Greater Conjola

Greater Conjola is an area of coastal forests (along with beaches, dunes, coastal lakes and lagoons) and hinterland mountains. Greater Conjola stretches from the Budawangs Wilderness in Morton National Park to the coastline just south of Jervis Bay.

It covers all of Conjola State Forest and Swan Lake, all of Jerrawangala State Forest, parts of McDonald and Yerriyong State Forests, and some coastal vacant crown land.

Greater Conjola covers 17,045 ha, comprising 16,404 ha of state forest and 641 ha of vacant crown land. In addition it would extend across Swan Lake, the small coastal Cudmirrah and Conjola National Parks, and join Morton National Park.

Some of the conservation values of Greater Conjola are listed below:

Greater Conjola is a biodiversity hot spot. It contains almost 500 documented plant species, 185 bird species, 27 mammal species, and 44 orchid species in its eastern end alone (Conjola State Forest, and Cudmirrah and Conjola National Parks).

Greater Conjola contains an enormous 22 threatened species. Under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995), it contains 4 Schedule 1 species (Endangered) and 18 Schedule 2 species (Vulnerable). Endangered species are the Regent Honeyeter, Green and Golden Bell Frog, Southern Brown Bandicoot, and Hooded Plover.

Greater Conjola would be a biological corridor that stretched from the mountains to the sea. It would join the small coastal Conjola and Cudmirrah National Parks to the inland Morton National Park and Budawang Wilderness. Such mountain to coast links are of great importance to the long-term conservation of ecosystems and species in the face of changing climatic conditions and habitat loss.

Greater Conjola would protect a truly magnificent stretch of coastline. Some of the South Coast's best beaches, headlands, dunes, and coastal heaths and forests lie along this stretch of coast. Greater Conjola would also protect the sensitive coastal lakes of Swan Lake, Monument Lagoon and Lake Conjola.

Greater Conjola is required for a CAR reserve system, fulfilling many JANIS scientific values. It contributes significantly to rainforest ecosystem 67, forest ecosystems 22 and 24, old-growth ecosystems 41, 47, 50, 62, 63, 67 and 149, and fauna targets for the Powerful, Masked and Sooty Owls, Yellow-bellied Glider and Brush-tailed Phascogale.

Greater Conjola is an important Aboriginal place. Near Jervis Bay, most of the Proposal area is within the lands of the Jerrinja people, and is rich in aboriginal sites and artifacts. In Conjola State Forest, Cudmirrah National Park and surrounding Crown Land there is a total of 133 sites awaiting registration with the NPWS. Surveys undertaken by Herbert in March 1998, sponsored by the BDEA, have discovered this area to be rich in artifacts. In all 18 new sites have been recorded in the crown land at North Bendalong, these being isolated artifacts, silcrete quarries and scarred trees. Other recorded sites near this vicinity include middens, middens with artifacts, burial sites, artifact scatters, axe-grinding grooves, rockshelters and silcrete quarries.

Greater Conjola is in a key location for tourism and recreation, in the heart of the most popular tourist destination in the State outside Sydney, the Shoalhaven Shire, and bordering Jervis Bay and the Budawang Mountains.

Greater Conjola is a community icon. In 1996 two hundred local residents ran a 17 day blockade of logging operations which was successful in halting logging and preventing any further logging to this day. This community has been campaigning for much of the area to become national park since before 1985, when substantial areas of Conjola State Forest and its surrounds were referenced by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for national park (and are still undeclared).