Views from the inside

The New South Wales Government introduced The Native Vegetation Conservation Act, 1997 (NSW) (the Act) as a response to continued clearing of native vegetation. The Act makes provision for developing and implementing regional vegetation management plans. There are eight such plans to be developed in the Barwon region of north-west New South Wales by regional vegetation committees (RVCs). Each committee has 15 members and an executive officer (employed by Department of Land and Water Conservation). The Chair is elected at the inaugural meeting. The longest running committee in the Barwon region is Walgett (in operation since early 1998), while the remaining seven committees have been running since August of 1999 and had at least six to ten meetings each year. This commentary relates the experiences of the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) as science representatives on RVCs: how they perceive their role and function, their observations of committee processes and how consultation of the wider community, as required by s 28 of the Act, has been achieved.