Tamworth ecologist Phil Spark will present a talk tomorrow night on Prospects for Conservation in NW NSW – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
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The event is at Kent House, 141 Faulkner Street Armidale, at 7.30pm, and is organised by the Armidale Branch of the National Parks Association (NPA).
Phil will review the threats to conservation now and in the future, land management reforms, the impact of exotic plants and animals, climate change, and problems with environmental planning.
He will use local examples to help people comprehend the dimension of the problems in our region.
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Phil Spark has a long history in protecting the natural environment. As a mature-age student, he studied science and volunteered to do wildlife surveys for national parks in 1995.
From there, his career bloomed; he went on to survey the forests and woodlands on the north coast, tablelands and north-west slopes as part of the NSW regional biodiversity assessment.
He has surveyed the majority of the national parks and nature reserves of the region and, with the Australian Museum, he surveyed western NSW conservation and western wildlife refuges for the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Phil became involved in conservation campaigns to protect old growth forests during the 1980s, two of which resulted in new national parks at Mummel Gulf and Ben Halls Gap.
That passion has continued to this day as he challenges decisions and actions by mining companies and governments when they fail to protect the environment.
In 2016, his contribution to science was recognised when he was invited to become a Research Associate of the Australian Museum.
His efforts to protect the environment were recognised in 2017 when he received the Dunphy Award for most outstanding environmental effort by an individual.
He is currently working on a new fauna book for the Tablelands.
Phil believes that acknowledgement that we are dependent on, and responsible for the protection of all life on earth is fundamental to the change required. Our impact is global.
Also participating in the evening is Liz Blair, Regional Manager of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, who will explain how the newly-formed Trust supports conservation on private land. She will be available to answer your questions.
About Mr Spark
Phil Spark started out a farmer, trained as an ecologist, and ended up one of the state’s leading environmentalists.
He has been in the front line in the battle to save forests and woodlands against the ravages of the coal and gas industries in NSW, especially in his native northwest of the state where he has campaigned for years to save Leard state forest and the Pilliga from coal mines and coal seam gas developments.
Phil was a founding member of the Northern Inland Council for the Environment (NICE), which has been a potent force for environmental advocacy and protection in the region for more than a decade.
NICE led the charge against two coal mines in the Leard State Forest near Boggabri in north-western NSW, taking legal action to challenge Commonwealth approvals in 2013.
He has frequently used his expertise as an ecologist, serving as an expert witness during the assessment that led to the protection of the Brigalow Belt South and Nandewar forests, as well as composing thorough submissions to government processes in the hope of strengthening environmental protections for wildlife.
A tireless and fearless warrior in the campaign to protect nature, he has been blowing the whistle on illegal land clearers and collecting evidence to aid prosecutions for many years, often at considerable personal risk.
Phil has also been a skilled advocate through the media and is a passionate educator opening the eyes of the wider public to beauty and wonder of the bushland and wildlife that are rapidly vanishing from our landscape.