Blue Mountains Conservation Society

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Blue Mountains Conservation Society
Blue Mountains Conservation Society Inc.
AbbreviationBMCS
Formation1961
Founded at Katoomba NSW
Merger ofUpper Blue Mountains Conservation Society and Lower Blue Mountains Conservation Society (1996)
Type NGO
Legal statusCharity
PurposeProtect, conserve, and advocate for the natural environment of the Greater Blue Mountains
Location
Coordinates 33°43′13″S150°21′46″E / 33.7202°S 150.3627°E / -33.7202; 150.3627 (Conservation Hut (Wentworth Falls))
Region served
Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area and adjoining State Conservation Areas and State Forests
Membership
>900 (in 2021)
Main organ
Management committee
Website https://www.bluemountains.org.au

The Blue Mountains Conservation Society is an incorporated non-governmental organisation working to protect, conserve, and advocate for the natural environment of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area in New South Wales, Australia. [1] Its work includes the listing and protection of threatened species, populations and ecological communities of the Greater Blue Mountains and campaigns regarding climate change. [2]

Contents

The society operates from an office in the Conservation Hut at Wentworth Falls, which belongs to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. [3] It is governed by a management committee and has a number of sub-committees, including for the topics of environmental education, land use, national parks and world heritage areas, and events. [4]

History

Split societies

In 1961, the Katoomba and District Fauna and Flora Protection Society was established with Frank Walford as patron and Fred Astle as president. The name was changed again in 1962 to Katoomba and District Wildlife Conservation Society. In July 1963, the society moved into a renovated tea room built in 1930, owned by Blue Mountains City Council and called Conservation Hut. The hut was demolished in 1990. In June 1970, the first edition of the newsletter, Newsletter No. 1, was published. In the same year, teacher and conservationist Allen Axel Strom became patron of the society. In 1983, the society changed its name to Upper Blue Mountains Conservation Society.

In 1966, the Lower Blue Mountains Wildlife Conservation Society was formed with H.L. (Lindsay) Paish as president. In 1967, publishing of the first edition of the newsletter, known as "Kalori", an Aboriginal word meaning "message stick". [5]

United society

In 1996, the Lower and Upper Blue Mountains Societies merged to become Blue Mountains Conservation Society Inc.

Activities and campaigns

The society generally serves the Greater Blue Mountains area, but has also been involved in national campaigns such as Save The Franklin, Daintree and Myall Lakes, and has participated in Nature Conservation Council initiatives. Local activities of the individual societies and later the Blue Mountains Conservation Society have included education of the public, campaigning for the protection of natural areas, bush walking, bush care, propagation and study of native plants, and bush walking track restoration. [6]

Campaigns

Kanangra Walls in Kanangra-Boyd National Park, 2002 Kanangra Walls 2002.jpg
Kanangra Walls in Kanangra-Boyd National Park, 2002

Since the declaration of a climate emergency by Blue Mountains City Council in 2019, [13] the society has been calling on the public to urge council to take up the Ready for Renewables Council Challenge, which would see council to cut gas from council-owned buildings and infrastructure, reject new gas connections in the local government area and request planning scheme amendments by the state. [14] [15] A campaign in opposition to the raising of the dam wall of Warragamba Dam, being conducted together with the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, is still ongoing as of 2022. Raising of the dam wall would fragment and degrade two World Heritage listed Wilderness areas and destroy Aboriginal cultural heritage sites of the Gundungurra people, beyond those already inundated by the original construction. [14] [16] [17]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "About Us". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Climate Change". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Conservation Hut". NSW National Park and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  4. ↑ "Conservation Subcommittees". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "Kalori Magazine". Friends of the SA School of Art. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Hut News October 2021" (PDF). Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Timeline". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "Kanagra-Boyd National Park Plan of Management" (PDF). NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Greater Blue Mountains Area". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "The stunning recovery of a heavily polluted river in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area". Western Sydney University. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  11. ↑ "Collapse at Clarence Colliery at Lithgow 'equivalent to giant oil spill'". ABC News. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "PROTECT THE WOLLANGAMBE". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "Action on Climate Change". Blue Mountains City Council. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  14. 1 2 "Campaigns". Blue Mountains Conservation Society. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  15. ↑ "Ready for Renewables Council Challenge". Lock The Gate. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  16. ↑ "Warragamba dam wall plan 'would flood 50 Aboriginal heritage sites'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  17. ↑ "Mud and dead trees". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
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