ACTION REQUIRED  Write to the Premier and Minister for the Environment insisting that the Government fulfil its commitment to protecting the extensive conservation values of Crown leases.  Dear Premier, I am writing to request your urgent assistance to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of remnant woodlands and wetlands on Crown leases. The Government cannot ensure the protection of these values following the sale of Crown leases into private hands as the Department of Lands as no budget for compliance and is proposing to apply covenants under an 88-year-old law that has no powers of enforcement or prosecution if covenants are breached. I call on the Government to:

• · Retain all high conservation value Crown leases in public ownership, and put in place an immediate moratorium on conversion of 6,000 high conservation value leases.
• · Impose a uniform “no clearing” conservation covenant under the Native Vegetation Act over all vegetation on other Crown leases as a condition of conversion.
• · Utilise the high conservation value assessment of Crown leases undertaken by the DECC to determine how a lease is treated, particularly what covenants are applied.

 I look forward to your prompt action on this matter. Sincerely [Your name] Your URGENT HELP is required to help prevent the conversion of 6,000 high conservation value Crown leases totalling hundreds of thousands of hectares including endangered woodlands and wetlands and 72,000 hectares of Identified Wilderness into private land. CURRENT SITUATION

• The Crown lease estate harbours outstanding conservation values, representing our best chance to meet long overdue conservation targets.
• The assessment process Lands is using is inadequate, ad hoc and incompetent.
• Lands have no budget for monitoring and enforcing covenants to protect these values.
• The Conveyancing Act 1919 will not provide enforcement powers adequate to protect these values
• Having committed to retain leases in public ownership if their conservation values can’t be protected on private land, the Government has admitted that no leases will be retained, not even those within Identified Wilderness.
• Agricultural lobbyists have already indicated their intention to find ways to appeal against this covenanting system and undo what little protection the Department of Lands covenant will impose.

Urgent action is required before these lands and the values they harbour are lost forever.  The State Government has offered up our Crown perpetual lease estate – totalling 3 million ha – for conversion to freehold at a fraction of its financial value. Crown leases harbor high quality habitat wetlands, including the iconic Macquarie Marshes, identified wilderness and old-growth forests, as well as habitat for 182 threatened species, large forest and woodland remnants in fragmented landscapes, and 143 very poorly reserved ecosystems. The conversion of these leases to freehold will seriously threaten these values. The National Parks Association (NPA) Crown Lands Project Officer is working from HCEC. See the NPA website for more details www.npansw.org.au/conservation or contact the NPA Crown Lease Project Officer: georgew@npansw.org.au