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Help protect Mt Canobolas by joining the CCA.

YOUR DONATION WILL HELP US PROTECT MT CANOBOLAS.

Help protect Mt Canobolas by joining the CCA.

The Canobolas Conservation Alliance has as its principle objective the protection of the Mt Canobolas State Conservation Area (SCA) from inappropriate development. We are fortunate that a tiny remnant of the grand montane forests that formerly clothed the Orange district has survived on Mt Canobolas by virtue of its steep and rugged terrain. Apart from the communication towers on its summit, no commercial use threatened the mat of biodiversity clinging to the mountain’s precipitous slopes, until now. The features of the mountain that have long protected it are now its main vulnerability. Hordes of young fit mountain bikers dream of the adrenalin rush of careering down its steep slopes, sending sprays of fragile alpine humic soils flying, and pummeling the threatened lichens covering the rocks of rare alpine heaths.

The truth is that Mt Canobolas SCA is a tiny reserve with shallow fragile soils and rare biodiversity that occurs nowhere else on earth. Even without the added stress of large scale mountain biking, most of the biodiversity on Mt Canobolas is already at risk of extinction owing to the small populations of many species and the looming threat of climate change. The loss and splintering of habitats caused by over 70 km of tracks, and trampling by spectators moving through the bush, will inevitably accelerate habitat degradation and species declines.

The CCA firmly believes the Orange City Council proposal is totally inappropriate for this small, vulnerable reserve, which is undoubtedly the most important nature conservation reserve in the Central West.

We need your help to protect the Mt Canobolas SCA in perpetuity.