Sat 26 May, 2018 12:15 pm
tom_brennan wrote:In sneaky news, possibly designed to be drowned out by the Brumbies Bill:the Minister for the Environment has approved horse riding in four national parks – Kosciuszko, Deua, Monga, and Mummel Gulf – following a two-year comprehensive trial and monitoring, which showed horse riding caused minimal impacts where it occurred. Final arrangements should be ready by December 2018 when the formal consultation process and amended plans of management are complete.
What that quote (from Nationals Leader John Barilaro's website) does not say is that the horse riding is now permitted in Wilderness Areas, which has never before been the case.
This is a massive retrograde step for Wilderness in NSW.
Sat 26 May, 2018 2:43 pm
LachlanB wrote:I thought that there was scientific evidence available that horse riding caused major negative impacts in national parks? So how the hell have they justified minimal impacts?
Sun 27 May, 2018 9:10 am
Mon 28 May, 2018 6:13 am
rcaffin wrote:Short-term political gain beats long-term national interest every time.
We are currently going through an anti-science anti-logic era. Sigh.
Cheers
Roger
Mon 28 May, 2018 12:52 pm
Mr John Barilaro wrote:Let me be clear: This bill does not promote maintaining any specific number of brumbies nor does it promote increasing the number of brumbies within the national park. It simply recognises the heritage and cultural value of brumbies and shifts the focus away from lethal population-control methods. In fact, this bill will set a framework for managing brumby populations in a humane way. It is about balance...
..The brumby population in the national park will continue to be reduced to a more sustainable number by using passive trapping and rehoming, as well as by mustering and relocation to less sensitive areas in the national park...
....The new framework of managing brumbies in the Kosciuszko National Park also will involve a number of new approaches, including brumbies found in "highly-sensitive" alpine areas of the national park being relocated by authorities; the establishment of a Wild Horse Community Advisory Panel is to advise the Minister of appropriate management approaches for the brumby; a research and monitoring program to inform future wild horse management plans; a brumby count to gain a more accurate assessment of brumby numbers and where they range; and a marketing campaign to promote rehoming and adoption of brumbies that need to be removed from the national park. Through the community advisory panel, for the first time the community will have direct involvement in shaping the management of brumbies within the national park.
Mon 28 May, 2018 2:53 pm
Mon 28 May, 2018 3:59 pm
Mon 28 May, 2018 4:38 pm
Mon 28 May, 2018 5:19 pm
Mon 28 May, 2018 5:53 pm
jdeks wrote:Now I realize he's trying to spin his bill (and save his seat) as best as possible, but there's no denying it's still clearly very much aimed at reducing the numbers and impact of brumbies - just with different methods?
Mon 28 May, 2018 7:14 pm
Mon 28 May, 2018 9:55 pm
Tue 29 May, 2018 7:36 am
Xplora wrote:The trouble with science is that so much of it is reported now and the report tells you what was bad before is now good or vice versa. Things keep changing as scientists learn more so people become distrustful of anything scientists say because it is likely to change with the next lot of research. The earth used to be flat then it was round and apparently it is flat again. At what point to you believe science? I have read my father's encyclopedias (from when he was a boy) and pluto was not discovered. Then it was and called a planet, now it is not a planet. They just can't make up their minds. Many things scientists have told us and we believed to be true have been proved false. I also distrust science mainly because I studied it at university and know how flawed it can be. This is not meant to be an argument for rejecting the science, just an explanation why people are doing it.
Tue 29 May, 2018 8:33 am
Xplora wrote:The trouble with science is that so much of it is reported now and the report tells you what was bad before is now good or vice versa. Things keep changing as scientists learn more so people become distrustful of anything scientists say because it is likely to change with the next lot of research. The earth used to be flat then it was round and apparently it is flat again. At what point to you believe science? I have read my father's encyclopedias (from when he was a boy) and pluto was not discovered. Then it was and called a planet, now it is not a planet. They just can't make up their minds. Many things scientists have told us and we believed to be true have been proved false. I also distrust science mainly because I studied it at university and know how flawed it can be. This is not meant to be an argument for rejecting the science, just an explanation why people are doing it.
Tue 29 May, 2018 9:08 am
Tue 29 May, 2018 6:44 pm
tom_brennan wrote:The fact that the science is always subject to change based on new research is not a reason to dismiss science completely.
Fri 01 Jun, 2018 9:44 am
He prefers to focus on what he calls the "barefaced lies" about brumbies.
"You can't even see where the horses have been," Cochran says.
Fri 01 Jun, 2018 9:50 am
Cochran, a former Nationals MP for Monaro who now uses the chance to see brumbies in the wild as a selling point for his horse trekking business, has spent nearly half a century defending the horses' place in the national park.
Fri 01 Jun, 2018 5:02 pm
Zapruda wrote:Another ridiculous article... https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/nsw/debate-over-kosciuszko-national-park-brumby-cull-as-bitter-as-ever-20180524-p4zh8o.html
one of my favourite quotes in the article.He prefers to focus on what he calls the "barefaced lies" about brumbies.
"You can't even see where the horses have been," Cochran says.
The hundreds of feral horse pads and manure as far as the eye can see is plenty indication of where the horses have been.
Sat 02 Jun, 2018 2:14 pm
Sun 03 Jun, 2018 3:42 pm
Sun 03 Jun, 2018 4:52 pm
Mon 04 Jun, 2018 6:41 am
sambar358 wrote:So maybe a couple of years of trapping which will likely not achieve the numbers hoped for then a re-think. But will the government of the day have the determination to achieve a long-term positive outcome for the environment and take the next logical step and employ a more aggressive but less-popular approach and start shooting the horses.....or will the take the easier and more politically sustainable line and say "well we tried".....I suspect the latter unfortunately.
sambar358 wrote:Interesting comments from Emma Hurst from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in the same article predictably condemning any horse killings (shooting unsuitable horses for re-homing in the traps) but then also condemning the re-homing program as being extremely stressful for the animals. Her solution was to use "humane methods such as motion detectors and repellents which are the only methods that will actually keep numbers down" according to her. So there you have it......at last a solution to all this.... Parks just need to pop into Woolies and buy-up all the cans of "horse repellent" and aerial spray the entire ANP with it. As for the "motion detectors"......maybe the cans of horse repellent are like the air freshener ones for house-hold use that are activated by movement. A horse walks past a "horse repellent" can set-up on a travel trail.....the motion detector triggers the spray and the neddy gets dosed with repellent and leaves the Park. Yep......that would work for sure !!!! Cheers
s358
Mon 04 Jun, 2018 11:34 am
Notice of Preliminary Determination
The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee (NSW TSSC) has made a
Preliminary Determination proposing that the “Habitat degradation and loss by Feral
Horses, Equus caballus” be listed as a Key threatening process in Schedule 4 of the
Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
How to make a submission
The NSW TSSC welcomes public involvement...
Tue 05 Jun, 2018 7:51 am
Wed 06 Jun, 2018 1:34 pm
Wed 06 Jun, 2018 5:08 pm
Thu 07 Jun, 2018 5:58 am
Thu 07 Jun, 2018 9:14 am
bearded bushwalker wrote:Sounds like they received a submission from an unexpected source:
"Pressure is mounting on the Berejiklian government to ditch its controversial plan to protect wild horses in the Kosciuszko National Park, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature warning the move would damage the state's and Australia's global reputation.
In a letter sent to Gabrielle Upton, the state's Environment Minister, the IUCN's director-general Inger Andersen said the bill to protect the animals raised "substantial issues for protected area policy and will create poor precedents for Australia and beyond"."
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/conservation/disturbing-world-conservation-body-blasts-nsw-wild-horse-plan-20180605-p4zjlg.html
Hope the link allows access
Lophophaps wrote:That should wake them up.
Thu 07 Jun, 2018 9:39 am
© Bushwalk Australia and contributors 2007-2013.