Copeland State Forest NSW

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Messages
3,004
Reaction score
1,691
Location
Sydney, NSW
I went to Copeland State Forest a couple of months ago

It is marked on the maps as being " State Forest "

but when i go there there were signs everywhere saying its a Conservation area

what kind of prickssss are they doing crappp like that ?

not only is it marked as a CSA but there are signs on all the fire trails saying "authorised vehicles only "

whats an authorised vehicle ?

my vehicle is authorised to travel on australian roads , and i have got the pink slip and rego to prove it

does that make me authorised to enter the forest trails or would they jump out of their assesss and fine me for driving up them ?

can anyone tell me , are there any conditions under which we are entitled to enter this " State forest that isnt a state forest " for the purpose of prospecting ?
 
Managed by NPWS, SCA's are a no go unfortunately.

Authorised vehicles means authorised by the management authority, ie NPWS
 
G'Day HeadsUp,
You're not on your own about being unable to fossick up Copeland way, living in the lower hunter it's the closest location I have to do some prospecting and I dare say there would be a fair number of PA members who are similarly situated.
It's fairly obvious from your post that you're not too happy with not being able to fossick/prospect at Copeland; a sentiment I'm sure other PA members would share with you; that said though, have you or other interested PA members for that matter given any thought to how we could collectively attempt to reverse these lock-outs, not just at Copeland but other areas of NSW as well?
For those interested in this part of the world the "New Series" maps for the area have the former Copeland Tops State Forest marked as the Copeland Tops SCA.
Cheers, SinHof.
 
There's a couple of areas that are marked as "state forest" on maps around my way. Same thing happened - on investigation found they'd been handed over to NPWS & are now SCA or Nature Reserve.
Shows that you can never do enough research on prospective areas.
I am currently working on getting some sort of list/map of these areas that have been changed over from state forest & even other SCA's/National Park that may hold some significant fossicking potential to possibly put forward a case to at least review them.
If you know of an area let me know the details I.e. location, status - former state forest/SCA etc., known mineral/s that can be fossicked for, known former fossicking area/s within, historic mining activity etc.
 
Yet the NPWS does a panning demonstration for the tourists going through Mountain Maid Mine.

Yep...get em interested and then say.." Oh by the way if you want a good spot to try this.....Drive 2 hours minimum"
Places like Copeland are turning into Greeny yuppie retreats.
Peace, serenity and keep every other bastard out please is their motto
 
NAPFA is working on the Copeland Tops SCA issue. But obviously many are unaware of that.

At the beginning of February the NAPFA committee went to Gloucester to inspect the Copeland Tops SCA in preparation for our submission when it comes up.

When we were there we met with the local NPWS Ranger and the District Manager to discuss our intentions to put in a submission in due course. We are still waiting for release of the draft plan for us to do that. We also demonstrated metal detecting for them.

The area used to be a major gold producer area (about 40 old mines in the SCA) but has been locked-up to fossickers even though it remains in theory available to mining.

NPWS uses the SCA and the Mountain Maid mine as an education centre for school groups. There are excellent facilities, built at considerable cost, and the kids learn about the gold history of the area and try their hand at panning in plastic tubs (unable to go in the gold bearing creek because of liability concerns).

The SCA is quite rugged and if we are able to get access there would require a good degree of fitness to be able to move through the terrain.

NAPFAs Vice President, Paul Barker, is keen to hear from NAPFA members interested in getting access to this area. Some NAPFA members have already contacted him and he is keen to hear from others.

Please contact Paul ASAP by email: [email protected]

While I don't want to be "preachy" if you are interested in pursuing access to these areas in an organised way then you should consider joining NAPFA to be part of an organised and representative voice. Check joining information in the NAPFA section on the forum.

We can all individually express our frustration but for most matters the only way to change things is to be organised and work as a group. For fossickers who are very independently minded, this is always a challenge!


Check the March newsletter in the NAPFA associations section for Photos of the Copeland Tops area.

cheers

Stephen
NAPFA President.
 
SinHof said:
G'Day HeadsUp,
You're not on your own about being unable to fossick up Copeland way, living in the lower hunter it's the closest location I have to do some prospecting and I dare say there would be a fair number of PA members who are similarly situated.
It's fairly obvious from your post that you're not too happy with not being able to fossick/prospect at Copeland; a sentiment I'm sure other PA members would share with you; that said though, have you or other interested PA members for that matter given any thought to how we could collectively attempt to reverse these lock-outs, not just at Copeland but other areas of NSW as well?
For those interested in this part of the world the "New Series" maps for the area have the former Copeland Tops State Forest marked as the Copeland Tops SCA.
Cheers, SinHof.

yes i was _furious_ after planning the weekend away , then arriving to find the maps on several websites i checked are not accurate , or NPWS are too lazy to update and notify anyone.

whose job is that ? NPWS i think

I am a member of NPFA and i am about to email to list myself as an interested party in fossicking there
 
NAPFA said:
NAPFA is working on the Copeland Tops SCA issue. But obviously many are unaware of that.

At the beginning of February the NAPFA committee went to Gloucester to inspect the Copeland Tops SCA in preparation for our submission when it comes up.

When we were there we met with the local NPWS Ranger and the District Manager to discuss our intentions to put in a submission in due course. We are still waiting for release of the draft plan for us to do that. We also demonstrated metal detecting for them.

The area used to be a major gold producer area (about 40 old mines in the SCA) but has been locked-up to fossickers even though it remains in theory available to mining.

NPWS uses the SCA and the Mountain Maid mine as an education centre for school groups. There are excellent facilities, built at considerable cost, and the kids learn about the gold history of the area and try their hand at panning in plastic tubs (unable to go in the gold bearing creek because of liability concerns).

The SCA is quite rugged and if we are able to get access there would require a good degree of fitness to be able to move through the terrain.

NAPFAs Vice President, Paul Barker, is keen to hear from NAPFA members interested in getting access to this area. Some NAPFA members have already contacted him and he is keen to hear from others.

Please contact Paul ASAP by email: [email protected]

While I don't want to be "preachy" if you are interested in pursuing access to these areas in an organised way then you should consider joining NAPFA to be part of an organised and representative voice. Check joining information in the NAPFA section on the forum.

We can all individually express our frustration but for most matters the only way to change things is to be organised and work as a group. For fossickers who are very independently minded, this is always a challenge!


Check the March newsletter in the NAPFA associations section for Photos of the Copeland Tops area.

cheers

Stephen
NAPFA President.

well done Stephen , glad to hear you're pushing for that one.

i am emailing Paul now

I didnt know about Mountain Maid being set up with access by NPWS , i had actually spoken to a miner who worked a claim up there 20 years ago and had planned to trek up through the bush to get to it , imagine what a waste of time that would have been to bust out into a clearing after walking 6 hours through rugged bush only to find 50 school kids panning dirt.

lets all sing together now boys and girls " sucked in mister you wasted your trip " haha !

:eek:

research research research
 
Let's hope three NAPFA can make some inroads here. Typical of political based progress, things are quick to change to exclude people but slow to change to include, unless some revenue raising is involved. I'm Victorian but its something that has also happened here, two places that used to be open access a decade ago are wildlife reserves. And please believe when I say there are no extra advantages to the wildlife since it became so. This sort of thing gets me a little wound up, so I wish you guys up there luck, I hope you get the outcome you are after. Times change I get it, but it just seems odd to me everytime this subject comes up, that a location that has in the past been worked suddenly is off limits, especially under environmental pretences. Cyanide processing is long gone, so is dredging, so where's the harm in letting a couple holes be dug with the associated tourist dollar? Sorry for the rant, its just the argument that fossikers and prospectors are not true custodians and keepers of a good environment and therefore are demonised and locked out is to be blunt utterly ridiculous.
 
Gloucester has an unbelievably well run tourist attracting team in place to attract people to the area to spend their dough... It may add some leverage to get them on side and ask them to contact the foristry commission to help get areas opened up to tourists to help with the local economy... :)
 

Latest posts

Top