Conservation Outcomes 

Reservation of the diverse Gardens of Stone - Stage Two proposal would:

Protect of the most outstanding pagoda landscapes in Australia – these include some of the best scenery in Australia, such as dramatically coloured escarpments, narrow canyons, cave overhangs, rock arches, lonely sandstone peninsulas and wind-formed but now well vegetated sand dunes that are remnants of an ancient paleo-landscape;

Secure ancient windswept montane heathlands, nationally endangered upland swamps, a unique subspecies of snowgum and other grassy high plateau woodlands, as well as moist forest gullies between these woodlands and poorly conserved grassy white box woodlands below the plateaux;

Establish an unbroken continuum of forest and woodland reserves from the moister coastal communities to the western slopes box country, with Newnes Plateau containing woodlands and swamps that represent the coldest and highest development of native vegetation on Sydney Basin sedimentary rocks;

Conserve the area with the highest density of rare plants anywhere in the Blue Mountains;

Enable quality interpretation of the nationally significant first passes to the interior of Australia – the Coxs, Lawsons, and Lockyers roads near Mount York, and also appropriate regulate the intensive climbing activities on the cliff faces in adjoining areas;

Present some of the State’s best preserved and Heritage Listed oil shale ruins in Australia in a spectacular setting;

Protect an important scientific reference area near Gooches Crater that has yielded important fire history data that may inform future fire management practices;

Ensure better management of the most popular recreation-forest destination in the Mountains so that the natural and cultural values of the much-loved Gardens of Stone are not degraded.

Return to the Gardens of Stone sub-home page

To comment on these letters, email: keith@colongwilderness.org.au

Last updated Friday 14-Mar-2008