Join the Northern Territory Division for a free lunchtime presentation from Dr Alaric Fisher, Executive Director, Flora & Fauna Division, DENR.

The Howard Springs Sands Plains is an area of high biodiversity significance. It also hosts substantial sand and gravel resources that have been extracted for a number of years. To resolve the inevitable conflict between biodiversity protection and development the NT Department of Environment and Natural Resources has declared a protected priority area over a part of the sand plains.

Extractive mining will be progressively removed from the protected priority area over the next 5 years.

Dr Alaric Fisher will discuss in his presentation -

• the rationale behind the declaration
• the process for determining the area and
• the implications for biodiversity protection and industry