Pilliga and Leard Forest Coal & Coal Seam Gas Tag Along Tours

This is a not for profit tour. It is an activist tour aiming to educate and highlight the dire impacts of coal seam gas mining / coal mining in our country. All profits to Carmel Flints projects.

Hosted by: Mystery Dingo Tours, National Parks Association Armidale, Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC)

fossil free future Tour Dates Fri 19th Sat 20th Sun 21st April 2013 Fri 5th Sat 6th Sun 7th July 2013 Fri 4th Sat 5th Sun 6th Oct 2013

Contact: Muzz 0418 754 869 Email [email protected]

Pat 0428725852 Email [email protected] If time constraints prevent you from participating in all activities then let us know your arrival and departure times. Refuel in Coonabarabran, there is no fuel available in the Pilliga, Baradine fuel closed on weekends.

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected] Day 1: Friday 19th April 2013 Meet at Hot Bore Baths 5pm. Pilliga Hot Bore Baths. Arrive at your leisure and enjoy the hot bore baths. 6.00pm: Dinner in at Pilliga pub or self cater. 7.30pm: Flix in the Stix: Movie shown in the camp or pub.

Accommodation- Free Camping at Hot Bore baths. BYO camp gear or book a room at Pilliga Pub 2 family rooms available breakfast included

Type Price 1 person $45.00 2 people $50.50 3 people $65.50 4 people $75.50 5 people $85.50 http://www.visitnarrabri.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1085&page_name=Pilliga%20Pub http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/warrumbungle-area/surrounds/accommodation/baradine-hotel accommodation for those who get to Barradine late on Friday- book this yourself. Double $55-60, Family $70, Single $40, Twin $50-55. Breakfast included. 23 Wellington Street, Baradine NSW 2396 02 6483 1606

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected] Day 2: Saturday 20th April 2013 Breakfast at the Pilliga Pub, Barradine Hotel or self cater.

Bring packed lunch, snacks, drinks, water, hat & sunscreen. Refuel in Coonabarabran, there is no fuel available in the Pilliga, Baradine fuel closed 12md.

9.00am: Leave Pilliga, journey to Baradine, 73km 55 minutes travel time. People joining the tour on Saturday at Barradine and those who stayed at Pilliga meet at The Forest Discovery Centre Barradine 10.00 am.

Visit Pilliga Forest Discovery Centre Baradine, see the history of the Pilliga, and wonderful displays. Learn about the significance of the area, Talk by a Park Ranger.

Visit the Baradine Local Aboriginal Land Council. The Land Council showcases an array of local artifacts. It has significant collections of battle axes, grinding stones, emu callers, rain sticks, coolamon, clapsticks, didgeridoos, boomerangs and artworks. Leave Barradine 11.30AM, travel 33 km on unsealed road 50 minutes to Dandry Gorge

12.30pm Lunch at sculptures in the scrub @ Dandry Gorge located in the Pilliga Forest. The Sculptures in the Scrub are the most recent addition to Pilliga Forest’s landscape. These amazing artworks are made from bronze, stone and stainless steel, with the largest creation standing up to 3.5 metres tall. The sculptures were developed by Australian artists Brett Garling, Col Henry and Ken Hutchinson and Aboriginal artist Badger Bates, and were funded by Gawambaraay Pilliga Co-management Committee.

The sculptures were developed by Australian artists Brett Garling, Col Henry and Ken Hutchinson and Aboriginal artist Badger Bates, and were funded by Gawambaraay Pilliga http://www.simonluckhurst.com/sculptures.php

3pm Leave for the Sandstone Caves leave Dandry Gorge 90km 1 ¼ hr travel time. The Sandstone Caves are a special place for the Gamilaraay people

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected] We may be driving up too 320km by the end of the day!!

Pilliga Pottery: Food- self cater for all or some of your food, or eat at the Pilliga Pottery Blue Wren Café. Some prices- cooked breakfast $10-$16, Packed lunch $8-10. Dinner set menu $20. Cafe sells cappuccino, bread rolls, snacks, meals. For winter tours be prepared for cold frosty mornings Please pack warm clothing /cool clothing / wet weather gear. Accommodation - Bed in shared room $30/person/night, or camp $8.

We will book for the whole group To see how lovely it is http://www.pilligapottery.com.au/accommodation-farm-stay-bed-and-breakfast.html

7.30pm - Meet at Pilliga Pottery Blue Wren Café for dinner- all you can eat wood fired pizza ::: delicious!!.

For those self catering join us in the dining room after your dinner. Presentation on the Pilliga and coal seam gas.

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected] Day 3: Sunday 21st April 2013

7.00am: Blue Wren Café Cooked Breaakfastr $10- 16 or self cater. Packed lunch $8-10 or self cater Depart 8.00am. Bring packed lunch, snacks, drinks, water, hat & sunscreen. Distance today: 170.7km Time: 2hr 24min (approx) excluding Tony and Muzz’s tours leave Pilliga Pottery approx 80km 1-1 ¼ hr travel time. Travel to gas fields at Bohemia Creek near Narrabri 3 hrs including lunch. 9.30am: Visit the gas field with local farmer Tony Pickard : tour of the coal seam gas: visit rehabilitation areas of the coal seam gas well sites; site of serious spills; gas pipeline; pilot production wells; discussion on poorly remediated, previously unlined produced water ponds, contaminations, water treatment plant, evaporation ponds. The Santos proposed leasehold in the Gunnedah Basin includes plans for 50 well sets in the Pilliga section of the leasehold over the next 3 years. Santos are to reassess the reserves claimed by Eastern Star Mining in PL238 Lunch and discussion in Pilliga Forest.

Tour of Leard Forest, Views of the Whitehaven Coal Mine with Muz.

Tour ends at the FLAC protest camp , afternoon tea at FLAC camp. Those who wish to stay at the camp are welcome, self cater food and camping gear.

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected]

Leard Forest Leard Forest is the single largest remnant of native vegetation in the heavily-cleared Liverpool Plains. The Forest is an 8000 HA biodiversity hotspot recently identified as a Tier 1 Biodiversity Area by the NSW Government in the draft New England-North West Strategic Regional Land Use Plan (SRLUP). The SRLUP states that Tier 1 areas ‘cannot sustain any further loss’ and are ‘critical to biodiversity persistence’. It is one of the largest and most intact stands of Box-Gum left in Australia, with over 100 hollows per hectare recorded. Hollows are required by many Australian animals for nesting and roosting. The 3 mines will cumulatively clear at least 5,000 hectares of forest and farmland, including 2/3 of Leard forest.

Leard State Forest contains over 1,500 hectares of Box Gum Woodland which is listed nationally as a critically endangered ecological community by the EPBC Act. Adjoining farmers are not allowed to clear Box-Gum woodland of this quality under the Native Vegetation Act 2003 but mines are exempt. Purchase of farmland with small, disturbed patches of remnant vegetation is being used to offset the impacts to the Leard Forest, but they do not match it on size, configuration or vegetation types and condition.

Leard Forest has 34 threatened and vulnerable bird, animal, plant and reptile species. Critically endangered species- White Box Woodland • Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat; • Greater Long- eared Bat; • Grey-crowned Babbler; • Glossy Black Cockatoo. • Turquoise Parrot; • Grey Falcon; • Black Hooded Robin;

The vulnerable and endangered species in Leard Forest: White Box woodland, Bush pea, Spotted quoll, Koala, Squirrel glider, Striped squirrel glider, Sloan’s froglet, Border thick tailed gecko, Yellow- bellied Sheathtailed bat, Greater long-eared bat, Eastern cave bat, Eastern bent wing bat, Little pied bat, Turquoise parrot, Red- rumped parrot, Square tailed kite, Glossy black cockatoo, Brown tree creeper, Speckled warbler, Hooded robin, Grey crowned warbler, Grey Falcon, Little lorikeet, Varied sittella, White- brown swallow, Barking owl, Black necked stork, Diamond firetail, Pied honeyeater, Painted honeyeater, Black chinned honeyeater, Swift parrot, Regent honeyeater, Spotted harrier,

The forest is of significance for its biological values. It contains Brigalow and White Box - Yellow Box - Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland. Leard Forest has aproximately 395 species including tall old trees with hollows, a wide variety of flowering trees and shrubs, which are food for birds and insects, the understory and the grasses, mosses and fungi.

The current rehabilitation consists of planting 4 species of trees on land which had been significantly altered by open cut mining.

The 13 million tonnes of coal per year from these coal mines will contribute to dangerous climate change. Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected]

This is also the southern recharge area for the Great Artesian Basin. The risk to the Great artesian Basin is unacceptable.

Plans for three large open cut coal mines to commence and for the expansion of current operations in Leard State Forest: Boggabri Coal plan to expand their open cut mine to be approximately 5km wide and 5km long, clearing 1,900 hectares of native vegetation. Operated by Idemitsu. The Maules Creek proposal involves an open cut coal mine about the size of Boggabri, clearing a further 1,500 hectares, digging pits 320 metres deep and selling 10.8 million tonnes of coal every year for over 30 years. Proposed by Aston Resources. Tarrawonga plans to increase open cut disturbance area by three times to expand into Leard State Forest and completely adjoin the Boggabri open cut pit. The mine will increase from eight to 23 years and Goonbri Creek will be moved. Operated as a joint venture between Whitehaven (70%) and Idemitsu (30%). All of these extensions are proposed within the Leard State Forest.

Tour hosted by- Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas, National Parks Association (Armidale), Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC),

Mystery Dingo Tours Contact Muzz: 0418 754 869. Email: [email protected]