Four national parks to be created in hills region jarrah forest

4/5/99
Four new national parks will be created in the jarrah forest surrounding Mundaring, Kalamunda and Canning Dam and in the wandoo forest between Mundaring and York as a result of the Regional Forest Agreement.
Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes said the agreement set aside an additional 33,000 hectares in the northern jarrah and wandoo forests for inclusion in formal conservation reserves.
Parts of forest blocks surrounding Mundaring Weir, including Sawyers, Helena and Beraking will be amalgamated with the existing Dale Conservation Park to create a 15,000ha Helena National Park.
A new 3,000ha Mundaring National Park also will be created with the reservation of a further 2,200ha west of the Mundaring Weir.
A further 6,000ha of jarrah forest near Pickering Brook will be reserved as the Pickering Brook National Park and 3,000ha between Araluen and Canning Dam will become the Canning National Park.
Talbot Block, and parts of Flynn and Gunapin blocks on the eastern edge of State forest towards York, will be reserved and added to the Wandoo Conservation Park.
This will enable a 43,000ha Wandoo National Park to be created and is in line with submissions from the Australian Heritage Commission and the Western Australian Forest Alliance during the RFA public consultation phase.
Mrs Edwardes said the creation of the parks reflected the State and Federal Governments' desire to ensure there was a comprehensive, adequate and representative conservation reserve system in the South-West native forests.
It also represented the balanced approach the RFA had achieved between conservation and the people of local towns and communities who depended on forest resources for their livelihoods.
"During the RFA process, the State Government has been very mindful of community concerns to conserve areas of high conservation value," Mrs Edwardes said.
"The additional 150,885ha that have been set aside under the RFA will ensure that WA exceeds world conservation standards and the areas of highest biodiversity will be protected.
"It means that there are now 1.047 million hectares included in a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) conservation reserve system. This area includes 232,800ha or 67 per cent of the old growth forest in the South-West forests."
Mrs Edwardes said the $41.5 million timber industry development package announced as part of the RFA also would provide an impetus for local timber companies, furniture manufacturers and craftspeople to enter a new era in terms of value-adding and downstream processing.
"It also will enable the fine woodcrafts industry to become more integrated into the development of the local tourism industry," she said.
"A total of $17.5 million has been allocated for enhancing tourism facilities such as access roads and tourism infrastructure in the south west forest areas as well as buying private property to create a new national park around Wellington Dam near Collie."
Media contact: Nicole Trigwell 9421 7777