Pambula: Keep Forests Safe

Local landholder, Peter Williams, and two of the kangaroos which were illegally shot on land he leases. Access through the South East Forests National Park to his lease land will now be closed by the NPWS.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has reported more evidence of illegal hunting adjacent to the South East Forests National Park which will result in the permanent closure of an access track through the park to an area of leasehold land in neighbouring State Forests.

The NPWS is working with the leaseholder to prevent further public access onto land he is currently leasing from the Department of Primary Industries to graze cattle at Kilarney Swamp 15km east of Bombala.

NPWS Bombala Area Manager, Franz Peters, said today that this latest incident is of some concern. “The leaseholder last inspected his stock more than a week ago but when he returned on the Sunday discovered that someone had broken in and shot one of his cows as well as three kangaroos and a wombat.

“On this occasion access was the through a section of the neighbouring Nalbaugh State Forest whereas previously access had been through the South East Forests National Park. “We had previously talked to the landholder about how best to stop people getting access to his land through the national park and we’d agreed to install slip rail gates and more signs.

“I would like to emphasise that there are severe penalties including the potential for gaol sentences for those who are caught illegally hunting within the park. “All native animals are protected by law and it is illegal to shoot at them. If we catch someone we will prosecute to the full extent of the law. “We have previously announced that we will be increasing patrols with police throughout the park.

“Anyone with any information about this latest incident should contact the Bombala office of the NPWS on 64584080 as soon as possible,” Mr Peters said.

Source: National Parks & Wildlife Service media release

- Harry Whittington, the lawyer shot by US Vice-President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip speaking to reporters on 18 Feb 2006

- Robert Brown MP, (NSW Shooters Party) speaking on Channel Nine's The Sunday Program on 4 June 2006.

"It's just not workable. It's doesn't apply, it's not world's best practice, it's not applied in Victoria, it's not applied in New Zealand, it's not applied in Tasmania. Why would you apply something here, that no one else with much higher hunting experience, why would you apply something here that's not going to work?"

- Brian Boyle, CEO Game Council, in response to a question from Adam Shand of Channel Nine on why Boyle rejected a request by a residents' action group to post signs on the forest boundary warning when hunters are in the bush.

There will be temporary closures of many declared State forests during the period May 2007 through to September 2007. This is to allow Forests NSW and Rural Lands Protection Boards to undertake wild dog aerial baiting programs. Hunters who have booked in advance are required to check with the Game Council to ensure that the forest is still open for hunting during their written permission period.

The NSW Minister for Primary Industries declared 180 state forests in NSW available for hunting in 2006. Many of the declarations were made with little or no effective consultation with adjoining landholders. Many declarations were made in spite of a majority of community responses for a given forest being against the proposal.

There is no legislative requirement for the Minister, the Game Council, Forests NSW or hunters to notify adjoining landowners or recreational users of the actual presence of hunters in the forest. This is in stark contract to baiting schemes, for which specific dates and locations must be publicly notified. In spite of repeated requests to do so, the Minister refused to implement a public information system to assist non-hunters to know when hunting was occurring in forests.

Because hunters can book in at any time via the Internet,a call to the Game Council or Forests NSW to check if there will be hunters is no guarantee - hunters can book anytime, eg over a weekend when these authorities are closed.

A proposal to the Minister, authored by hunters and non-hunters, requested that there should be specified periods when forests would be off limits to hunters, to give all recreational users a fair go. This was refused.

A request that a 3 day notice period for bookings be in place so that calls to check whether hunting was going to take place would not be overridden by a subsequent booking was also ignored.

The legislation that governs hunting in NSW is due for review later this year (5 years after it was passed by Parliament). Make your voice heard.

Write to the Minister NOW to voice your concerns about the Game Council's scheme:
NSW Minister for Primary Industries
The Hon Ian Macdonald MLC
Level 33 Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000. Phone (02) 9228 3344
Email: macdonald.office(at)macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au
Total of 146 State Forests and Parks declared in NSW
See full list here.

On 28 June 2006 people from the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla shires attended a meeting at the Merimbula Bowling Club to raise concerns about the declaration of hunting in state forests. There were representatives from resident groups, conservation groups, wildlife services, recreational user groups and hunting organisations.

There was general agreement that the Game Council's consultation had been almost non existent, including with the hunting associations. There was also general agreement that public information is needed on where hunters are active and when.

Feral animal impact data was found to be largely non existent prior to declarations being proposed and there was agreement that such information would be useful, not only as a benchmark to determine the effectiveness of the scheme down the track, but also for the hunters.

The meeting resolved (unanimously, with 1 abstention) that a letter be sent to the Minister for Primary Industries and to the Regional Managers of Forests NSW for the South Coast and Eden regions.

The letter requests that the minister use his powers under the legislation to:
1. set up exclusion zones when declaring forests, if these are reasonably requested by the public, (eg to protect property and livestock belonging to adjoining landowners);

2. limit access by hunters to a restricted time period, in order to allow fair access by other forest users and reduce risk to others (ie there should be some time when forests are hunter-free);

3. direct that independent research be carried out into the nature and extent of actual feral animal impact;

4. direct the Game Council to ensure that consultation is complete, timely and effective, and that all consultation results be taken into account when considering the declaration of state forests.

FInally, that further declarations are deferred until such consultation has taken place.

Whilst the results of the meeting didn't go as far as the Keep Forests Safe group might have wished, the joint community response was a positive outcome showing there was common ground on which a wide spectrum of the community agreed.

The challenge now will be to get the authorities to actually listen to and act upon the community's wishes.

The text of the letter can be found on our Letters page.

A report by the Merimbula News Weekly on the meeting can be found here.

Report all illegal activity to police

Nat Park access trail closed due to illegal hunting on neighbouring state forest lease

What They Said

Aerial baiting closes forests temporarily

Fair go for non-hunters

People power needed to say no to Game Council

Community Meeting in Merimbula Agrees on Joint Response

Keep Our Forests Safe From Amateur Hunting

Why the concern?

Our campaign is neither anti-hunter nor anti-feral animal control.

Ad hoc feral animal control

Lack of information to the public

Free?

What you can do

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