After reading the article, my initial reaction was to burst into song. Specifically, the first two verses and hook from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot/ With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot/ Don’t it always seem to go/ That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone/ They paved paradise and put up a parking lot/ They took all the trees and put ‘em in a tree museum/And then they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em”

My satirical musings soon turned to disgust at what I believe to be Newcastle Tourist Industry Group’s propaganda.

Let’s recap a brief history of Glenrock State Conservation Area.

Just over three decades ago, the land was put up for grabs. The usual fruitloops came out of the woodwork with suggestions of prestige housing, a resort, a theme park and so on. Meanwhile, numerous community minded nature lovers, myself included, began a concerted effort to have the state government acquire the land and establish a national park. We got a State Recreation Area.

Further lobbying over the environmental significance of the area had its status updated to a State Conservation Area.

The area is again under threat. A new generation of fruitloops has arrived and they are determined to have their cake and eat it too. Irresponsible mountain biking, dogs, waste dumping, litter dropping, vandalism, hooning, antisocial behaviour, weed incursion, feral animals and toxins entering the waterways are taking their toll.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service are doing their best, but are hamstrung by budgetary and staffing constraints.

Can eco-tourism come to the rescue? It has proved beneficial in several locations around the globe. Eco-tourism is where a unique, fragile and endangered environment plays host to a select few who pay extremely high tariffs for the privilege of visitation.

It is a non-profit enterprise that sees all money raised being channelled back into environmental programs administered by a volunteer workforce.

The key to making it work is exclusivity. So what would this mean for Glenrock? The perimeter would have to be fenced off or patrolled to keep unauthorised visitors out.

Visitor numbers would be restricted to say 20 per day at $2000 per visit and, hey presto, in about three years the area would be relatively pristine and could become a national park.

Thank-you Newcastle Tourism Industry Group for such a selfless undertaking.

Of course, if this is not what you had in mind, then it is not eco-tourism, and I would suggest you are trying to get away with nothing more than a commercial cash grab.

There are several ways in which Glenrock can be appreciated by all, and I am more than happy to discuss these with any, and all, stakeholders.

But we need to step lightly because, as any environmental scientist will attest, every footprint we make in nature has a detrimental effect on the surrounding 50 square metres.