This is the proposal as presented to: Ross Belcher Regional Manager, Great Sandy Region, Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service, Department of Environment & Resource Management 4th July 2011
Mission: The retention of Kinaba (Sir Thomas Hiley) Information Centre as a working entity, with opportunities for volunteers to be involved in care taking the Centre and surrounds.
Vision: To see the Kinaba Information Centre as a vibrant community-run information and project facility which involves and benefits the Community, Visitors and National Parks.
Proposal: We offer volunteers with long-term commitment to the revitalising, maintaining and operating of the Kinaba Information Centre as a vibrant, community-based centre for the dissemination of information to visitors of the Cooloola National Park to enhance their awareness, understanding and enjoyment of their experience there.
The Boreen Point community is committed to sharing its skills and energy under supervision of National Park rangers at first, ensuring the Kinaba Visitor Centre is retained for the benefit of the public.
We are offering to:
- Revitalise the information and interpretative displays, with advice from rangers.
- Clean and open the information office, so the Kinaba Centre is manned, and visitors can be advised of possible activities, and interesting seasonal specialities.
- Maintain the health of the timber building, verandahs, walkways, jetties and bird hide by applying paint, wood preserving oil or similar finish as prescribed by EPA.
- Engage in the removal of weeds and facilitate planting of local species beneficial to native fauna and flora, in the area surrounding the Centre.
- Open the accommodation facilities for the volunteers who will be over-nighting, to operate the Centre as appropriate in high visitor seasons.
- Invite the traditional owners of Lake Cootharaba and Upper Noosa River to be involved in whatever way they feel is valuable for them. There is always room for volunteers in the working bees, and we would like to be able to refer to them for advice on sensitive issues.
- Share knowledge and integrate with other local groups who care for this area and have a long association with it as well, eg Noosa Integrated Catchment Association, Noosa & District Landcare, Bushcare, WaterWatch, Cooloola Coastcare, National Parks Association, Noosa Parks, Noosa Biosphere.
- Invite participants in private and commercial tour packages to call in to the Centre to increase their awareness and understanding of the vulnerability of the area – both river and land. Commercial activity currently conducted around the Centre will not be affected by our proposal.
We are asking for:
- Guidance from National Parks for the work we will be carrying out.
- Materials to be supplied for the new information displays and the on-going building maintenance
- Training in use of machinery resources available for this maintenance and cover for OH&S.
- Profile on visitor numbers to the Centre since commencement of operations – also peaks and troughs of visitation.
- Induction and training in information sharing and interpretation by National Park rangers.
- Volunteer insurance and public liability for volunteers as offered by NICA.
- Building insurance to be supplied by National Parks
- Policies of operation as are in place now eg search and rescue, law enforcement, bushfire and cyclone preparation and evacuation.
- Adequate communication facilities eg VHF radio, phoneline.
Supporting Organisations and Volunteers
- NICA: Noosa Integrated Catchment Association offering public liability, volunteer insurance, financial administration, advice and experience in land and volunteer management, and grant applications
- Noosa & District Landcare Group / Noosa Waterwatch offering assistance and advice with natural resource management projects, water quality monitoring and volunteer management, developing community partnerships, access to existing networks of information and resources, support / sponsor funding applications, promotion and publicity through Pomona office and website links.
About Friends of Kinaba Volunteers
Friends of Kinaba is a local community volunteer group interested in the protection of the unique values of Cooloola and the Great Sandy National Park, and promoting those values to visitors. Many group members are permanent residents of Boreen Point, and have a long term interest in our natural heritage and commitment to the Cooloola region. We have willing builders, plumbers and pump specialists, an engineer, electricians, conservation and land management consultants, administration and finance experience, knowledge of first aid and canoe training, interpretative and botanical knowledge, rescue skills, handyman experience, people ready to sand, scrape and oil walkways, jetties and verandahs, painters and web designers. As this is a lake community, all volunteers are capable of accessing the site by canoe, kayak, sailing boat or dinghy, singly, or as a group, and as we are aware of the small capacity of the septic system, we will bring our own toilet facilities when on site as a group. As well, we have certified coxwains and a Master Mariner who will help NP rangers with river transport of materials or visitors. All our work will be carried out to DERM standard. Download Kinaba Proposal to DERM [PDF]