotiations of the Joint Management Agreement (JMA). Consultation and involvement by stakeholders was always paramount in the preparation of the JMA. Several drafts were produced with a final copy being ratified by the Three Tribal Groups’ Elders Council on 24 March 2001, and implemented as a pilot from July 2001. This JMA encourages and provides the elders with extensive input into the management of the park. The JMA is evidence of the good faith of the parties to work together in the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation. Implementation will be reviewed after 18 months. 46 Conservation management Negotiations for lease back arrangements Advisory committees/management trusts with Aboriginal representation Discussions about the return and lease back of lands under Part 4A of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 80% 71% continued throughout the year for Biamanga and Gulaga 70% 63% national parks, Mt Grenfell Historic Site, Stockton Bight and Warrell Creek. 60% 54% During the year the Office of the Registrar, Aboriginal 50% 44% Land Rights Act 1983 registered a number of Aboriginal 37% owners for Biamanga and Gulaga national parks and Mt 40% 31% Grenfell Historic Site. This is a key step in negotiating the 28% 30% 23% return of lands to a local Aboriginal land council to hold on behalf of the Aboriginal owners and the lease back of those 20% lands to the NPWS. 10% For parks in the Far South Coast, including Biamanga and Gulaga national parks the NPWS continued to release the 0% Sep 00 Dec 00 Mar 01 Jun 01 Sep 01 Dec 01 Mar 02 Jun 02 newsletter Coastal Custodians, a specialist Aboriginal newsletter designed to increase awareness and participation of Aboriginal people in the NPWS estate. Total Aboriginal membership on advisory committees/management trusts At Warrell Creek discussions are continuing between the 35% NPWS and the Nambucca and Unkya local Aboriginal land 31% councils to develop an agreement to return claimed land 30% and establish part of the area as a nature reserve to be leased back to the NPWS. 25% 22% 21% At Stockton Bight discussions continued regarding the 20% implementation of the agreement between the NSW 15% government and the Worimi Aboriginal Land Council for the 15% creation of a new national park, a new state recreational 11% area and a regional park. Under the agreement following the 9% 8% 10% 7% negotiation of a lease the reserves will be owned by the Aboriginal community, leased back to the NPWS, and jointly 5% managed through a board of management established under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.