Tourism Taskforce Submission

Tourism Taskforce Submission

Personal submission

to

TASKFORCE FOR TOURISM AND NATIONAL PARKS

IDEAS ON PROVIDING FOR AND PROMOTING VISITATION

A.EXTENDING EDUCATION

The public education program of NPWS should be extended in all aspects and media, to firmly establish nature conservation and protected areas as “public goods” in the public mind and thus ensure and increase public demand for their continuation.

  1. Television exposure must be markedly increased, as the universal medium most likely to influence the widest public. The commercial Channel 9 “Totally Wild” is to date the only regular TV outlet for NPWS. As a “public good”, the conservation and national parks combination deserves some ABC time. The case for this should be pressed with determination.
  1. Visitor centres and regional offices of NPWS should all be mines of information about nature, natural sciences, conservation, and NPWS. There should be a minimum standard which applies to every centre. Every centre should have at least basic information about every protected area in the State, and perhaps Head Office should have information on other States. Information should be on several levels: scientific/academic, general interest, travel, recreational, topographical etc. and should include codes of behaviour, good park management etc.

B. ALTERNATIVE AREAS

These areas are suitable for people who simply want a nice day in the open, and for types of recreation inappropriate for national parks and other reserves whose chief purpose is nature conservation. They should be identified during regional planning.

  1. Do you really need a national park?” Recreation reserves which are not primarily centred on nature conservation, and which can absorb much of the pressure of visitation at national park nodes, are thereby extremely useful and should be well promoted. One effect of this should in time be a change for the better in the “quality” of national park visitors, that is an increased proportion of people interested in and appreciative of nature and willing to learn more. Such alternative areas would include Regional Parks under the NP&W Act, urban reserves for recreation, etc. They should be well provided with facilities, but should also help provide public education about nature conservation, through information boards and shelters, etc.
  2. Recreation Vehicle Areas, as provided for in the Recreation Vehicles Act (1987?). These could be greatly expanded in number, and in some places in size. They are best provided on cleared and semi-cleared private land (for a fee), or on degraded Crown land, derelict forest plantations, old unrehabilitated mine sites, etc. Their function is to absorb some of the vehicle challenge visitors without damaging HCV (High Conservation Value) lands.
  3. 4WD roads: These could also be provided in lands of low CV. This may include some regional parks under the NPW Act, provided they are big enough and have significantly low CV.
  4. Horse riding: This could be provided for on

. State Forests which have low CV and are unlikely to be earmarked for conservation, or are significantly degraded or altered.

. Degraded Crown or local government land

. Privateland, by arrangement (fee)

NB: All roads and tracks to be used for 4WD recreational vehicles or horse riding should be stabilised, and hardened where erosion is inevitable, to protect the downstream areas.

C. PLANNING

  1. Partnership: If they have not already done so, NPWS and Sport & Rec (S&R) should formalise a partnership to best provide for outdoor recreation across the recreational opportunity spectrum (ROS). This should involve, et al:

. Surveying and listing alternative areas and sites for higher impact recreation across the State, as a basis for regional planning. This should avoid the presently perceived necessity to try to provide for types of recreation such as horse riding, rough road 4WD touring, dog walking etc. in national parks, with whose nature and purposes they are incompatible.

. Promoting the fact that they are doing this, cooperatively, and why, as part of general public education about national parks and their part in the land use and outdoor recreation spectra.

. Promoting the “healthy parks – healthy people” philosophy, accompanied by adequate protective park management and educational visitation management.

  1. NGO representation: Knowledgable and experienced members of non-government environmental organisations (NGOs) should have more representation on planning bodies such as the Taskforce for Tourism and National Parks , the NPWS Advisory Council and Regional Advisory Committees, and REP and LEP committees.
  1. Visitation plans: Park Visitation Plans should be made before major tourism plans and developments within national parks are approved by branch directors. “Living Parks” should be used as a guide.

C.ACCOMMODATION AND SUSTENANCE

1. Off park and exceptions: The principle that visitor accommodation and eating/drinking provision should be off-park still holds good in the main, with the exception of

(i)adaptive re-use of heritage buildings of all kinds deemed suitable, with

minimal modification of facilities like toilets, bathrooms and kitchens, and

possibly

(ii)purpose-built huts or cabins strategically distanced along major walking routes in inhospitable or extreme weather areas (mainly snow country, but possibly also far outback areas), which will attract the more active visitors and cater more for the adventure seeking segment.

(iii)Emergency accommodation such as huts, which should not be available

except during life-threatening emergencies.

  1. Regional economies: The claim that national parks benefit local economies should be backed up by allowing, and even promoting, local provision of visitor needs, rather than permitting new buildings in national parks, especially urban-type development as in Kosciuszko NP. This is a “win-win” policy, in that it not only benefits local economies, but also counters anti-park arguments such as that national parks displace jobs, and thus wins friends for national parks, the Service, and conservation.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND OBSERVATIONS

  1. Primary purpose: Provision for visitation to protected areas, including tourism, must always be subject to protection and conservation of native species, habitats and ecosystems as first priority.
  2. State Plan: The stated aim to increase national park tourism 20% by 2016 should be qualified to ensure that the process will not result in degradation of the resource of any kind (See 1. above and all points below).
  3. Off-park provision: Provision for visitor accommodation, restaurants, shops etc should generally be made off-park, with certain exceptions (see above)
  4. Appropriate activities: Recreational and other activities by visitors in national parks must be of a type compatible with the nature and purposes of national parks, in that they have minimal environmental, biophysical and social impacts.
  5. Inappropriate activities: Activities which are inappropriate should not form part of management planning in protected areas. Promotion of such activities in various media should be prohibited by law (e.g. 4WDs assaulting river crossings).
  6. Visitation limits: Numbers of people and numbers and frequency of visits, particularly by commercial touring groups, should be subject to limits according to managerially agreed carrying capacity and limits of acceptable change (LAC).
  7. Alienation: No protected area should be alienated for private purposes, even though it might be to assist the provision of services to the public.
  8. Pressure to expand: Pressure by commercial tourism operators to expand their activities and businesses against the wishes of the managing authority should not be tolerated, and should result in a consideration of license cancellation.
  9. Public education on protected areas, conservation and the NPWS must be stepped up considerably, using a variety of media, and commercial tour operators must accept their share of this responsibility.
  10. Regional planning which recognises the unique place of national parks and other protected areas in the land use and recreational opportunity spectra, should be the basis of visitation and tourism provision, and used to (et al) divert inappropriate recreation away from protected areas to less sensitive categories.
  11. Plans of management specifying what commercial tourism will be permitted are essential before it can proceed.
  12. Restrictive provisions in plans of management and agency policies should not be “relaxed” to accommodate demands of the tourism industry.
  13. Independent visitors should have priority over commercial tourism groups where there is competition for space or facilities. There should be no private “takeovers”.
  14. User pays: The user pays principle should be applied to tourism operators who have been provided with any special provision or infrastructure supporting their operations. A proportion of the cost of maintaining general park facilities should be built into the license fees.
  15. Profit sharing: A proportion of the profit gained by commercial tourism operators from national park operations should be levied and added to park revenue.
  16. Code of conduct: A condition of licensing of commercial tourism operators in protected areas should be their acceptance and compliance with all conditions imposed by the managing authority.
  17. Accreditation of all commercial tourism operators and their guides is essential.
  18. Visitor nodes should be where most visitor facilities in national parks are located. These can/should include track heads for short and long walks. Most short walking tracks from nodes should be “interpreted”.
  19. National parks, for reasons of both nature conservation and human wellbeing, should be regarded as a “public good”. Their management (including management of visitation) should be mainly government-funded, rather than relying partly on revenue from visitation, including commercial tourism.
  20. Public vehicular access: National parks should provide publicly accessible roads minimally, that is short, and mainly located near the boundary. Such roads should enable sampling of different scenery and types of environment, and avoid undue replication or access to sensitive ecosystems, plant and animal communities.
  21. Declared wilderness must remain inviolate in terms of freedom from built structures (except agreed genuine heritage items) and use thereof by visitors, and from commercial tourism activities.

Alan Catford

21 Kingsford Avenue,

Turramurra NSW 2074

Phone (02)9449.1658

Email: acatford 29/8/08