Gwydir Wetlands landclearing illegal

The Wilderness Society (Sydney) Inc
Media Release
11 February 2009

The Wilderness Society has welcomed the successful prosecution of illegal clearing of an important wetland in North West NSW.

“This case sends an important message that this type of environmental vandalism will no longer be tolerated in NSW” said Cecile van der Burgh of The Wilderness Society.

“We congratulate the Department of Environment and Climate Change on this successful prosecution and on the many other cases that are now feeding through the court system.”

“Landclearing creates greenhouse pollution, causes salinity, destroys rivers and kills wildlife. It remains a massive problem in NSW with the Department of Environment still receiving more than 500 complaints from the public every year,” she concluded

It’s now been nearly two years since the offense.

Many people would remember the national media attention this particular clearing received in 2007 as NSW lost a priceless, critically important breeding site for thousands of water birds, adjacent to the internationally acclaimed Ramsar-listed Gwydir wetlands.