Lake Burragorang - imagine it 14 metres higher! (Nakia Belmer)
Then add your name to our database
COVID-19. Society activities have recommenced. NSW Government Guidelines are being observed.
☆ Penrith Lakes Helipad
☆ Gardens of Stone SCA announced
☆ Don't Raise Warragamba Dam
☆ Katoomba Airfield Lease Refused
☆ No Zoo/Hotel at Bodington Hill
☆ The Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan
☆ Climate Action Now
☆ Coal exploration licences adjoining GBMWHA
☆ Strategic Plan for BMCC Cemeteries
See more on our Campaigns, Submissions and Events webpages.
Saturday 4 December 2021
Gazette ad 24 NovemberWe asked the candidates questions on Blue Mountains environmental issues. We also asked them what they intended to do for the environment if elected.
You will find their answers on our 2021 Council Election webpage.
Our Gazette article on the absence of responses from one major party.
Make your vote count! - an article on optional preferential voting.
Pre-poll voting opened on Monday 22 November.
There are pre-poll booths in Katoomba, Springwood and Blaxland. They're open from 9am until 5pm Monday to Saturday. They are all multi-ward booths. They all have wheelchair access.
- Blue Mountains Region Returning Officer's Office (next to the old library)
81-83 Katoomba St, Katoomba - Springwood Theatre and Community Hub
106-108 Macquarie Rd, Springwood - Blaxland Seniors and Community Centre
33 Hope St, Blaxland
Broad-leaved Geebung (Persoonia levis) (Alan Page)Submissions close Friday 3 December
Sydney Helicopters (courtesy of NSW DPIE)The Helipad is to be built alongside a new film production precinct, golf course and tourist accommodation as part of the development of Penrith Lakes and would allow Sydney Helicopters to offer joy flights as well as film and photography services.
Very little is known about the broader impact of the development as the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is focused on the immediate surrounds of the development, rather than the areas being flown over.
What we know:
- Helicopter joy flights
- 25 flights per day
- Flights from first light until 10pm
- Unpublished flights paths
- Part of tourism development
This is separate to the Katoomba Airfield campaign and will potentially have a devastating impact on the peace and tranquility of the Mountains.
Main concern:
- Helicopters flying over the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Grose, Jamison and Kedumba Valleys at risk, as well as Kanangra-Boyd and Wollemi.
- No Community Consultation with residents of the Blue Mountains
- National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW (NPWS) has not been consulted
- Biodiversity impact has not been assessed for flying zones
- Migratory bird impact has not been assessed for flying zones
www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/daex/exhibition/helipad-penrith-lakes
Lost City (Henry Gold))The decision transfers into the national park estate the 31,500 hectare Newnes, Ben Bullen and Wolgan state forests, an area of spectacular pagoda landscapes, cliffs, waterfalls, woodlands and flowering swamps.
The Society acknowledges this as Aboriginal land, Wiradjuri country. and pays respects to the traditional custodians of this land.
This has been a long journey going back to Myles Dunphy’s vision for the Greater Blue Mountains. The name, “Gardens of Stone”, was first used by renowned environmentalist, Haydn Washington.
The Society has been involved in the campaign for over twenty years. The Gardens of Stone Alliance, made up of founding members Colong Foundation for Wilderness, Lithgow Environment Group and Blue Mountains Conservation Society, has been the organising force of the campaign since 2006.
Here's the NSW Government's media release.
Gardens of Stone Rally in 2017 (Henry Gold)
We would like to recognise some key Society members: Brian Marshall, Ian Brown, Karen McLaughlin, Peter Green, Janine Kitson, Yuri Bolotin, Joel Robinson, Thomas Ebersoll, Tara Cameron and Madi Maclean.
And our Gardens of Stone Alliance partners: Keith Muir of Colong Foundation; Julie Favell, Chris Jonkers and Richard Stiles from Lithgow Environment Group.
We acknowledge the long-term support of National Parks Association and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, now an Alliance member.
We would like to thank the parliamentarians who drove this proposal:
- Environment Minister, Matt Kean, for getting it over the line;
- Trish Doyle, our local member, for her long term support and for ensuring the Labor Party added protection of the Gardens of Stone into its platform at the last state election;
- Cate Faehrmann, Greens MLC
- Catherine Cusack, Liberal MLC.
Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area
Madi Maclean, Julie Favell, Chris Jonkers and Keith Muir
(photo courtesy of Dean Sewell/The Guardian)
In 2012 the Planning Assessment Commission for the Coalpac open cut mine recognised that: “the highest and best use of the area is for conservation purposes”. Nearly ten years later we’ve got there!
The next step is the establishment of the new SCA which brings with it professional park management of the area and consultation on the proposals.
The Society looks forward to the establishment of what will be an exciting new conservation area for the Greater Blue Mountains centred on Lithgow.
The Society will continue its work protecting and defending our natural environment with your support.
Dam March June 2019 (Alan Page)
If the dam wall is raised, 4,700 hectares of World Heritage listed National Parks and 1,800 hectares of declared Wilderness Areas will be forever scarred from sedimentation, erosion and invasion of exotic plants.
Raising Warragamba Dam will inundate 65 kilometres of Blue Mountain's wild rivers.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released on 29 September 2021.
Getting involved
The campaigner helping with the Warragamba EIS submissions is Rachel Hall - rachmalu@protonmail.com
She urgently needs helpers to help run the stalls on Saturdays in Springwood, Katoomba and Lawson.
We also have kits of hard copy submission guides with reply paid envelopes ready for collection at Paddy Pallin in Katoomba i.e. you grab it and can run your own submission picnic/stall/gathering. Please liaise with Rachel if you could do this.
Here's how to make a submission.
Here's more information about the NSW Government's proposal to raise the dam wall
The company’s temporary licence to access the site will also be revoked and it will be required to vacate the site within 28 days.
The site will remain open to emergency services.
Here's the NSW Government's announcement.
Here's our Katoomba Airfield Lease webpages.
Society membership card in 1962
(click the image to see a larger one)
Its birth name was the Katoomba and District Fauna and Flora Protection Society. This was changed the next year to the Katoomba and District Wildlife Conservation Society.
Its motto was "wildlife conservation saves for future generations".
In 1983 it changed its name to the Upper Blue Mountains Conservation Society.
The Lower Blue Mountains Conservation Society was born in 1966. Its motto was "conserve, preserve, investigate, educate".
The two societies merged (married) in 1996.
Our Newsletter Editor has compiled a special edition of Hut News to celebrate our birthday. It contains many reminiscences from members, and a time line of events and campaigns.
The time line now has its own webpage - with images and links.
The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements and the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry have concluded. Here are their reports (all documents are around 18MB each) -
- The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report and Appendices
- NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry Report
And here's the Society's submission to the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry.
Our Bushfires webpage (updated in May 2021) contains a detailed analysis of the 2019-20 bushfires and their impact on the Greater Blue Mountains - including maps, an assessment of areas burnt and the loss of wildlife. Information on recovery and What You Can Do is there, plus some articles on firefighting.
The 2020 National Bushfire and Climate Summit brought together hundreds of participants from across the country and the world to share their experiences, and to formulate recommendations to address the worsening risk of devastating bushfires fuelled by climate change.
The Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan is the culmination of that effort.
The Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan provides a broad plan and practical ideas for governments, fire and land management agencies and communities to help us mitigate and adapt to worsening fire conditions.
The plan’s 165 recommendations include many measures that can be implemented right now, to ensure communities are better protected.
The experts agree: We must tackle climate change and worsening extreme weather by urgently phasing out fossil fuels.
The Blue Mountains Conservation Society participated in this summit and endorses this plan.
An ad for the plan appeared in The Australian on 1st August.
- changes you can make -
(click the image to download the flyer)
Government and business action is crucial in addressing climate change, but our personal actions also make a difference.
The Society has prepared a Climate Action Now Flyer that details the changes you can make to -
- reduce energy use
- switch to ethical electricity
- go solar
- consider the impact of how you eat and shop
- consume less and reduce waste
- consider your travel options.
We also encourage you to Raise Your Voice On Climate Change by -
- joining a bush regeneration or Landcare group
- joining the Blue Mountains Conservation Society
- moving money out of fossil fuels
- helping stop more fossil fuel projects
- engaging politically
- communicating and advocate.
We acknowledge Katrina Shields, Zero Emissions Byron, who inspired production of this flyer.
– the Darug and Gundungurra people –
and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.