NATIONAL PARKS
Blog
Articles in the February/March issue of Protected by President Graeme Bartrim and Tony Groom mention how experiencing aspects of nature can trigger an interest in conservation and may also provide real mental and physical health benefits.
When visiting forests or national parks, we often take for granted the large trees that we walk by or camp near. These big, old trees are remarkable, not only for their size, but also because they have many other important values, such as containing their own ‘ecosystem’, showing a slice of the region’s history, significance for Traditional Owners, exceptional age, rarity, important habitat or ecological associations, and having exceptional landscape values and great beauty.
Main Range, like so many Queensland national parks, is home to outstanding walks, wildlife and views. Unfortunately, but also not unlike many Queensland national parks, it is under threat from invasive species, climate change, visitor intensification and ecotourism activities.
Park Rangers do an amazing job in our national parks and each edition of Protected we like to recognise one and tell their story.
Securing our national park protected areas is half the battle. The other, more important, part is how our national parks are managed to protect their natural beauty for the future. QPWS provide some insight into their Values Based Management Framework approach.
Magnetic Island: eight kilometres off the coast of Townsville but a million miles from care, blessed with fringing reefs, giant granite tors and boulder-strewn vistas.
Sometimes it’s a rocky road to protect our natural places.
"To me, we got our national parks not just because of legislation passed in parliament, but because we have had, and do have, people who treasure the idea that the stories and beauty around us exist not just for us, but for all the generations to come."
The Coordinator-General’s evaluation report on the environmental impact statement for the Lindeman Island resort redevelopment has been released. What does it mean?
The Gainsdale Scenic Rim Trail proposed development has the potential to effectively privatise a significant section of Main Range National Park.
Insights into the diverse backgrounds and day-to-day activities of Queensland’s park rangers
When I was a child, visiting a national park was like going on some grand adventure.
D’Aguilar National Park, the park on Brisbane’s doorstep, lies northwest of Brisbane city.
My guide, a birdwatcher, couldn’t disguise his excitement at the return of life we were seeing all around us. The rainforest at Russett Park in Kuranda was once eerily quiet, but now, in a place where birds and insects had been stripped away, there is new life.
The Chair of Tourism and Events Queensland, Brett Godfrey has a message: open up national parks for more ecotourism. This call is both exciting and terrifying, good and bad, hopeful and discouraging.
Only a couple of months ago we were wondering what the outcome of the Queensland election would be.
Important conservation values are being ignored as Queensland’s major parties engage in a war of words over tourism.
Before we follow other states starry eyed about potential short-term gains, let us examine the costs and benefits of existing ecotourism developments. With this knowledge, there is an opportunity to demonstrate real leadership rather than copy others.
Discussion on a Bill to establish Special Wildlife Reserves (a new class of privately-owned protected area) at an Agriculture & Environment Committee hearing has cleared up some confusion around the name and produced many interesting perspectives, including AgForce's fears over “locking up land”.
Land once slated for the world’s first commercially-operated international spaceport has this year been given back to Traditional Owners. Two months after the handback ceremony in Cairns in May, Andrew Picone from the Australian Conservation Foundation looks at the importance of the landmark decision and the benefits of Aboriginal ownership and joint management of national parks.
The State Budget has allocated an extra $40 million over two years for national parks, however only $5 million of that will potentially go towards operational funding and conservation planning. The rest is essentially a tourism spend disguised as environmental dollars. Learn why the Queensland Government's boast of a record environmental spend isn't all it's made out to be.
Many Queensland national parks were heavily impacted as Cyclone Debbie cut a path of destruction centred on the Whitsunday and Mackay regions, before tracking south and creating widespread flooding. NPAQ Conservation Officer Laura Hahn assesses the damage and turns the spotlight on the mammoth clean-up effort.
Citizen science initiatives provide an opportunity for nature lovers to get involved directly with conservation and through doing so gain a greater understanding and respect for it. NPAQ industry placement student Lucy Hollingsworth, from the University of Queensland, looks at some of the benefits - for scientists and the individuals volunteering to support their research.
State of the Park 2017, authored by NPAQ member Wade Lewis, highlights positive developments over the past year including advances made by the State Government in its approach to national park acquisition, planning and management.
After being confronted by hordes of tourists jostling for position and blaring music at Uluru, NPAQ President Michelle Prior ponders whether the futureof Australia's national parks may be heading the same way as America where there has been a loss of the spirit of wilderness preservation.
Australia's national parks famous worldwide and form part of our national identity. NPAQ President Michelle Prior looks at the abundance of benefits they provide.
Park Rangers do an amazing job in our national parks and each edition of Protected we like to recognise one and tell their story.