The NSW and federal elections in 2019 had the unfortunate result of leaving us with business as usual. No policy decisions have been made to address climate change and the abuse of the environment continues unabated. As the drought becomes more serious the consequences of decisions to exploit forests and the Murray Darling Basin water supply are becoming increasingly apparent. For STEP it has also been business as usual. This annual report gives a brief summary of our activities over the past year. More details are in the issues of our newsletter, STEP Matters and on our website. 

Committee

The STEP committee has always worked cohesively with everyone willing to contribute to the smooth running of the organisation. They frequently come up with new ideas that expand or enhance our activities. I thank them all for the great contribution that they make to STEP. We welcome some new members to the committee, Peter Clarke, Beverley Gwatkin and Jan Newby. They all bring particular skills and good knowledge of our local bushland.

Publications

John Martyn’s new book, Rocks and Trees continues to sell well especially in the Blue Mountains. However there is a decline in interest in our older books. For this reason we have decided to offer bulk package where all our books can be purchased in a bundle at a substantial discount. The demand for maps is steady as the interest in bushwalking seems to be increasing. A paper map has the advantage of providing the big picture.

Accounts

Our operations incurred a very small deficit over the year but we remain in a sound financial position. The main activity has been sales of Rocks and Trees where John has been very active in visiting book shops showing the book. Membership has remained steady. We appreciate the pro bono work done by Allan Donald, Chartered Accountant, who completed the audit of STEP’s financial statements.

Environment Protection Fund

We have maintained the Environment Protection Fund which provides Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for donations that support STEP’s environmental objectives. We received a total of $783 in donations in the past financial year. The donation process on our website has been simplified and there has been a good response! We had a strong response of applications for the John Martyn Research Grant which supports student research in an area relating to the conservation of bushland. This year the grant was awarded to an honours student at the University of NSW researching changes in soil characteristics in association with woodland regeneration.

Electronic media

The new email and newsletter system is being well received. It is a time-consuming process to put together its presentation with illustrations and the links to previous and related stories to each article. Peter Clarke is now helping Helen Wortham with this task but other volunteers are welcome. Trish Lynch and John Burke continue to alert readers to current issues and events through Facebook and Twitter. Readers are attracted to the terrific range of photos that show off our beautiful bushland.

Education

We support the Young Scientist Awards run by the NSW Science Teachers’ Association with a prize in the environmental sustainability category. The winner of the STEP prize this year undertook a phenological study of the population of cicadas at Lake Parramatta. We also supported the Children’s Threatened Species Art Competition. The primary school children produced some fabulous paintings that can be seen on the competition’s Facebook page.

Talks

Our talks have had a local focus this year covering Ku-ring-gai Council’s program supporting bushfire awareness, the Lane Cove environment, native bees and our 2018 grant recipient’s project. At our AGM we like to have a speaker who is an expert on a subject with a broader focus. In 2018 we were lucky to hear the latest on climate change science from Professor Lesley Hughes. She has a great ability to give a clear perspective on this complex issue.

Walks

Peter Clarke has led a series of local walks of up to about 5 km aimed at introducing walkers to our local bush. His entertaining walks have been well received. John Martyn led walks with the usual special features. The spring wildflower show along the Centre Trail was as spectacular. Tall trees were the feature of the walks in the Watagans and Winmalee.

Newsletter

Our newsletter, STEP Matters, is emailed to members as a pdf. The email also contains a list of links to the stories in the latest issue so readers can select the items they want to read. The pdf is a permanent record of the newsletters as all issues are available on our website. We reached the milestone of the 200th issue in April. We commemorated this issue by publishing some stories about the heritage, both natural and cultural, of the bushland areas of northern Sydney written by local experts. We hope that the newsletter can keep members up to date on local environmental events and issues. The newsletter email has a wide circulation including local councillors and politicians. We welcome alerts from our members of local events and developments and, of course, article contributions and feedback on articles is always welcome.

Collaboration with other local groups

We are increasingly working with other local environment groups to research and make submissions on local developments that will have a detrimental effect on the environment. This applies to major issues like the Mirvac development next to the Cumberland State Forest, the threats to Sydney’s national parks from development within and bordering on the parks and the perennial issue of degradation and clearing of urban bushland. The cumulative impact of these developments is rarely assessed by government. We may be sharing information but collaboration does not extend as far as sending submissions. We know that governments and assessment authorities count a submission from one person almost equally with one from a group representing a large number of people. However they do pay attention to submissions that have individual content and detailed arguments. STEP is a member of the Powerful Owl Coalition that is now supported by about seven local environment groups in northern Sydney as well as the Powerful Owl Project run by Birdlife Australia. We have been sending copies of the detailed position paper to local governments and organisations whose work influences the owl’s habitat. We would like to cover more than just northern Sydney as we know they are out there in other bushland areas of Sydney.

Advocacy

Once again there has been plenty of local issues to attract our attention. The Mirvac development proposals have had to be modified but it is still not clear how the large area of bushland, including Blue Gum High Forest, will be managed. Byles Creek Valley continues to be unprotected from subdivision and massive clearing. The push for use of synthetic turf on playing fields has become a controversial issue. At the state level the government there is hope that the new Environment and Energy Minister, Member for Hornsby, Matt Kean will be able to declare new national park land acquisitions.