To protect land in central and western New South Wales that has high conservation values, the National Park Estate (South-Western Cypress Reservations) Act 2010 reserved over 68,000 hectares of land held under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. This included additions to the Brigalow and Nandewar Community Conservation Area. To allow land to be incorporated into the reserve system, while still recognising the potential mineral and petroleum values of some of these lands, over 14,000 hectares were reserved as State Conservation Areas (SCAs), subject to a joint review to be undertaken before 1 January 2012.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services work together to ensure that any exploration or mining activities proposed in SCAs are subject to rigorous environmental impact assessment, while also allowing the mining industry to have the access needed to carry out its business.
Pursuant to the National Park Estate (South Western Cypress Reservations) Act 2010 and the Brigalow and Nandewar Community Conservation Area Act 2005, the status of the land has been reviewed to determine which areas should remain as SCA and which areas should be reserved as national park, having regard to evidence of mineral values of the land.
Following this review of these lands and the information available concerning the evidence of mineral and petroleum values found in these areas, we have determined to support ten of the eleven areas remaining as SCAs. This allows for the conservation, public appreciation and enjoyment of these reserves to continue, without unnecessarily restricting the potential for mining and exploration activity. We have determined that Goulburn River SCA is taken to be reserved as national park.
Under a separate process, every five years, SCAs are reviewed pursuant to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 to determine whether they should or should not be reserved as a national park or nature reserve. The SCAs created by the National Park Estate (South-Western Cypress Reservations) Act 2010, including reserves added to the Brigalow and Nandewar Community Conservation Area, will be included in the next five-year review.
We therefore present the joint determination of the review of SCAs under the Section 13 of the National Park Estate (South-Western Cypress Reservations) Act 2010 and section 22A of the Brigalow and Nandewar Community Conservation Area Act 2005, which recommends that ten of the eleven areas continue to be reserved as SCAs, and one becomes national park.
