Hands On Work
Stream watch has been one of our major projects since 2007 with one of our group spending long hours monitoring our local streams and reporting the findings to the Sydney Catchment Authority. We are always active participants of Clean up Australia Day both as a group and as individuals. We take part in the community action days of ‘The Lithgow Heritage Gang’ maintaining tourist attractions of Lithgow. We also help with Landcare projects such as Lake Pillans workdays, Platypus watch and Save our Swamps workdays on the Newnes Plateau. As part of the Gardens of Stone Stage 2 campaign we are actively monitoring environmental damage happening on the Newnes Plateau and lobbying Forests NSW for better management practices.
The area known as the Gardens of Stone skirts the western edge of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area in NSW. It is an internationally significant pagoda landscape, a bush wonderland of dramatic coloured escarpments, narrow canyons and lonely sandstone peninsulas. The Gardens of Stone is home to hundreds of native plant, bird and animal species; some of which are threatened to extinction. Some of the area is protected in the Gardens of Stone and Wollemi National Parks and the Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area. Other sections are state forests which permit open cut mining. The biggest threat to the Gardens of Stone is proposed open cut coal mining in Ben Bullen State Forest near Cullen Bullen. Open cut mining rips up every plant and tree on site and unleashes large amounts of dust and other small particles harmful to human health. We need to remove the threat of open cut mining forever and protect the Gardens for the future. The Gardens of Stone Stage 2 reserve proposal presents a balanced approach to conserve the area through a mix of State Conservation Areas and National Park additions.
Visit the Gardens of Stone
The Gardens of Stone is a stunning place to enjoy. Buy a map of the area here.