The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is a directorate of the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Department of Planning and Environment and responsible for managing more than 890 national parks and reserves, covering over 7.5 million hectares of land across the state of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Despite its name the NPWS is a state government agency rather than federal government, likewise as other states and territories National Parks agencies around Australia. However the states and territories agencies around Australia do still work closely together.

History

The NPWS was established in 1967 when the Fauna Protection Panel and the Parks and Reserves Branch of the NSW Lands Department were amalgamated under Lands Minister Tom Lewis . Lewis also established a charity, the National Parks Foundation, to assist the NPWS in raising funds for conservation. The first Co-ordinator General of the NPWS was Sam P. Weems, a former superintendent in the US National Park Service. Seven years after the founding of the NPWS, various state laws regulating flora and fauna were consolidated together into the '' National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974'', which remains the enabling legislation for the NPWS to this day. Training of NPWS staff and rangers was conducted at an academy training facility located within the Royal National Park area. From its establishment in 1967 until 2003 the NPWS was a discrete agency of the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

. Since that time it has been a directorate of various broader state government departments. In September 2003 it joined with the Environment Protection Authority, Resource New South Wales, and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to form the Department of Environment and Conservation. This department, by then renamed as the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, was abolished in 2011, and the NPWS was transferred to the Office of Environment & Heritage under the Department of Premier and Cabinet. In 2014 the Office of Environment & Heritage was transferred to the Department of Planning and Environment before also being abolished in 2019. Today, the NPWS continues to be a part of the Department of Planning and Environment cluster, within the Environment and Heritage Group.

Scope of activities

Nearly 900

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

of a variety of types have been declared in New South Wales under the '' National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974'', most of which the NPWS has the responsibility to manage. Covering over , these range from national parks where the NPWS is tasked with conserving biodiversity and protecting ecological integrity to other less restrictive categories of parks and reserves where more intensive human activity must be balanced against maintaining natural and cultural values. This is controlled through the preparation of plans of management which determine how the NPWS manages conservation, hazard protection, research, education, and sustainable visitation activities in its parks and reserves. The NPWS also administers fire management strategies for the land it manages in order to limit risks from bushfires, such as by conducting hazard reduction burns in collaboration with other state agencies such as the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Organisational structure

The NPWS is divided into four branches: Business Delivery, Park Operations (Coastal), Park Operations (Inland), and Conservation and Aboriginal Partnerships. It is led by a Deputy Secretary, who reports to the Coordinator-General of the Environment and Heritage Group, who reports to the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment, who in turn reports to the Minister for the Environment, the minister responsible for the NPWS.

Gallery

File:NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service Helicopter hover entry and exit re-accreditation 3 (cropped).jpg, Park Air (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) File:2005-2008 Toyota Hilux (KUN16R) SR 4-door cab chassis (National Parks and Wildlife Service) 01.jpg, Ranger and Field Officer Work Ute File:1999-2002 Mitsubishi Fuso Canter (FG) 4WD 2-door cab chassis (National Parks and Wildlife Service) 03.jpg, alt=Fire vehicle (Cat 7), Fire vehicle (Cat 7) File:2004 Toyota Land Cruiser (HDJ79R) 2-door cab chassis, National Parks and Wildlife Service (2008-09-21).jpg, Fire vehicle (Cat 9)

References

External links