Users of Ben Boyd National Park gathered at Bittangabee Campground for a picnic and meeting on Monday, April 25, an informal opportunity to discuss ongoing concerns regarding the planned development of the Light to Light Walk.
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The nature lovers have an active campaign, 'Green Cape - keep it wild', and are seeking to have plans for ecotourism developments within the taxpayer-funded national park amended by the state government.
Spokesperson for Green Cape Fishing Alliance (GCFA) Mick Ripon said the accommodation complexes proposed for Mowarry Point and Hegarty's Bay would "degrade the wilderness values" of the national park.
"It will have a significant negative environmental impact on these precious sites, and our alliance believes that the development of accommodation complexes is unnecessary and will greatly diminish the sense of remoteness," Mr Ripon said.
"The development offers little to the local community, and we believe local businesses will be negatively impacted if it proceeds."
Eden-based author and naturalist John Blay attended Bittangabee on Monday and said he thought it was a very constructive gathering.
"People have many reasons for opposing the development, I think people feel as if we are losing our own special place and it is getting handed over to rich tourists," Mr Blay said.
"I don't see we will get any benefit from it whatsoever and I think it would be such a mistake to have luxury accommodation in the really wild places."
Bushwalkers, fishermen, conservationists, hikers and people who like camping were all involved in the ongoing campaign against the development on the Far South Coast, and were also more broadly concerned about the future of national parks across the country.
A strategy to 'unlock the multi-billion dollar backyard' was announced by NSW Department of Planning and Environment in 2018, aiming to "boost rural and regional economies" and "capitalise on the fast growing popularity of nature-based tourism".
Multiple action groups have taken issue with tourism-focused developments within national parks or areas that have been declared world heritage, with many saying proposals go against the grain of what the established areas are for.
Added to this are concerns regarding the equity of the proposal, alongside feelings that commercial operations are not core business of NPWS, as evidenced in responses to the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) in February this year.
"This is about the commercialisation of our parks, it appears that corporate profits and political party interests are benefitting at great cost to the environment and to local communities," Mr Ripon said.
Overwhelming public rejection of the proposal became clear when the REF showed only eight out of 142 responses suggested overall support of the project.
Having documented the natural history of the South East forests in a trilogy of work, Mr Blay referred to the layers of geology and remarkable qualities of the area, and fears he held for the environment.
Endangered species, such as southern brown bandicoots, are known to have habitat close to the proposed sites for development.
"They will be impacted by building, and there are numerous rare and endangered orchids along where they are planning the huts. It's endangering the integrity of the parks," he said.
Mr Blay suggested NPWS could choose to spend the money elsewhere and said there were other projects he would rate much more highly.
"They have to upgrade all of their tracks, including the Light to Light track, and should look after what they've got," he said.
GCFA and members of the Ben Boyd Light to Light Community Action Group are generating a survey for circulation in the local community.
"We hope a more thorough consultation and hard data will help us to demonstrate clearly the real wishes of the community in regards to the management of and access to our national parks," Mr Ripon said.
Representatives of groups and businesses opposed to the development attended a meeting with staff of the Environment Minister's office in recent weeks and discussions are continuing about the staged plan to deliver the project.
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