Editing Nightcap National Park (section)

== Park history ==
Before it became a national park, it provided the historic link between the Richmond and Tweed valleys known as the Historic Nightcap Track. It provided the first bridle track in 1871 and as of 1874 a telegraph line between the two valleys. A section of this historic link is now part of a walking track at the park.<ref name=":0" />

The beginning of the modern conservation movement involving [[direct action]] occurred during 1972 to 1982 in the upper Northern Rivers region. The conservation campaigns started in an attempt to prevent further logging of the rainforest in the region.<ref name=":0" /> Terania Creek at Nightcap was the site of the first rainforest anti-logging demonstrations in Australia. By 1979 the campaign against logging increased in intensity, starting an event known as the three-year Rainforest War involving a group of dedicated activists being supported by former NSW Premier Neville Wran.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Nightcap National Park, NSW|url = http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/outdoor/weekend-escapes/2015/01/nightcap-national-park-nsw|access-date = 2015-05-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=3CR |last2=McIntyre |first2=Iain |date=2018 |title=Treesits, lock-ons and barricades: Environmental blockading in the 1980s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/treesits-lock-ons-and-barricades-environmental-blockading-in-the-1980s/ |website=Commons Social Change Library}}</ref> At one point, 100 people took radical action, forming a human [[barricade]] to block bulldozers.<ref name="fpp">{{cite news |last1=Scopelianos |first1=Sarah |last2=Philips |first2=Keri |date=4 August 2019 |title=From polite persuasion to radical activism — the birth of the modern environment movement |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-04/history-and-genesis-of-modern-environment-movement/11366782 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=29 September 2023}}</ref>
<blockquote>"So overpowering was the draw of these trees that people risked their lives. A spirit of transformation emanated from the forest." - Ian Cohen, Green MLC, 1997</blockquote>
[[File:Rainforest at Protest Falls, Nightcap NP.JPG|thumb|upright|Rainforest ecosystem in the World Heritage area]]

Nightcap became a national park in 1983 under the Forestry Revocation and National Park Reservation Act 1983 (NSW) involving an area of the former Goonimbar State Forest (SF). The remainder of Goonimbar SF and part of Whian Whian SF were added to the national park later that year.<ref name=":0" /> By 1989 UNESCO created world heritage protection for 41 reserves in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern NSW including the western half of Nightcap. The world heritage area is known as the [[Gondwana Rainforests of Australia]] that protects several remnants of subtropical rainforest with high biodiversity and unique geological landforms, with evolutionary links to Gondwana.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Gondwana Rainforests of Australia - UNESCO World Heritage Centre|url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/368|website = whc.unesco.org|access-date = 2015-05-19|first = UNESCO|last = Centre}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Gondwana Rainforests of Australia - Overview - World Heritage Places|url = http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gondwana|website = www.environment.gov.au|access-date = 2015-05-19}}</ref>

In 2009 BirdLife International identified the Nightcap Range as important bird and biodiversity areas (IBA). The Nightcap Range IBA includes Nightcap NP, Mount Jerusalem NP, Goonengerry NP and Whian Whian State Conservation Area (SCA). It has been recognised for its populations of Albert's lyrebird ''(Menura alberti)'', green catbird ''([[Green catbird|Ailuroedus crassirostris]])'', pale-yellow robin ''([[Pale-yellow robin|Tregellasia capito]])'', Australian logrunner ''([[Australian logrunner|Orthonyx temminckii]])'', paradise riflebird ''([[Paradise riflebird|Ptiloris paradiseus]])'' and regent bowerbird ''([[Regent bowerbird|Sericulus chrysocephalus]])''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title = Birdlife Data Zone|url = http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=24564|website = www.birdlife.org|access-date = 2015-05-19}}</ref>