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--- 198608 [2016/03/10 17:28] – [Lost in the Bush] kennettj
+++ 198608 [2016/03/13 18:59] – [Letter to the Editor] kennettj
@@ Line 265: / Line 265: @@
 ====== Letter to the Editor ======
+WHEW! WHADIDISAYWRONG?
-EDITOR. WHEW! WHADIDISAYWRONG?
 by Ronald Knightley.
 Throughout recorded history and all around the world, it has been known that the zealots of a cause will brand as antipathetic any person who dares to question instead of accepting the cause in blind faith. This is the only reason that I can think of for Alex Colley's placing me "on the other side of the fence" for my conservation article in the April "Bush Walker" or for Mark Weatherley's emotional response to it, including ascription to me of views which I do not hold and most certainly did not express.
 A detailed response to their two articles would be wearisome; but three particular aspects bear further thought.
-Alex's reference to nearly 500 bushfires in state forests missed the essential point of my question to the Minister, for I was referring to major, repeat major, bushfires - of the kind that leave hundreds of square kilometres of devastation. As, for example, the one that blasted Ku-Ring-Gai
-Chase just a few years ago, with scarred hillsides still so clearly visible
+Alex's reference to nearly 500 bushfires in state forests missed the essential point of my question to the Minister, for I was referring to major, repeat major, bushfires - of the kind that leave hundreds of square kilometres of devastation. As, for example, the one that blasted Ku-Ring-Gai Chase just a few years ago, with scarred hillsides still so clearly visible from afar. Its damage alone bids fair to rival the aggregate of all the forest fires to which Alex referred.
-from afar. Its damage alone bids fair to rival the aggregate of all the
-forest fires to which Alex referred.
+If one wants to know where the fire potential really is, one need only ask the country volunteer fire-brigade captains, as I have done over the last several years. Those whom I have questioned have been unanimous in expressing, not just concern, but outright fear of the national parks. They have
-If one wants to know where the fire potential really is, one need only ask the country volunteer fire-brigade captains, as I have done over the last several years. Those whom I have questioned have been unanimous in express-
-ing, not just concern, but outright fear of the national parks. They have
 expressed no such fear of the state forests.
-A new day appears to be dawning, however. In April I visited the top
-end of the Wollemi National Park. I had hopes of camping on some cliff-tops
- to take landscape photos in the lights of sunset and sunrise. Alas, the
-area was blanketted for a whole week under a pall of bushfire smoke so heavy
-that I did not venture from the floor of the Widden Valley. On enquiry,
-property owners told me that the fire was a controlled burn-off being conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the Wollemi.
-This information was taken with a grain of salt until, in June, a fire-brigade captain 500 kilometres to the south advised me that a Parks ranger had recently stated to a public meeting that it is now Service policy to engage in controlled burn-offs in national parks.
-As I fretted at the all-pervading smoke in the Widden Valley, I could not help thinking of Rabbie Burns' immortal line, "Ah, poor, wee, sleekit, cowerin', timorous beastie," and wondering how many timorous beasties of the Wollemi ecology were cowering in terror before the rangers' flames. And
-dying.
-In case my words appear to imply some irreverence for the wisdom of the N.P.W.S., let me hasten to say that, if controlled burning is the only alternative to major bushfires, then I am prepared to accept that it may be the lesser of the two available evils (like controlled grazing versus uncontrolled pigs at Kosciusko). But are there only two evils to choose from? Might
-we also have to admit that in certain areas of some national parks, controlled culling of timber might do less aggregate damage to flora and fauna than
-controlled burning? Now, please read all my qualifying adjectives before
-'developing a nervous twitch in the trigger finger.
-Mark quite erroneously referred to me as supporting the four-wheel- drivers. My April article merely paraphrased the question that another asked of the Minister; and, in the article's peroration, I mused as to how the
-four-wheelers might influence the ballot box. This did not in any way imply
-that I support them. Nevertheless, I do not condemn them out of hand, either, for I know that many of them are also professed conservationists - our own Conservation Secretary being noteworthy among thOp.
-Page 14 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1986
-Also, Mark stated that I should have kept my views to myself and not aired them in front of the Minister. I am of course aware that a delegate
-representing an organisation must, in the absence of plenipotentiary powers, follow the "party line" unless his statements are preceded by appropriate
-disclaimers. If nothing else taught me that, my years of representing
-S.B.W. at Federation certainly did! But does Mark imply that S.B.W. has become some sort of non-democracy in which a member is expected not to speak
-his mind in the Club room? Even if that is so, however, across what tenets of S.B.W. policy did I transgress by asking the Minister if he could do something to save our national parks from the scourge of major bushfires?
-Finally, I turn to a recent political development which appears to bear on part of my April article. In his June announcement vetoing a proposal to enlarge the Murramarang coastal national park, Mr. Carr was reported as stating that the time has come to balance conservation with
-commonsense. This statement occurred after a well-attended public meeting
-had voted against the enlargement proposal by a four to one majority, heaping large doses of vituperation on the N.P.W.S. and its supporters in the process. Do I discern a Ministerial reflection of one of the concerns that I expressed in April, namely the possibility of a backlash in the electorate?
--X- * * * * * * *
-LETTER FROM THE FRIENDS OF THE HACKING RIVER. July 18 1986.
+A new day appears to be dawning, however. In April I visited the top end of the Wollemi National Park. I had hopes of camping on some cliff-tops to take landscape photos in the lights of sunset and sunrise. Alas, the area was blanketed for a whole week under a pall of bushfire smoke so heavy that I did not venture from the floor of the Widden Valley. On enquiry, property owners told me that the fire was a controlled burn-off being conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the Wollemi.
-Dear Friend,
+This information was taken with a grain of salt until in June, a fire-brigade captain 500 kilometres to the south advised me that a Parks ranger had recently stated to a public meeting that it is now Service policy to engage in controlled burn-offs in national parks.
+As I fretted at the all-pervading smoke in the Widden Valley, I could not help thinking of Robbie Burns' immortal line, "Ah, poor, wee, sleekit, cowerin', timorous beastie," and wondering how many timorous beasties of the Wollemi ecology were cowering in terror before the rangers' flames. And dying.
+In case my words appear to imply some irreverence for the wisdom of the N.P.W.S., let me hasten to say that, if controlled burning is the only alternative to major bushfires, then I am prepared to accept that it may be the lesser of the two available evils (like controlled grazing versus uncontrolled pigs at Kosciusko). But are there only two evils to choose from? Might we also have to admit that in certain areas of some national parks, controlled culling of timber might do less aggregate damage to flora and fauna than controlled burning? Now, please read all my qualifying adjectives before developing a nervous twitch in the trigger finger.
+Mark quite erroneously referred to me as supporting the four-wheel-drivers. My April article merely paraphrased the question that another asked of the Minister and, in the article's peroration, I mused as to how the four-wheelers might influence the ballot box. This did not in any way imply that I support them. Nevertheless, I do not condemn them out of hand, either, for I know that many of them are also professed conservationists - our own Conservation Secretary being noteworthy among them.
+Also, Mark stated that I should have kept my views to myself and not aired them in front of the Minister. I am of course aware that a delegate representing an organisation must, in the absence of plenipotentiary powers, follow the "party line" unless his statements are preceded by appropriate disclaimers. If nothing else taught me that, my years of representing S.B.W. at Federation certainly did! But does Mark imply that S.B.W. has become some sort of non-democracy in which a member is expected not to speak his mind in the Club room? Even if that is so, however, across what tenets of S.B.W. policy did I transgress by asking the Minister if he could do something to save our national parks from the scourge of major bushfires?
+Finally, I turn to a recent political development which appears to bear on part of my April article. In his June announcement vetoing a proposal to enlarge the Murramarang coastal national park, Mr. Carr was reported as stating that the time has come to balance conservation with commonsense. This statement occurred after a well-attended public meeting had voted against the enlargement proposal by a four to one majority, heaping large doses of vituperation on the N.P.W.S. and its supporters in the process. Do I discern a Ministerial reflection of one of the concerns that I expressed in April, namely the possibility of a backlash in the electorate?
+====== Letter from the Friends of the Hacking River ======
+July 18 1986.\\
+Dear Friend,\\
 HELP SAVE THE ROYAL FROM URBAN SPOIL
 The Friends of the Hacking River is a voluntary community group formed for the purpose of extending and protecting Royal National Park. We need your support to help save the Royal.
-Wollongong City Council is proposing to urbanise the headwaters of the Hacking River - polluting the river, severely degrading bushland and rainforest through weed invasion and control burning, and building on proposed park additions.
-Only additions to Royal National Park and an end to urbanisation Hacking River catchment can save our first national park.
+Wollongong City Council is proposing to urbanise the headwaters of the Hacking River - polluting the river, severely degrading bushland and rainforest through weed invasion and control burning, and building on proposed park additions. Only additions to Royal National Park and an end to urbanisation Hacking River catchment can save our first national park.
-The campaign needs your group's support.
-* Every letter to local member of parliament and government ministers...
+The campaign needs your group's support.\\
-* Every friend you tell about the despoilation of Royal National Park...
+* Every letter to local member of parliament and government ministers...\\
-* Every community group that resolves to lobby...
+* Every friend you tell about the despoilation of Royal National Park...\\
+* Every community group that resolves to lobby...\\
 * Every donation... COUNTS.
-Write to - The Hon FJ Walker QC, MP Minister for Housing
-The Hon RJ Carr MP Minister for Planning and Environment The Hon R Unsworth MP Premier of NSW
+Write to The Hon FJ Walker QC, MP Minister for Housing, The Hon RJ Carr MP Minister for Planning and Environment, The Hon R Unsworth MP Premier of NSW or visit your local member of parliament
-or visit your local member of parliament
 Request that all natural lands in the Hacking River catchment be added to Royal and that no further urban development in the catchment area take place.
-STICK WITH ROYAL - Enclosed is a bumper sticker. Your group can help
-save the Royal by selling these stickers which retail at $1.00 and wholesale at 77 cents. Every member of your group can help by displaying our bumper
+STICK WITH ROYAL - Enclosed is a bumper sticker. Your group can help save the Royal by selling these stickers which retail at $1.00 and wholesale at 77 cents. Every member of your group can help by displaying our bumper sticker proudly on their car.
-sticker proudly on their car.
-Yours faithfully,
+Yours faithfully,\\
-KEITH MUIR. Secretary
+KEITH MUIR. Secretary\\
 The Friends of the Hacking River.
-VICTORIA ROAD GLADESVILLE, 2111 PHONE (02) 817 5590 HOURS - MON.-FRI. 9-6
-THURS. 9-8
-SAT. 9-4
-(PARKING AT REAR OFF PITTVVATER ROAD)
-A LARGE RANGE OF LIGHTWEIGHT, QUALITY, BUSHWALKING Et CAMPING GEAR
- LIGHTWEIGHT FOOD FOR BACKPACKERS AND CANOEISTS
- COLD WEATHER PROTECTION CLOTHING AND RAINGEAR
- MAPS BOOKS AND LEAFLETS
- INFORMATION SERVICE FOR CANOEISTS AND WALKERS
- KNIVH  (OmPASSES  SURVIVAL GEAR
-WE STOCK THE LARGEST RANGE OF CANOEING GEAR IN N.S.W.
-QUALITY TOURING CRAFT OF ALL TYPES HIGH QUALITY PERFORMANCE COMPETITION CRAFT
- A HUGE RANGE OF PADDLES FOR ALL TYPES OF CANOEING  WETSUITS  SURF SKIS
- ALL TYPES OF SPRAY COVERS  WIDE RANGE OF JACKETS & CAGS  FACE MASKS
- FOOTWEAR  MANY TYPES OF BUOYANCY & LIFE VESTS  HELMETS
-Page 16 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1986
 ====== General Meeting on 10-7-86 ======