A Jervis Bay environmental activist has strongly condemned the state government’s National Parks and Wildlife Service imminent restructure.
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Erowal Bay’s Chris Grounds mobilised the community to fight the sale of environmentally sensitive state government land in Vincentia, and won in May.
His celebrations have been short-lived.
The land, now set aside as a wildlife corridor, critical to Jervis Bay National Park and Booderee National Park, may again be in peril.
He fears that after a “ruthless” restructure, where a quarter of rangers’ positions will be cut, NPWS will not have the human resources to maintain the parks surrounding the land.
“My community network, nearly 400 people, lobbied to get two of three properties into the care of National Parks,” Mr Grounds said.
“We've achieved all of this, and there's going to be no one to look after it.”
He said the restructure will be a blow to regional communities.
“The strong regional orientation of the National Parks means the changes are bound to have an adverse effect on the country communities where staff are based,” Mr Grounds said.
“I have friends in the National Parks workforce, and everyone is chronically concerned and distraught about what will happen.”
He has again taken the matter to South Coast MP Shelley Hancock, who liaised with the NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton to save the land in Vincentia.
“We're bragging about overpasses and bypasses, we’re so financially able after fleecing off state government assets, yet we can’t maintain our National Parks,” he said.
“This is a disaster for our parks and reserves.”