The Conservation Council of Western Australia is the umbrella body for conservation

Conservation movement

The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

 groups and organisations in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It has been the co-ordinator, publisher and guiding body for issues of woodchipping

Woodchipping

Woodchipping is the act and industry of chipping wood for pulp, processed wood products, and mulch.-Papermaking:Timber is converted to woodchips and sold, primarily, for pulp production used in paper manufacture...

 in the South West of Western Australia, the logging of old growth forest

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

s, as well as providing input into government processes involved with all aspects of environmental protection and conservation.

Its origins were closely related to the Perth based - Environment Centre of W.A., and the development and success of the environmental movement also saw subsequent development of the regional environment centres in Denmark, Albany, Margaret River and Busselton.

In 1981 the council was involved in a class action regarding the mining in the Jarrah forests in the United States against bauxite miners Reynolds and Alcoa, the complaint was lodged with U.S. Federal District Court in Pittsburgh, Pennsyilvania.

Notable member groups of the council have included the Campaign to Save Native Forests

Campaign to Save Native Forests

The Campaign to Save Native Forests was the name of a grassroots organisation which grew from a campaign started in Perth, Western Australia, in 1975, as a response to the development of a woodchipping industry in the south-west Jarrah and Karri forests of Western Australia...

, South West Forests Defence Foundation

South West Forests Defence Foundation

South West Forests Defence Foundation is a group that has been involved with three decades of involvement with the conservation of the Jarrah and Karri forests of the South West region of Western Australia....

, West Australian Forest Alliance

West Australian Forest Alliance

The West Australian Forest Alliance is an organisation made up of a number of West Australian environmental activist groups—concerned with the destruction of Old Growth Forests in the South West region....

, and Great Walk Networking

Great Walk Networking

Great Walk Networking is a bushwalking community in Western Australia. The Great Walk started in 1988 as a protest walk from Denmark to Parliament House in Perth, to raise awareness of logging in Western Australia's old growth forests....

. Smaller, more transient single-purpose protest

Protest

A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...

 groups have found the council a positive custodian and advocate over the thirty years of its activities. Some groups are no longer current but their impact on the process of conservation and preservation in Western Australia have been significant in raising public awareness of issues.

Affiliated groups

(This list may not be correct - some groups might be inactive - and other active groups may be not listed...)
(In alphabetical order...)

• Active Community Environmentalists
• Albany Community Environment Centre Inc
• Alumina Action Alliance
• Animal Rights Advocates
• Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (WA)
• Australian Marine Conservation Society
• Avon Valley Environmental Society
• Balingup Friends of the Forest Inc.
• Bassendean Preservation Group Inc
• Birds Australia WA Group
• Blackwood Environment Society
• Bridgetown-Greenbushes Friends of the Forest
• Bushwalkers of WA
• Busselton-Dunsborough Environment Centre
• Canning River Residents Environment Protection Association
• Cape Conservation Group
• Cape to Cape Alliance
• Care for Hedland Environmental Association
• Coogee Coastal Action Coalition
• Darling Range Wildlife Shelter
• Denmark Conservation Society
• Denmark Environment Centre
• EARTH
• Environmental Defenders Office WA
• Environment House
• Environmental Weeds Action Network (WA)
• Environs Kimberley
• FAWNA Inc.
• Foothills Save Our Trees Action Group
• Friends of Bold Park Bushland Inc.
• Friends of Moore River Estuary
• Friends of the Fitzgerald River National Park
• Friends of Star Swamp Bushland Inc
• Geographic Society of WA Inc.
• Guilderton Community Association
• Lake Meelup Preservation Society
• Leeuwin Environment
• Leighton Action Coalition
• Local Environmental Action Forum (LEAF)
• Malleefowl Preservation Group
• Margaret River Regional Environment Centre
• Men of the Trees
• Naragebup Rockingham Regional Environment Centre
• Nature and Agriculture Rehabilitation Association (NARA)
• Nature Reserves Preservation Group
• Oxfam (WA Branch)
• Peel Preservation Group
• People for Nuclear Disarmament
• Perth Bushwalkers Club
• Pilbara Wildlife Carers Association
• Pollution Action Network
• Port Kennedy LCDC
• Quinns Rocks Environmental Group Inc
• Roleystone Dieback Action Group
• Save Endangered East Kimberley Species Group Inc.
• Save Our Marine Life
  Save Our Marine Life
  Save Our Marine Life is an Australian not-for-profit, non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation working to protect and secure Australia’s unique marine life...
  
  
• South West Environment Centre
• South-West Forest Defence Foundation Inc.
• Sustainable Energy Now, Inc.
• Sustainable Population Australia Inc. WA Branch
• Sustainable Transport Coalition
• The River Conservation Society
• The Rottnest Society
• Urban Bushland Council (WA)
• Vive La Recherche
• WA Native Orchid Study & Conservation Group
• WA Speleological Group (WASG)
• Walpole-Nornalup National Park Association
• Waterbird Conservation Group Inc.
• Western Australian Naturalists' Club
  Western Australian Naturalists' Club
  The Western Australian Naturalists' Club , founded in Perth, Western Australia, in 1924, is one of the oldest conservation groups in Australia...
  
  
• Wetlands Conservation Society
• Wilderness Society WA
• Wildflower Society of WA
• Yamatji Land and Sea Council
• Yarloop and Districts Concerned Residents Committee
• Youth Environment Scheme

Community incentive

The council created the Bessie Rischbieth

Bessie Rischbieth

Bessie Mabel Rischbieth, née Earle OBE was an influential and early Australian feminist and social activist. A leading or founding member of many social reform groups, such as the Women's Service Guilds, the Australian Federation of Women Voters and their periodical Dawn, she sought to establish...

Conservation Award to acknowledge the contribution of a volunteer in the community conservation sector in 1994.

Class action details

Jarrah class action legal complaint : the Conservation Council of Western Australia Inc. (Plaintiffs) - v. - Aluminium Company of America (ALCOA) and Reynolds Metals Co., (Defendants), Feb. 1981. [Perth, W.A.] : Conservation Council of W.A, 1981.

Further reading

• The Greener times : official publication of the Conservation Council of Western Australia (Inc.). Perth, W.A : The Council, 1990-
• Forest information resource kit : an introduction to some key issues in the forest debate in Western Australia Conservation Council of WA with - WA Forest Alliance, and Wilderness Society (WA) Perth, W.A.: The Council, 1999.
• Rundle, Graeme. The Perth Environment Centre : its beginnings. Greener times, Feb. 1998, p. 12-13,