Tamworth ecologist Phil Spark has won the prestigious Dunphy Award for outstanding success in conservation.
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Mr Spark started out a farmer, trained as an ecologist, and ended up one of the state’s leading environmentalists.
He has been in the front line in the battle to save forests and woodlands against the ravages of the coal and gas industries in NSW, especially in his native northwest of the state where he has campaigned for years to save Leard state forest and the Pilliga from coal mines and coal seam gas developments.
Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski congratulated Mr Spark.
“The environment movement in NSW would be nothing without people like Phil Spark and thousands of volunteers who work tirelessly to protect the places and the wildlife we love.
“These awards recognise the work of some of the community’s most outstanding individuals and organisations.
“They also celebrate the achievements of the movement as a whole.”
Mr Spark shared the Dunphy Award with former Environmental Defender’s Office CEO Sue Higginson.
The 2017 awards were presented by Wendy Bowman, an environmentalist and farmer from the Hunter Valley, who won this year’s international Goldman Environmental Prize, NCC Chairman Professor Don White and Ms Smolski on Saturday, October 28.
About Mr Spark
Phil Spark started out a farmer, trained as an ecologist, and ended up one of the state’s leading environmentalists.
He has been in the front line in the battle to save forests and woodlands against the ravages of the coal and gas industries in NSW, especially in his native northwest of the state where he has campaigned for years to save Leard state forest and the Pilliga from coal mines and coal seam gas developments.
Phil was a founding member of the Northern Inland Council for the Environment (NICE), which has been a potent force for environmental advocacy and protection in the region for more than a decade.
NICE led the charge against two coal mines in the Leard State Forest near Boggabri in north-western NSW, taking legal action to challenge Commonwealth approvals in 2013.
He has frequently used his expertise as an ecologist, serving as an expert witness during the assessment that led to the protection of the Brigalow Belt South and Nandewar forests, as well as composing thorough submissions to government processes in the hope of strengthening environmental protections for wildlife.
A tireless and fearless warrior in the campaign to protect nature, he has been blowing the whistle on illegal land clearers and collecting evidence to aid prosecutions for many years, often at considerable personal risk.
Phil has also been a skilled advocate through the media and is a passionate educator opening the eyes of the wider public to beauty and wonder of the bushland and wildlife that are rapidly vanishing from our landscape.
