Thread: Stockton Beach Access Protest 2nd Feb

Originally Posted by Dazza67

Bob, I know obviously most cannot attend these meetings however where is it held ?? ie Is it Sydney ?

The Association might earn some karma points if they chose to announce any outcomes about Stockton, we will see or read...

The meeting tomorrow will be at North Wollongong Scout Hall - two of the quarterly meetings are in Sydney, the other two are moved around to help regional attendance.

See my previous post about outcomes...

Originally Posted by Dazza67

Bob, I know obviously most cannot attend these meetings however where is it held ?? ie Is it Sydney ?

More so have any of these people actually been to Stockton of late ? To actually know what is being said or are they just going off reports ?

The Association might earn some karma points if they chose to announce any outcomes about Stockton, we will see or read...

Dazza

Hi Dazza,

Tomorrow's meeting is at Woolongong and yes, more than one of the Executive and some of the club Delegates are very familiar with Stockton.

I hope there will be a Press Release available - but it won't be tomorrow afternoon of course. I cannot go but I will try and can report anything once it is available.

Bob

[quote=bobslandies;1853879]

Originally Posted by O-D

..............................[snip]
Also, clubs have been leaving and threatening to leave the Association for various reasons over many years - happens in an organisation particularly when there may be conflicts of personalities or policy or vested interests.[/COLOR]

Bob

There are also about half a dozen clubs that have recently applied to join the Association.

Originally Posted by Miraz

www.facebook.com/4wdnow

Updates like this are a great idea, they should have thought of it earlier!

4WDNSW&ACT Facebook Press Release:

We've been fielding a lot of questions on the work that we've been doing with NPWS around the drafting of a plan of management for Stockton Beach this week - this seems like a good time to re-activate this facebook page and share some information.

NPWS were granted a lease over the some of Stockton Beach in 2007 - a copy of the lease is available on the Worimi Conservation Lands website if you want to look at the details. The lease sets out the management structure for the Park, the management approach prior to the development of the plan of management and requires NPWS to develop a PoM.

We need to highlight than NPWS only have control over a limited area of the beach, and that the much of the area that is being used by commercial tour operators, and other commercial enterprises (sand mining, etc) is not under NPWS control

The process of developing these plans normally takes several years, and once approved the plans are normally operative for 10 years. The draft plans are made available for public review and the submission of feedback prior to the plan being finalised and approved. We recognise that we need to do a better job of making people aware of these review opportunities, as many plans are developed without the necessary feedback - As an example, the plan for the Watagans that was implemented in 2010 only received a couple of submissions.

As a precursor to drafting a management plan for Stockton Beach, NPWS invited known user groups to join a consultative committee to obtain our views about future use of the area.

The committee met at Nelson Bay every two months from Dec 2010 to Nov 2011. The first and last meeting included field trips to the Park.

Member groups sitting on the committee included Worimi elders, Quad bikers group, Anna Bay resident groups, Tin City residents, NPA, Wilderness Society and the Commercial Tour Operator group, with Trevor Connell & Rob Kelly of HRFWDC (Hunter Region Four Wheel Drive Council - Bob) representing recreational 4WDers.

To summarise our main inputs for 4WDing, we argued for:
• Access along the entire tidal zone (swash zone and berm)
• Camping behind the frontal dune (NPWS is thinking limited numbers and only at designated areas)
• Shared access to the RVA area
• Access to the high dunes where park title allows
• Driving through the swale area on open sand (avoiding vegetation and middens)

We argued against a suggestion by NPWS that they would have to mark a particular track across the swale and up to the dune to control driving across vegetation and middens. Instead we argued that access to the dune should be across the broadest possible open area so that drivers could pick the best route to suit the conditions and minimise trail churn up. When asked why we wanted to drive up the dunes, we made the point about the excellent views to be seen from the top of the dunes, down to Newcastle and up the Hunter Valley. It was a revelation to the green members that we would actually want to see the views, and we gained support of some other groups as they too saw how they could enjoy the dunes like us. These other groups were surprised at how easily we got up there and with so little impact.

Each meeting addressed specific topics. These were:
5.12.10 (Introductory meeting & WCL inspection)
19.2.11 (Worimi cultural values)
30.4.11 (Natural values)
25.6.11 (Camping)
27.8.11 (Vehicle access)
29.10.11 (Commercial operations)
11&12.11.11 (WCL inspection & feedback summary)

At no time was there any statement by NPWS about closure of the beach other than for temporary management of affected areas, e.g. near beach cliffs after storms, or fenced off bird nesting sites.

The draft plan of management has still not yet been made available to public, so we have not yet provided a formal written submission in response to it.

The president of my 4wd club's wife gave an interesting talk at the monthly meeting last night. She is a former 4wd association delegate and now is a member of the advisory committee that manages Blue Mtns NP. She explained the process that occurs when NP management draft their plans and emphasized the importance of interested stake holders being actively involved in it as members of the advisory committee. It's simple, if something isn't in the plan then it is ignored. The plans are very large complex documents that take years to write. The advisories are very heavily weighted towards greenies who basically want to protect the park by excluding people except under very controlled circumstances. From memory, she said the advisory had 16 greenies, 1 4wder, 1 hunter and 2 RFS firies. Membership of the advisory is by application and is for a fixed term. A cross section of interest groups factoring age, sex and ethnicity is built into the selection process.
It is her experience that each of the stake holders has an incorrect perception of the others, ie, the greenies don't really know what the 4wders want and vice versa. Having a mix on the panel seems to help correct this. She also stated the the NPS has had massive budget cuts that leaves no money to properly administer the parks. There is simply not enough money to keep some tracks open and fewer rangers to oversee the maintenance especially after adverse weather events. Locked gates are the result.
I applaud the 4wd association and the efforts of those people who are willing to get off their arse and do something on a regular committed basis. It's all voluntary and doesn't attract headlines. Added to that is the fact that it only takes the actions of a few yobbos in a park somewhere to bring undone years of negotiation. By contrast, I have yet to see a yobbo greenie do something to destroy a NP.
To sum up, it was an interesting talk, the NPS needs more money and 4wders need more representation at the proper level of their management process.

Originally Posted by sezook

National Park closures are part of UN's Agenda 21 global plan to close off key public areas to the public. Be prepared for more closures. Show of force via protest is only way to slow this down.

I would love to see the specific reference in Agenda 21 that leads you to this conclusion.

Agenda 21 is non-binding (i.e. optional) for starters. Reference to the actual text and not crack pot conspiracy theorists would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by mikehzz

I applaud the 4wd association and the efforts of those people who are willing to get off their arse and do something on a regular committed basis.

Mike we too would applaud this and I would say many would turn up to help work on the tracks to keep them open if NPWS would actually ask for this help.

It doesnt have to cost money for this to happen, all it would take is say some sort of social media It wouldnt need the "groupie" following of certain personallities from magazines and then may soothe certain types.

It would yes obviously need to be controlled as they wouldnt need 4-5000 people turning up but they could advertise a venue that needs work, a controlling officer (NPWS) appointed and then people could easily sign up with the co-ord officer sending the info direct to people for attendance in a area.

If they asked publically, I am certain people would turn up in droves... And more particular people with certain trades/abilities that could donate time.

This then would cure alot of problems-
People would get exposure to the NPWS,
The community would see that the 4wd community is willing to assist,
The participants would develop some ownership of the project that can also have a flow on effect to stop the Bogan attitude from returning to the area.
And a very relevant thing - Everyone would then have a track opened that would otherwise be closed.

The way most of us average 4wd's see it the association hasnt helped itself by not including the average punter, they wont change there ways but how about we change NPWS and the Association's ways of thinking of us.

As I said before I didnt even know of the existance of the Association, TBH I dont care ... I wont be joining a club anytime soon going by current standings, but with a bit of effort by the Association, NPWS things like the above I could change my mind as probably many more.

Dazza