A community forum to provide the following:

1. information on the status of crown lands, including travelling stock reserves, in light of the new crown lands legislation via expert speakers, including a representative of the Environmental Defenders Office, NSW
2. An opportunity for you to gain the skills and tools to help prevent the sale, disposal and/or inappropriate management of our valuable crown lands and TSRs through workshops and discussion panels
3. A guided tour of one of the cherished crown lands reserves in Bathurst, Boundary Road Reserve.
4. A fully catered day with morning and afternoon teas, as well as a light lunch with ingredients from the Rahamim's kitchen garden

THE VENUE   Rahamim, as the centre of the broader ecological effort of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea, exists to promote a shift in consciousness and behaviour based on a new understanding of our interconnectedness with all existence.   And the food is fresh, home-grown and delicious!

 SPEAKERS include Uncle Diniwan Djirribang (Bill Allen, welcome to country), Dr. Peter Spooner (travelling stock reserves), Dr. Peter Mitchell (western lands), Emily Ryan (Environmental Defenders' Office), Dr. Mike Augee (Mt. Wellington Reserve),  Dr. Anne Kerle (Peel Reserve), Sally Neaves (Rahamim's perspective), Steve Woodhall (NPWS, Boundary Road Reserve).    Some more information about speakers is shown below.

DISCUSSION PANELISTS include the above, plus Cathy Merchant and Cilla Kinross (Central West Environment Council and the Crown Lands Working Group of the Nature Conservation Council).

FIELD TRIP It is recommended that we car pool to visit the reserve, which is only 10 minutes drive away.  If you are coming to this (4 pm - 5.30 pm), please let Cilla know if you can offer seats in your car.

OPTIONAL DINNER  Please let Cilla know if you are interested in coming to a pre-forum dinner in Bathurst on the Friday evening from 7 pm.  Venue is the George Hotel, George St, Bathurst (bookings essential).  This meal is not included in your ticket. 

ACCOMMODATION   There is accommodation varying from $80 (single) to $100 (queen), all with shared bathroom, but including breakfast, at the Rahamim Ecology Centre.   Check out their website for a booking form or ring  (02) 63329950,

Bathurst also contains many other hotel or motel options, easily sourced online.

TIMETABLE 

SPEAKERS' DESCRIPTIONS

Dr. Mike Augee   Mammalogist; retired from the University of NSW; currently director of the Wellington Caves Fossil Studies Centre; previously two terms as Deputy Mayor of Wellington Council.

It is clear that the state government hopes to transfer as many crown reserves to local government as possible. I will argue from my experience in local government and as chair of two crown reserve trusts (Mount Arthur and Burrendong Arboretum) that this is a very bad idea which all conservation minded people should vigorously oppose. If councils must be given crown reserves, it is essential that they are required to have independent advisory committees.

Dr. Anne Kerle 

BIO I was raised to have a great interest in the natural world, the landscape around me and my local community. This subsequently grew into me becoming an ecologist, a profession I have followed for some 35 years across many places and landscapes: from tropical northern Australia to the arid centre, the western slopes and plains of NSW as well as Vanuatu and sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. My greatest interest lies in understanding the interactions between the landscape, plants and animals and doing all I can to ensure the survival of our wonderful Australian natural heritage alongside agricultural production. My passion, however, lies in mammal ecology, having studied the Brushtail Possum for my PhD and I take any opportunity to just be out bush, birdwatching, photographing and looking for little treasures such as native Australian ground orchids .

ABSTRACT:  The Peel Native Flora and Fauna Reserve is a biodiversity reservoir in an over cleared landscape. Its original purpose in the 1850s was as a common for the village of Peel, a transit point between Bathurst and the goldfields. In 1978 the status of this 178 hectares of crown land was changed to a Native Flora and Fauna Reserve. While there was considerable removal of timber for fencing, firewood, building, well linings etc and grazing in that time, the remnant vegetation is now a healthy representative of Tablelands Dry Sclerophyll Forest. The biodiversity is rich with at least 90 plant species, including 12 native ground orchids, 84 bird species, six mammal species and a variety of reptiles and frogs. In times of stress such as is becoming more common in response to climate change, the integrity of this biodiversity reservoir will be increasingly challenged.

Emily Ryan

Outreach Director – Professional Programs – EDONSW

Emily is responsible for the development and delivery of EDO NSW's legal and educational programs for environmental decision-makers, lawyers, and other professionals. She provides clients with advice on wide-ranging environmental and planning law matters, and lectures in planning law and sustainable energy law at UNSW. Emily also leads our communications, fundraising and events team.

Emily is admitted as a solicitor in NSW. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Southern Cross University, and is currently undertaking a Master of Environmental Law at the University of Sydney.

Emily is the President of NSW Young Lawyers and a Councillor on the Law Society of NSW Council, and is an officer of the International Bar Association Environment, Health & Safety Law Committee. She has contributed to a number of textbooks on environmental and planning law.

Dr. Peter Spooner.   Peter is an ecologist with a broad range of research interests including grazing management of temperate woodlands, fragmentation effects on plant populations, plant dispersal mechanisms, biodiversity conservation in rural landscapes, restoration ecology, the historical legacy of human impacts on ecosystems, and broader environmental history of New South Wales. Peter has a specific research interests in road ecology and roadside vegetation management in Australia, where he has conducted extensive research on the history of Travelling Stock Reserves and stock Routes. Peter has published over 30 refereed scientific papers and book chapters, including a recent book chapter on connectivity conservation in Linking Australia's Landscapes.

Dr. Peter Mitchell   Dr Peter Mitchell has qualifications in geology, geomorphology, soil science and environmental management. He taught resource and environmental management and physical geography at Macquarie University for 25 years retiring as an Associate Professor and the Head of Department of Physical Geography. After retirement Peter taught Applied Geomorphology at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand, Soil Management and River Restoration units for NSW TAFE, and a series of landscape interpretation courses for archaeologists in Sydney and Melbourne.

Peter was the proprietor of Groundtruth Consulting (2000-2012) which provided services in environmental assessment, and landscape interpretation. He has extensive geomorphic and pedologic field experience across all Australian environments, is the creator of ‘Mitchell landscapes’ and has ongoing geomorphic and environmental research interests in the arid zone.

He is the author of more than 60 scientific publications in geomorphology and soil science and more than 130 contracted reports. Clients included Commonwealth and State agencies, local government, developers, consulting archaeologists, local action groups and individuals.