Environment
Conservation
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Tourism
From Botany Bay to Illawarra: NSW’s first major multi-day hiking path
NSW will join other states in promoting multi-day walks in popular national parks, with the government tipping in $80 million to ease access to destinations with a growing global profile.
- by Peter Hannam
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Dredging and levees among Warragamba options ignored by NSW government
The options, from building levees to dredging the Hawkesbury-Nepean River or releasing water ahead of big rain events, were detailed in submissions developed in 2014 and 2015 and provided to cabinet, according to internal documents.
- by Peter Hannam
Exclusive
Biodiversity
NSW government gives retrospective nod to land clearing for a fence
The NSW government intervened to downgrade the status of an important wildlife corridor near Jervis Bay four months after a developer had cleared a swath of the forest to put in a new fence.
- by Peter Hannam
Exclusive
Indigenous culture
‘Legacy of trauma’: Warragamba survey downplays cultural risks, opponents say
A survey of Indigenous cultural values likely to be affected by raising the height of the Warragamba Dam wall has been blasted for downplaying the damage the multibillion-dollar plan will cause and for relying on “desktop analysis”.
- by Peter Hannam
First act of reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and Cook recognised
A rocky outcrop near Cooktown where Captain James Cook and Indigenous leaders reached a peaceful settlement over turtles in July 1770 has been added to Queensland’s heritage register.
- by Tony Moore
‘Sea of whales’: First sightings off Australia of huge humpback pods
Humpback whales are being sighted in giant pods on a scale never recorded before off Australia as conservation measures help restore numbers thought to be approaching those of pre-whaling days.
- by Peter Hannam
The fish and bird species at risk from Australia’s failure to manage wetlands
Australia risks breaching its international commitments to preserving critical wetlands, with many fish and bird species facing extinction.
- by Peter Hannam
Exclusive
Biodiversity
‘Real sense of achievement’: The next step to preserve the Wollemi pine
The remarkable efforts to save the famous ‘dinosaur tree’ have now moved to replanting the conifer at two secret locations deep within the Wollemi wilderness.
- by Peter Hannam
Exclusive
Biodiversity
‘Just fantastic’: Wollemi pine replanting effort wins global gong
A secret project to increase the odds of the Wollemi pine surviving in the wild has won international recognition from conservation groups hoping the lessons learnt will help pull other threatened species back from the brink of extinction.
- by Peter Hannam
‘Leave the forests alone’: Swift action needed to save endangered parrots
In Tasmania, the swift parrots’ plight has become emblematic of campaigns against old-growth logging.
- by Miki Perkins
Exclusive
Forestry
‘Black hole’: EPA sought nod to spy on timber plans after being left in the dark
NSW’s environmental watchdog sought funding for a “discrete project” to detect how much logging was taking place on private land after another government agency failed to keep them informed.
- by Peter Hannam