Contemporary Societal Relationships- Cape Paterson Billy Marshall

Conservation The land is now viewed as a resource and also its unique nature. Conservation in the Cape Paterson area is the Bunurong Marine National Park that was designed to protect and preserve the natural beauty of the area and species that live there. They built the National Parks to protect to the native flora and fauna of the Bunurong area. It also them to grow and breed without any interruptions. There are also Koala conservation close to the Cape Paterson area to protect the Koala’s so they can breed without any disturbance for humans. The impacts of the introduction of National Parks has had a positive impact on the land by protecting our native species. It gives them a safe environment to live without the removal of their habitat and disturbance from humans. As humans began to realise the beauty and importance of the land they began to take care and look after the land. They designed strategies to preserve and conserve the land such as National Parks and minimal impact strategies.

Recreation The Cape Paterson it is generally seen as an area for recreation. Because of Cape Paterson’s location along golden beaches and cliff faces it is a great place to do recreation activities. Not many people live in the area but during the warmer months it is packed with tourists using the amazing environment that Cape Paterson offers them. The interactions that occur are recreation activities such as snorkelling, surfing, diving, boating, bike riding, fishing, bush walking, photography, painting and bird watching. The natural environment is used to perform these recreation activities. These activities have negative impacts on the environment. Erosion is a major impact on the environment from the tracks for bike riding, bush walking and access to beaches. Tracks also force land to be cleared which will damage and remove habitat for our native species. The land was beginning to be viewed as a place to use for relaxation and enjoyment rather than a place just to make money off. Humans had mixed perceptions of the land has it now has another use other than making money.

Primary Industries There are many primary industries such as beef and dairy farming in the Cape Paterson area. The land is viewed for it use of soil for crops and grazing. The land is viewed as a place to make money off. Coal is resource that is mined in the area. They made money by farming, mining and fishing. They imported and exported these products to get their money. They created paddocks for their pastures for the livestock to graze on. Boat ramps were built to launch the fishing boats into the ocean. Mines to get underground and get the coal. Primary industries had significant impacts on the natural environment. The land was over farmed from the Europeans as they had little knowledge of the land and tried to implement their farming techniques. This led to soil depletion from hard hoofs,and overgrazing and erosion from livestock tracks. Mining contributed to several impacts. Timber harvesting and land clearing was an impact because timber was needed for support structures. Erosion and water pollution were other impacts from mining. The land is viewed as a resource to make money off, the impact on the environment wasn’t recognised or considered once recognised.

Tourism Practices The land is viewed as a place for recreation which will attract people to a certain area to undertake these recreation activities. Humans are now using these activities to make money off by running companies to take people on these recreation and commercial activities. In the Cape Paterson area there is a company that take groups of people snorkelling at Shack Bay. They show people the under water creatures such as fish, Port Jackson sharks and sea horses. They have to work with the tides to take the groups out. High tide is the ideal time to take people out as its easy to get out into the water and they are closer to the shore. The impacts from these practices are habitat loss from vegetation removal to form tracks for access to the beach. Litter from the people that visit the area to under take these activities. Tourism obviously attract a lot of people during the holiday period. These people must stay somewhere so Caravan parks and camp sites are built to accommodate these tourist. It has impacts such as clearing of land and erosion. The land is now viewed as a place to take holidays so facilities such as look out towers and showers/toilets must be put in place. The towns that get heavily populated during the holiday months must support these people by constructing several tracks for beach access, caravan parks and camp sites which have negative impacts that I have already spoken about.