We protect what we love

FRIDAY 14.04.2023.

Good morning to our wonderful community!

I think long weekends and short working weeks should happen a bit more often. Our FWP crew were out and about - with two extra days, there were many outdoor adventures to be had.

Volunteer Tim Siegenbeek van Heukelom been trail running in the illawarra escarpment, and Hilary is on the Overland Track, somewhere between Cradle Mountain and Lake St. Clair (tommeginne country).

Tim's running adventures have showcased Autumn in the Illawarra escarpment. Can you spot the waterdragon? 📷 by Tim.

In this week's newsletter, we're officially launching the Pilliga Ultra 2023. Yep, that's right folks, grab your phone or a pen and your calendar, because PU is coming back again in September. Will Also gives us an update of mining in the Illawarra escarpment. So without further ado, please enjoy the read.

PILLIGA ULTRA 2023

We are very excited to be bringing the PILLIGA ULTRA back to New South Wales' central west this year! Saturday 9th September 2023 is the date!

For those that had the pleasure of joining us last year, the weekend will unfold pretty much the same.. although hopefully with a little less rain this time! On Friday evening, we'll all come together at Pilliga Pottery and be welcomed by the Traditional Owners onto Gomeroi Country. After a hearty and tasty meal from the team at the Blue Wren Cafe, we'll get a good night's sleep before hitting the trails on Saturday morning!

Once again, there will be three race options - 6km, 20km and 50km. We might change the courses up slightly, just to keep return runners on their toes, but you can rest assured the trails will be as rugged, rocky, picturesque and satisfying as ever! If you haven't watched our event video from 2022 yet, check it out! We are sure it will get you excited for some epic, ankle-twisting, adrenaline-inducing single track 🙌🏽

Click through to watch via YouTube

We will be offering an early bird discount of $20 off all events when registrations go live, which will be on offer for about a month. Early bird registration fees will be as follows -

Ultra $240

20km $150

6km $50

Entry will remain free for First Nations people, and If you are from an underrepresented group in the trail and endurance community, please reach out for special programming. As with all FWP events, we want the Pilliga Ultra to welcome anyone who wants to participate, and support one another to raise funds and awareness to protect this incredible place from exploitation.

Once again, fundraising will be an essential part of Pilliga Ultra preparation! This year, we are excited to be launching our very own Grants Program, which will see the profits from the event be divided up between local individuals, community groups and organisations. Some will also go to For Wild Places, which will support the ongoing sustainability of the event and organisation. Our experience in 2022 really demonstrated how much time, resources and heart Pilliga locals put into fighting Santos and protecting this country, and we want to support their efforts so they can look after themselves and their families into the future.

We are currently working on getting the registration platform ready for launch, and will drop into your inbox again very soon with an update! In the meantime, you can register your interest in participating here.

PRE-REGISTER FOR PILLIGA ULTRA

MINING THE ILLAWARRA ESCARPMENT

by Chris (Will) Williams

When trail running in the Illawarra escarpment (tharawal country), you inevitably come across signs that alert you to a ‘Special Area’ boundary, as these areas cover most of the land to the west of the ridge. According to WaterNSW, the government body that manages them, ‘Special Areas are vital to the protection of our drinking water because they help filter out unsafe nutrients and other substances before the water reaches the reservoirs’. 

Public access to the Special Areas is restricted to protect water quality. Walkers, runners, and bike riders are not allowed to enter. If they do, they risk a hefty $44,000 fine. Horse riding, motor bikes and vehicles are also prohibited, based on the same logic. So it might come as a surprise that mining for coal is approved, not only in the drinking water catchment, but in the same Special Areas that prohibit walkers and trail runners from entering.

Special Area boundary sign near Brokers Nose trail.

📷 by Chris Williams.

The Illawarra is rich with coal seams. Mined since about 1850, these seams lie in and around the escarpment, at the southern end of the Sydney Basin. There are several companies extracting coal in the area, including active mines in the Special Areas. A debate is growing in the community over the future of these mines.

Many threats to the escarpment are obvious to runners, like the erosion caused by feral deer or weeds taking over in large areas. While the Illawarra’s coal mines are underground - so they don’t leave a scar like open-cut mines do - the threat is real and the damage is clear if you know where to look.

Mining company South32 - owner of the Dendrobrium mine, located in the escarpment near Mount Kembla - recently published a report that documents the fresh damage done by its longwall mining operations within the Special Areas.

According to the Protect Our Water Alliance (POWA), a local campaign calling for a ban on mining operations in the drinking water catchment, the report shows sustained damage to creeks, swamps and waterfalls.

Section of Special Areas map from WaterNSW

In a media release, POWA spokesperson Dr Rada Germanos said:

“This report provides us with the most up-to-date evidence of the incredible damage that South32’s longwall mining is causing in our water catchment areas. South32 ripped out this longwall in five months, but they have left behind permanent damage to the landscape and ecology of the area.”

“This report details significant and sustained damage to all of the upland swamps in the survey area, with the worst impacts on Swamp 1B. There is also clear documentation of damage to Donalds Castle Creek and Wongawilli Creek, with reduction in water pooling and reduction in terrestrial and aquatic habitat. The most galling part is that all of this damage is just another chapter in the long archive of environmental destruction that has been pre-approved by the NSW Department of Planning”

“These swamps and creeks are vital to the health of the ecosystems of the Illawarra. And we know that these swamps and creeks, once cracked and damaged, don’t recover. This report gives us real-time evidence from South32 themselves of the damage that longwall mining is causing each and every day. This is why we are calling for a stop to mining in the water catchment now, not just an end to new expansions or mines - because our environment is getting smashed right here and right now under the current approvals.”

A dried out creek above the Dendrobium mine in the Special Areas of Sydney's water catchment. 📷 by Julie Sheppard, Rivers SOS.

Another example of damage done to creeks and waterways was exposed late last year after local trail runner, James McCormack, noticed something wrong with the water in a creek. He was hitting the trails in the Royal National Park, at the northern end of the escarpment, when ‘... I did a double-take. What I saw before me looked almost surreal – inky, black water flowing through what is usually a lovely section of the creek, where it flows over a small cascade. And on the creek banks, black filth had collected, smeared over rocks and coating small, dried-up pools’, he wrote in the Illawarra Flame.

He continued, ‘I knew immediately there was only one place this filthy water could be coming from. A little over one kilometre upstream lies the Metropolitan Mine, Australia’s oldest working coal mine. There’s some irony that it abuts Australia’s oldest national park; the two have existed as uneasy neighbours for well over a century’. 

McCormack was able to garner media attention and spark the Environmental Protection Agency into visiting the mine, but he’s concerned about future events. He said. ‘... despite the involvement of the EPA and Minister James Griffin, there is no guarantee at all that things will improve. Peabody, the Metropolitan Mine’s owner, was fined $15,000 in June for a January pollution event. It was a manifestly inadequate amount, as demonstrated by the fact they went on to allow subsequent pollution events in August and then again with this most recent event in September (2022). But still, with all the focus on Metropolitan, and all the scrutiny by both the media and, hopefully, by James Griffin, it’s hard to believe it won't be harder for Peabody to brush similar events under the carpet, as they have in the past’.

It’s reports and experiences such as this that has the community very concerned. 

But the people of the Illawarra - including its trail runners - have form when it comes to voicing this concern. Groups such as POWA continue to highlight the damage being caused by coal mining and the future threat it poses to the health of the escarpment.

In 2020, For Wild Places featured a campaign by local Illawarra running group, the Seacliff Coasters, to oppose the expansion of the Russell Vale coal mine. The Coasters opposed the expansion on environmental grounds, but also the impact it would have on public access.

More than 3000 people forming a human sign in 2011 calling for a stop to coal seam gas mining in the Illawarra escarpment. 📷 by Stop CSG Illawarra.

“The environmental risks are too great, the economic value is highly doubtful, and the community will lose access to unique world-class bushland and trails, which have huge potential to promote both the physical and mental health of local community members”, said Mat Wall-Smith, co-founder of the Seacliff Coasters.

He continued: “We strongly believe there should be no expansion to Wollongong Coal’s Russell Vale operations. The mine facility should be remediated and its heritage celebrated. The bush should be remediated and ‘returned’ to public use. We want access to our Escarpment. We want the right to look after it, to care for it and celebrate it."

NEXT WEEK

Hilary will be sharing her Cradle Mountain/Overland Track (tommeginne country) adventures.

And as always, thank you for taking the time for wild places.

Elanor (she/her) & the For Wild Places team

CHECK US OUT ON INSTAGRAM

UPCOMING EVENTS

27/04 Trail chat #12 with Aubri Drake (they/them) | RSVP

18/05 Trail chat #13 with Hayley Pymont | RSVP

06/06 TRACTION: Gariwerd | RSVP

15/06 Trail chat #14 with Jake Fedorowski | RSVP

We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This email was compiled on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.