Types of protected areas
Parks, reserves, conservation areas, wilderness, Aboriginal and heritage places, wildlife refuges, wild rivers and private landholdings.
Find out about the various types of areas listed because of their natural and/or heritage values. These areas have local, state, national or even international signficance.
- Aboriginal places and areas
Aboriginal Places are a way of legally recognising Aboriginal cultural heritage on public and private lands to protect ceremonial and spiritual values and areas containing objects such as middens, burials, reburials, Bora rings and rock art. An area can have historical, educational or other significance or could have been used for its natural resources. These places are important to Aboriginal people for social and commemorative reasons.
- Aquatic reserves
Aquatic reserves were established to protect biodiversity and provide representative samples of our wonderfully varied marine life and habitats. Many of the 12 aquatic reserves in NSW have been in place for over 30 years. You can enjoy a range of marine activities such as boating, scuba diving, snorkelling and swimming in aquatic reserves. The kinds of fishing activities that are allowed in an aquatic reserve depend on the biodiversity values of the individual reserve and include NSW fishing rules and regulations such as fishing closures, bag limits and size limits.
- Green List
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature Green List of Protected Areas is a global initiative to encourage, measure, celebrate and share the success of protected area excellence. Australia currently has three NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service reserves accepted to the Green List.
- Heritage places
Heritage consists of those places and objects that we have inherited from past generations and want to pass on to future generations. NSW has a diverse heritage that includes buildings, gardens, landscapes, archaeological sites, monuments, moveable heritage and shipwrecks.
- Karst conservation reserves
Karst conservation reserves are outstanding cave areas that offer unique experiences, with their spectacular beauty and stunning surroundings. These areas provide important evidence of past life, such as relics and fossils, as well as evidence of atmospheric, hydrological and biological processes.
- Marine parks
Marine protected areas are parts of the NSW marine estate managed to conserve marine biodiversity and support marine science, recreation and education. The NSW system of marine protected areas encompasses six multiple use marine parks (which cover an area of approximately 345,100 hectares), 12 aquatic reserves and 62 national parks and reserves with marine components.
- National Heritage List
The National Heritage List protects places with outstanding natural, Indigenous or historic heritage value to Australia.
- National parks
National parks are large areas of public land set aside for native plants, animals and the places in which they live. National parks protect places of natural beauty. They also protect places important to Aboriginal people, and places that show how people lived in the past.
- Nature reserves
Nature reserves are areas of land in predominantly untouched, natural condition, with high conservation value. Their primary purpose is to protect and conserve their outstanding, unique or representative ecosystems and Australian native plants and animals.
- Private land under conservation agreement
The Conservation Partners Program supports landholders in voluntarily protecting and managing native vegetation, wildlife habitat, geological features, historic heritage and Aboriginal cultural heritage on their properties. A conservation agreement is a joint agreement between landholders and the NSW Minister for the Environment. The agreement provides permanent protection for the special features of your land. The area under the agreement is registered on the title of the land, ensuring that, if the land is sold, the agreement and management requirements remain in place. Landholders can choose from a range of protection options which recognise and formalise their commitment to conservation on their properties.
- Regional parks
Regional parks are lands reserved to protect and conserve areas in natural or modified landscapes. They’re also suitable for sustainable public recreation and enjoyment. Regional parks offer open spaces for cultural and recreational activities (including dog walking in some parks) which may not be permitted in national parks, state conservation areas or nature reserves.
- Special Areas
Special Areas are lands that surround and protect drinking water supply storages. WaterNSW and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) jointly manage the Special Areas. WaterNSW is responsible for managing water quality and quantity with NPWS being the primary conservation agency in NSW and the landowner of reserves within the Special Areas. Joint sponsorship of the Special Areas requires an integrated approach to management based on a shared vision. As required under legislation, the joint sponsors have prepared a plan of management for the Special Areas. The Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management (SASPoM) replaces the Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management 2007.
- State conservation areas
State conservation areas are lands reserved to protect and conserve significant or representative ecosystems, landforms, natural phenomena or places of cultural significance. They provide opportunities for sustainable visitation, public enjoyment, and research.
Wilderness is used to describe large, natural areas of land that, together with their native plant and animal communities, remain essentially unchanged by modern human activity. Wilderness areas represent the largest, most pristine areas in the state's reserve system. They are managed so that native plant and animal communities are disturbed as little as possible.
- Wildlife refuges
The Wildlife Refuges scheme has existed since 1948 and is one of the longest-running schemes in Australia that supports conservation on private and public land. Making your property a wildlife refuge is one way you can protect and conserve wildlife on your property and aid the conservation of our unique native plants and animals. Wildlife refuges may contain remnant native vegetation as well as habitat provided by wildlife corridors, windbreaks, woodlots or farm dams.
- Wild Rivers
Wild rivers are rivers that are in near-pristine condition in terms of animal and plant life and water flow, and are free of the unnatural rates of siltation or bank erosion that affect many of Australia's waterways. In NSW, wild rivers are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
- World Heritage List
The globally recognised United Nations World Heritage List contains some of the most important examples of natural and cultural heritage in the world. More than 800 precious places are on the list worldwide, from the Great Barrier Reef to the pyramids of Egypt.
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Page last updated: 05 April 2016