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On Saturday 24 July the Minister for Local Government (Shelley Hancock, MP) postponed the council elections until Saturday 4 December in response to the state’s coronavirus crisis.

The Society's Council Election webpage will be updated once the NSW Electoral Commission website is updated.

The further postponement of this election will not change the future schedule of council elections, and the subsequent election will still proceed in September 2024.

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Gang Gang Gallery is hosting Exhibition Pagoda, an Australian Heritage Festival Event, celebrating the spectacular pagoda landscape near Lithgow.

Anne Graham’s installation, ‘Gardens of Stone’, will be showcased in the main gallery space, surrounded by an array of photographs of the birds of that country and watercolour works capturing some of its extraordinary landscapes.

Saturday events

The Gang Gang Gallery will host Gardens of Stone events each Saturday set in the gallery space.

Destination Pagoda Website

An update on Destination Pagoda, a visitor plan for a Gardens of Stone state conservation area centred on the town of Lithgow.

Click here to learn more about Destination Pagoda.

The Gardens of Stone Alliance launched the Destination Pagoda plan in 2019.

The Alliance members are Colong Foundation for Wilderness, Blue Mountains Conservation Society, Lithgow Environment Group and the Nature Conservation Council.

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Dr Kellie Leigh, CEO of Science for Wildlife, gave a presentation at the Society's AGM of the plight of koalas in the Blue Mountains. Of special interest was the rescuing of a dozen koalas who were in the path of the bushfires in 2019, and their subsequent release.

The following 20 minute video was part of Dr. Leigh's presentation.

To learn more, provide help or donate go to the Science for Wildlife website.

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Wetlands should not burn, but this one did because it has been undermined by coal mining. They've cracked the bedrock and the water has drained out, and now it is destroyed ... forever.

Recently the Nature Conservation Council teamed up with local Lithgow environmentalists to investigate and document the damage done to areas that have been undermined by Centennial Coal. What we discovered was a disaster zone.

Endangered wetlands have been turned into lifeless, dusty deserts. These areas which were once the life-blood of the forest and supported an incredible diversity of rare wildlife are now barren.

Longwall mining deliberately collapses the ground after the machine extracts the coal. This causes cracks in the bedrock, which drains water from the wetlands. They dry out and become extremely vulnerable to fires, and many of the wetlands of the Newnes Plateau scorched during the 2019/20 bushfires.

Already some wetlands have been lost forever. We seek to protect the remaining wetlands from the same disaster. The re-opening and expansion of Angus Place mine under the remaining wetlands should be rejected. This area of the Newnes Plateau should be protected from mining.

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Katoomba Airfield is still at risk of development into a commercial airfield for heli-charters.

The proposed lease, that was initially rejected, is now being reconsidered.

Go to our new Katoomba Airfield Lease webpages to find out more and what you can do.

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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.

In June and July, the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) hosted Australia’s first virtual bushfire and climate change summit to coordinate a national response to the Australian climate and bushfire crises.

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.

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Australia has the highest emissions per person of any OECD country.

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.

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