COALITION ANNOUNCES $15M AND A MILLION TREES TO PROTECT WESTERN SYDNEY ENVIRONMENT
11-August-2010
Shadow Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Heritage, Greg Hunt MP, today joined Liberal candidate for Macquarie, Louise Markus MP and Liberal candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott to announce more than $15 million in funding and resources to protect and link conservation areas in Western Sydney.
The funds will enable a Coalition government to establish a Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor Fund to allow the purchase of isolated remnants of bushland to be linked with a series of nature reserves, securing habitat for the vanishing wildlife of Greater Western Sydney and protecting the last remaining viable and representative stands of Cumberland Plain Woodland.
The Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor, when complete, will link and protect a continuous corridor of significant remnants of bushland and open space which are crucial elements for the survival of Western Sydney’s endangered flora and fauna species.
The Fund will also support a comprehensive audit of Greater Western Sydney’s bushland to identify conservation values including updated listings of threatened or endangered species, in addition to four Green Army deployments will be dedicated in these areas to plant trees and revegetate identified degraded sites.
“This funding will mean that over time, important nature reserves such as Windsor Downs, Agnes Banks, Cranebrook, and other identified conservation lands will be protected from development and managed for future generations,” said Mr Hunt.
“This project will ensure that threatened and endangered flora and fauna species will have the best possible chance of survival.
“The Coalition will stop Labor’s waste and repay Labor’s debt, freeing up funds for vital environmental projects like this.”
Liberal Candidate for Macquarie, Louise Markus MP, said the project would secure critically important conservation areas in Western Sydney.
“With massive population growth forecast for the Greater West, there has never been a more important time to take direct action to save Western Sydney’s unique ecological communities and preserve some quality of life.”
Liberal Candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott said she was committed to working with the community to complete this project and preserve Western Sydney’s environment.
“Liberals and the local community have fought hard to preserve the Cumberland Plain Woodland on the ADI site and I am committed to carry on that fight.
“This project gives us a great opportunity to create an environmental legacy for future generations to enjoy.”
ENDS
BACKGROUND:
Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor
Aims:
• To establish a Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor linking Nature Reserves and land identified as high conservation value. This corridor would protect Greater Western Sydney’s unique and diverse flora and fauna and establish a lasting conservation legacy for Greater Western Sydney and for future generations
• To provide a significant continuous corridor of natural bushland accessible for the Western Sydney community to enjoy, learn, and participate in the management of, Greater Western Sydney’s natural environment
Activities:
• Establish the Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor Fund
• Undertake comprehensive audit of Greater Western Sydney’s bushland to identify conservation value including updated listings of threatened or endangered flora and fauna species
• Undertake four (4) Green Army rehabilitation, revegetation and tree planting projects on identified degraded sites: Yarramundi Reserve, Yarramundi; Knapsack Reserve, Glenbrook; Agnes Banks and Castlereagh Nature Reserves, Agnes Banks; and Mulgoa Nature Reserve, Mulgoa.
• Raise Community awareness
• Negotiate to secure identified critical habitat, heritage and conservation listed sites on continuing operational lands, including Commonwealth land
• Establish an environmental management plan for Heritage Listed Environmental Conservation lands on the Orchard Hills Defence Site
• Support the NSW Coalition, if elected in 2011, to secure identified critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland on the former ADI site
• Discuss and negotiate future transfer of identified Priority Conservation Sites on private land