Bushcare is an enquiry into how best to manage the bush.
It will appeal to travellers, coastal folk and others wanting to deepen their appreciation of the country which lies beyond the ranges. These folk are poorly served at present. Travel guides tell a little about a lot. Research papers tell a lot about not much at all.
Bushcare aims to bridge this gap with a rapid assessment of the condition of the bush. The reader sits in on interviews with park rangers and graziers for their take on what works and what doesn’t in managing the great pastoral regions of eastern Australia. Historical research and policy analysis tease out the wider significance of their stories.
- Part 1 assesses the contributions of national parks and conservancies in conserving biodiversity.
- Part 2 assesses the performance of graziers in managing for sustainability. The results: a conditional pass on sustainability but a fail on biodiversity.
- Part 3 argues that if we want to improve our performance as custodians of the bush we should reform our institutions; reconfigure the community sector and reimagine the bush.
Bushcare is a must read for a ‘technical’ readership which includes rural industry advisers, land agency officials, members and supporters of environmental NGOs and community groups and all of those who manage the parks, stations, reserves and homelands of the ‘modern outback’.
Why the title: Bushcare: A citizen’s audit ?
Bushcare references Landcare—the program which joined up our responses to land degradation and loss of bio-diversity. Audits scrutinise performance—in this case performance in responding to those legacies. And it is a citizen’s audit because it has been researched and published in the public interest without any external sponsorship.
Bushcare comes with maps, photos, a glossary and more.