Chaelundi National Park

Chaelundi National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Nearest town/city	Dorrigo
Coordinates	29°56′39″S 152°30′39″E / 29.94417°S 152.51083°E / -29.94417; 152.51083Coordinates: 29°56′39″S 152°30′39″E / 29.94417°S 152.51083°E / -29.94417; 152.51083
Area	101 km2 (39.0 sq mi)
Established	1997
Managing authorities	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Official site	http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

Chaelundi is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 455 km north of Sydney and north-west of Dorrigo.

Location

The park is located in Northern NSW, Australia, near the towns of Dorrigo and Grafton, approximately 600km by road north of Sydney.

Environmental Values

7500 hectares of old growth forest. 11,000 hectares of declared wilderness. Habitat for 187 species (indigenous and non-indigenous)according to the Atlas of NSW Wildlife.

History

The park, on land formerly designated as State forest (i.e. production forest) was proclaimed in January 1997.

Litigation

A series of cases were brought in the NSW Land and Environment Court between 1989 and 1991 by members of the North East Forest Alliance in order to protect the forest located near Dorrigo from continued logging. One key case concerned the interpretation of s. 99 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, which stated that it was an offence to "take or kill any endangered fauna". Such were the habitat values of the forest that in Corkill v Forestry Commission, Justice Paul Stein referred to the old growth forest as a "veritable forest dependent zoo". The ruling was that "take" included indirect taking by means of the habitat modification/destruction associated with logging:Corkill v Forestry Commission of New South Wales (1991) 73 LGRA 126. That decision went on appeal to the Court of Appeal (Supreme Court), and the interpretation was upheld: Forestry Commission v Corkill (1991) 73 LGRA 247.

These legal cases were combined with an on-site blockade of logging work, the blockade being undertaken by experienced and inexperienced green activists and locals many of whom camped in the forest; using techniques such as chaining protesters inside concrete pipes and up six metre high tripods.^[1]

References

1. ^ Cohen I. Green Fire. An Account of the Australian Environmental Protest Movement. Angus and Robertson 1997 Ch 13 pp181-202 ('Chaelundi: wild forest spirit')

See also

• Protected areas of New South Wales