GUARDING THE CLARENCE RIVER

 For many years Clarence River health has been a concern for people living in its very extensive catchment.  Past health threats including plans to divert major flows to the west or the north have been met with very strong community opposition which led to these plans being dropped. 

More recently the threat posed by the uptake of mining leases in the search for critical minerals has alarmed the river’s protectors. The Clarence Catchment Alliance (CCA) has been alerting the community and local councils to how damaging mining pollution of the Clarence would be to the drinking water of over 100,000 urban dwellers as well as important local industries including fishing, agriculture and tourism.  Its recent public meetings in Grafton, Copmanhurst, Drake and Dorrigo were the precursors for a deputation to Sydney several weeks ago.  The CCA, along with many in the local community, want the State Government to ban mineral mining in our catchment and this was the case they took to the State Government.  If the Government fails to act as it should, the campaign will continue.

Clarence River health and the need to protect it in the long term is the focus of another group which has been gathering community support in recent months.  The Clarence River Guardians, launched early this year, has a range of members including representatives from organisations including First Nations people, the CCA, Canegrowers, Clarence Council, environment groups, Landcare, and local High Schools.

The River Guardians have developed a citizen science project in partnership with Southern Cross University.  This project will help establish parameters and scientific information that will assist in protecting and understanding the Clarence and its catchment.

The first part of the project is a baseline study of river sediments where volunteers, in collaboration with First Nations Custodians, will collect 100 or more river sediment samples from key locations across the catchment on October 18-19.  Samples will be analysed for over 50 elements including heavy metals with the data being stored as a community resource. 

For more information or to volunteer, check  https://www.clarenceriverguardians.net

-        Leonie Blain

  Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 27th  August, 2025.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK

 National Parks Association of NSW

Media Release

The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) welcomes the NSW Government’s announcement of the declaration of the Great Koala National Park.

 ‘This is an incredible moment for Australia’s National Parks’, stated NPA NSW President Liz Jeremy, ‘the culmination of more than a decade of determined advocacy for the future of koalas by local communities and conservationists’. 

‘We congratulate the NSW Government on finally making the Great Koala National Park a reality.  The road between NPA’s original 2015 report to the NSW Government and today’s decision has been a long and often frustrating one, but emphatically worth it’. 

Dr Douglas of NPA Coffs Coast Branch, stated ‘What has been achieved is much more than the permanent protection of 176,000 hectares of forest and koala habitat.  NPA’s vision for the Great Koala National Park was always about more than a change of land title, it was about connecting existing reserves with vulnerable habitats to secure a forest estate of international conservation significance.  A forest estate large enough to connect escarpment to coast, safeguard entire catchments and give our threatened forest fauna and flora the best possible chance of survival’.

‘While celebrating the new park we must also acknowledge that it won’t be enough to guarantee the survival of koalas in NSW.  The decade since the 2015 report proposal has provided a much better understanding of the distribution of koalas across existing reserves, State Forests and plantations.  The next step is to identify areas outside the park that will need to be managed in ways that allow for the movement and persistence of koalas’ Ms Jeremy noted. 

Liz Jeremy noted ‘We should all recognise the impact of the decision on the forestry industry and the families who rely upon forestry jobs.  NPA fully supports the Government’s proposed transition package, especially measures to increase investment in the establishment of plantations on degraded agricultural lands’.

NPA acknowledges the support it has gained from other conservation organisations on the north coast including the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association, Bellingen Environment Centre, Clarence Valley Environment Centre, North-east Forest alliance and North Coast Environment Centre.  We also thank the Nature Conservation Council of NSW and World Wide Fund for Nature for their ongoing support.

RICHMOND RIVER KOALA PARKS PROPOSAL

Conservation and community groups are calling for 56,000 hectares of State Forests in the southern Richmond River Valley and along the Richmond Range to be protected.

The aim of this proposal is to:

• Ø   Safeguard a nationally important Koala population, genetically distinct from those in the Great Koala National Park.

• Ø    Protect the habitat of more than 130 threatened species.

• Ø    Improve the health of the Richmond River.

• Ø    Create a regionally significant wildlife corridor linking Bundjalung National Park on the coast to the Border Ranges National Park.

• Ø    Advance NSW’s target of 30% land protection by 2030 in one of Australia’s richest biodiversity hotspots.

As part of the campaign Ballina MP Tamara Smith has arranged an information session about the new national park proposal in the Macquarie Room at Parliament House on Wednesday 17 September from 6-7 pm.   

Speakers will be Dailan Pugh OAM from NEFA and koala expert Dr Steve Phillips.