The following residents of the ACT draw the attention of the Assembly to conserving the Ainslie Volcanics site.
This site and surrounds contain important ecological and heritage values which need to be protected.
This area is important to the local community and is being actively managed by local volunteers working formally with ACT Parks and Conservation and Molonglo Conservation Group. Ecological values include critically endangered Natural Temperate Grasslands, Box Gum Woodland, and habitat for multiple Commonwealth threatened species.
Volunteer work ensures the grasslands are preserved and maintained against threats from invasive species. Protecting these areas aligns with the 2017 ACT Native Grassland Conservation Strategy
and the ACT Nature Conservation Act 2014.
The area has been nominated for
the ACT Heritage Register for Aboriginal heritage values associated with the outcrops, and the place name ‘Nadya Ngambri’ reserve has been nominated.
Incorporating the Ainslie Volcanics site into the Canberra Nature Park will protect the site; and demonstrate that the ACT Government is actively committed to its own environment and heritage legislation.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to
1. Call upon the ACT Government to urgently incorporate the following blocks into the Canberra Nature Park:
· AINSLIE: Blocks 2 and 3, Section 60
· CAMPBELL: Block 4, Section 63
2. Petition the Federal Government to relinquish the area of the “Wolseley Drive” access corridor adjacent to these blocks, so it can also be incorporated into the Mt Ainslie Nature Reserve.