Bushfire eco-financial loss

For the past five years I have invested in a start-up tour operation based in Katoomba in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Tour operators will be well aware of the qualification courses, the business setup and compliance costs before government allows you to step one foot commercially into a ‘national’ park. So tour vehicle purchased, equipped and ready to go, then the Christmas 2019 Bushfire Emergency stigma…and then the cancellations and refunds.   No income for how long? Due diligence does not factor in the entire devastation of a region and industry in the space of one month. I checked out the Blue Gum Forest from Govett’s Leap on Monday.  A plume that started near Putty 60km NE has incinerated this 1932 ‘Cradle of Conservation’ yet again right through the entire canopy.  The Grand Canyon Track upgraded at a cost of $5M remains closed after 2 months. The Jemby-Rinjah Eco Lodge down at Evans has been razed. This is what it was for years before Christmas 2019:

The catastrophic aftermath in December 2019 of NPWS management abandoning the Gospers Mountain ignition of 26th October 2019 more than 70km to the north-east (unforgiveable):

GOVERNMENT BUSH ARSON:  Jemby-Rinjah Eco-Lodge razed by inaction from NSW Government’s negligent Parks Service and Rural Fire Service’s default ‘hazard’ reduction mindset

  What to do?  Is government serious about protecting ecology and supporting eco-tourism beyond its PR?  May be the only jobs left are in government, funded by whom..? Steve Ridd, Tour Director   [This article was first published in the Blue Mountains Gazette newspaper 29th January 2020, but the title was changed by the editor to ‘Bleak Future’].