DEAR News Of The Area,

IN a recent NOTA letters to the editor section, I bemoaned the NSW Labor Government’s apparent commitment to four more years of koala wars over the proposed Great Koala National Park.

In last Tuesday’s budget the NSW Government provided a massive opportunity to avoid that pain.

It announced an investment of $136,457,000 over four years in regional conservation and ecotourism, to establish the Great Koala National Park and a new Rainforest Visitor Centre and Dorrigo Escarpment Walk.

The latter is a four-day, three-night walk through World Heritage rainforest and towering eucalypts.

Some years ago the proposal for the Great Koala National Park recognised the need for an international standard walking track linking an upgraded Rainforest Visitor Centre to the GKNP. These initiatives were included in the Economic impact analysis and environmental benefit assessment for the proposed Great Koala National Park produced by the University of Newcastle in 2021.

The Government’s initiative in the 2023-24 budget to fund these proposals is likely to be the largest investment in regional conservation and ecotourism by any Government in NSW, ever.

So, let’s get on with it!

First of all we need to extend the existing proposal for the Dorrigo escarpment walking track to link to the proposed Great Koala National Park visitor centre at Pine Creek.

We should even consider linking the walk north, along the coastal range, to Sealy’s lookout and then down to link up with the Solitary Islands Coastal walk at Pacific Bay.

Recent intensive logging in Boambee State Forest has compromised a section of the Sealy lookout walking track extension and logging and clear felling proposals threaten the walking track extension to the proposed Pine Creek Visitor centre and to the visitor centre site itself.

All the loss making logging needs to be stopped immediately, and affected timber workers compensated, to prevent undermining of this massive investment in our future.

Our thinking should not only be limited to multi day walking tracks and visitor centres as many other opportunities will also be opened up.

Thinking of establishing shuttle bus connections, perhaps first during school holidays, between these multi-million dollar investments and local accommodation and travel centres would not be a bad start.

Regards,
Ashley LOVE,
Coffs Harbour.