Gould's Long-eared Bat - (T. Reardon)
Then add your name to our database
(image: Peter Smith)
(image: ACF)
(image: Andrzej Kostrzewa)
The September 2023 edition of Hut News is now available for downloading.
Regent Honeyeater (Peter Smith)
- Feral horse control in Kosciuszko National Park
- Stop Coal Seam Gas RALLY
- Native Plant Nursery reopens
- President's Report (Annette Cam)
- The Big Tree (Susanne Rix)
- We’re not all Darryl Kerrigans (Don Morison)
- More Regent Honeyeater News (Judy & Peter Smith)
- Govetts Leap Catchment Group
- Seeing Green (Alan Page)
- Chats of the Paroo Darling (Peery) NP (Annette Cam)
- The Reappearance of My Old ‘Paddymade’ Rucksack (Jim Low)
- Thought-provoking New Zealand 6 (Christine Davies)
- The wonder of the wattles! (Christine Davies)
- Wild image - Letter L - for colouring
- and much more ...
Cultural Centre 6-8pm
A batty night of fun for the family at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
Learn all about microbats and their amazing echolocation, meet a Flying Fox, get crafty in the bat cave, join a library treasure hunt plus there will be face painting for the kids.
The Gallery will be open so you can visit the Sensorial exhibition and enjoy yummy toasties and hot drinks from the Gallery Café.
Comments close on Tuesday 26 September
Grose Valley (Alan Page)
Plans of management contain the natural and heritage values and the rules for managing national parks including what recreational activities and facilities can be carried out at what locations. The plan is a legally binding document.
While the current plan is well overdue for updating, the Society has concerns about some of the proposed changes:
- The draft plan removes some restrictions from the 2001 plan and in places uses vague language which gives park managers too much discretion.
- The plan identifies visitor precincts at the high visitor use areas which would allow “future visitor facility refurbishment and /or development” but these locations do not have any physical boundaries.
- The plan contains much less conservation information about the parks and consigns the details to a separate Planning Considerations document. As a result the plan is more like a visitor management plan without the context of the conservation values which have to be protected.
- The major changes that have occurred since the current plan was written in 2001, particularly our understanding of the severe and increasing impacts of climate change and climate induced extreme fires, are barely mentioned in the plan.
It is important to comment on what you like and don’t like about how our much loved world heritage national parks are managed.
You can see the draft plan of management here
Blackheath Growers Markets
Cut-leaf Mint-bush (Prostanthera incisa) (Gisela Schumacher)
We will have a good selection of tube stock: Prostanthera (mint bush) for a splash of purple or mauve, Crowea and Bauera pretty in pink, Acacia for a bright gold, and many more.
Visit our Native Plant Nursery webpage for our range of plants.
For enquiries or to place an order - Please contact : Nursery Manager, Paul Irwin: plantnurserybmcs@outlook.com
The Carrington Hotel at 4.30pm
Nardi Simpson
The Mick Dark Talk for the Future is held to honour the late Mick Dark who gave his family home - Varuna - to the future of Australian writing.
Mick was a life-long conservationist and was president of the Blue Mountains Conservation Society for nine years and vice president for eight years. He was a life member.
The talk is co-presented by Varuna the National Writers’ House and the Blue Mountains Conservation Society, and is an annual address on the environment, inviting prominent and authoritative thinkers to discuss their work on subjects that provoke and inspire.
Look for a platypus and help researchers better understand and protect them!
This September, the Australian Conservation Foundation is asking people like you to head down to their local creek or river, find a quiet place on the bank, try to spot a platypus and record what you see.
You might be surprised by the places the elusive platypus calls home. In urban rivers, suburban creeks, farm dams, and local reservoirs – a platypus probably lives closer than you think.
By taking part in the platy-project, you’ll help researchers understand more about this elusive animal and how we can better protect it.
Enter your details to get all the information and resources you need to spot a weird and wonderful platypus this September.
courtesy of Western Sydney Airport(click image to see a larger version)
Flight paths for new Western Sydney Airport revealed (ABC)
Western Sydney Airport flight paths spread the impact in Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains Gazette)
Western Sydney Airport website
Community information and feedback sessions
Residents Against Western Sydney Airport - Update No.36, 5 July 2023
Susan Templeman MP Media Release - includes the Online Tool and What's Next
These are not the same flight paths that were included in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of 2015, which had every incoming flight pass over Blaxland. While some people may feel relief, others will be surprised and concerned to see their area impacted.
Since coming to Government, I have advocated for greater transparency and better consultation than has occurred over the last decade.
Over the past year I have secured baseline noise monitoring, ongoing and accessible community consultation and now the release of an online interactive tool that shows proposed flight paths and potential noise impacts.
In releasing these flight paths, I have demanded that accurate and detailed information be available to us all.
You can access the information and register for updates at www.wsiflightpaths.gov.au
I have included more information on the online tool below, and I urge you to use this to understand exactly what is being put forward in these preliminary flight paths. For people who do not have internet access, I expect that hard copy information will be available from the Department shortly. Please contact my office so we know who needs this.
As we digest the impact of the preliminary flight paths, I know people will feel angry. I know people will be upset. I also know we need to work together as a community to have effective input into this process.
Since 2014, when the then Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced WSI as a 24/7 airport, I have been relentless in working alongside many of you to highlight the potential impacts on our community.
I don't intend to stop doing that, and I will need your detailed feedback on these flight paths to do it. Feel free to email me at susan.templeman.mp@aph.gov.au or call my office on 4573-8222.
Yours sincerely,
Susan Templeman
Federal Member for Macquarie
27 June 2023
www.wsiflightpaths.gov.au
You will be able to type in an address and choose two forms of information to look at: the flight path simulator and the noise map.
The interactive Flight Path Simulator shows the proposed paths that flights will be required to take when arriving or departing WSI in the three operating modes:
- Runway 05: In this operational mode flights arrive from the south-west and depart to the north east.
- Runway 23: In this operational mode flights arrive from the north-east and depart to the south west.
- Reciprocal Runway Operations: The effective nighttime operations mode that is only able to be used between 11:00PM and 5:30AM, will see flights arrive and depart from the south-west.
The Noise Map allows you to see how loud a single flight over any location may be, as well as the number of flights above a specified level of noise in a twenty-four-hour period.
The online tool also allows you to view a simulated take-off or landing that demonstrates the height over ground of an aircraft and how loud this will be on the ground. To see this feature, click on a flight path and select the 3D visualisation option in the top left-hand corner of the map.
Preliminary flightpaths and noise tool released. Feedback can be provided to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and the Arts, by phone, email or at community information sessions in July and August.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be released for formal public exhibition and submissions. The draft EIS will examine the noise, social and environmental impacts of the proposed flight paths.
Following the exhibition period, submissions received will be considered in the determination process by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
– the Darug and Gundungurra people –
and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.