I thought the summary was a pretty reasonable interpretation of the situation and of dune systems in general.
I thought the news release was pretty straight forward for the beginning of a management plan and that was probably the reason for its release.
It seems to me that those responsible for the management of the area want to see the area managed in a way that recognises its values including the cultural value of camping. The process will be interesting because there will be quite a few interest groups, including vested interest groups, that will think their way is the best.
The management of a dune ecosystem is a bit more complex than the sandy bits with no vegetation, the fore and hind dunes areas are susceptible to many impacts as stated. As a general comment it is probably a good thing there has been Newcastle City Council and state government involvement over time, otherwise commercial interests may have destroyed all the values the area has.
It appears that you have already decided that the outcome will not be as you think it should be? I suggest you contact Mr Murphy and see how you can be involved in the process and present you opinions. The Plan of Management process takes time and effort, especially from the users of the area, including those who would prefer to see it closed up completely - this is how some sort of balance is achieved?
Stockton in general requires changes to it's management for the good of the dunes. Everyone that has been there would support this.
However the charter for management must be a balanced one, not the way it is at the moment, there is control but not management, or the way the NPWS would like to see it become.
As stated the are a number of groups who are responsble for the management of the area, generally the NPWS is the lead agency in these types of issues (as I guess somebody has to? and it is probably also in their legislative responsibilty).
If you have the opportunity to be involved in the process I really suggest you take that opportunity as it can be a rewarding process if one goes into it realising that there are different perspectives across the community who all have a valid position on what should happen.
NOTE: I did not use Mr Newman as an expert on the dunes, just that he came up first in a google search on the subject - all I saw him doing was providing others with some resources to assist them in whatever they were doing and that his style was easy reading.
So I have found a more authoritive link for dune management here
http://lep.planning.nsw.gov.au/pubDetails.cfm?thistopicid=576&PublicationID=223
I think SEPP 71 forms the main basis for any planning and there is also some additional information here
http://www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/factsh/fs05_5.php
Who is the EDO?
http://www.edo.org.au/
Sorry about the lengthy reply.
ADMIN question
As an aside, if you have read this far, how can I make the "reply" box bigger so that it does not keep cutting off the reply as it is typed?
Geoff
