New plan to identify and protect Western Australia's wilderness areas

11/6/03
Western Australia's unique wilderness areas will be given special protection under a new State Government initiative announced today by Environment and Heritage Minister Judy Edwards.
The draft wilderness policy, released for a two-month public comment period, will guide future management of wilderness and surrounding areas in national parks and protected areas.
The initiative is an integral part of the Government's Protecting Our Old-Growth Forests policy that will create the Walpole Wilderness Area on the State's south coast.
Dr Edwards said the draft policy proposed that a tract of land could be considered a wilderness area where it contained wilderness:

• which was substantially unchanged;
• that was sufficiently large and remote to make the long-term protection of its biodiversity and natural systems practical; and
• where ecological processes remained essentially intact.

The minimum size of areas of wilderness would be 8,000ha in the southern parts of the State and about 20,000ha in the arid, semi-arid and tropical zones.
"This is about making sure we protect our wilderness areas - and that they retain their unique values," Dr Edwards said.
"The draft policy proposes key principles and strategies to manage these important areas, covering a wider range of issues, including maintaining biodiversity, fire management, public access and recreation.
"It includes managing these areas in such a way that maintains their high wilderness qualities - for example, only allowing very low impact activities, such as bushwalking.
"The policy also aims to rehabilitate wilderness areas - including removing past disturbances, such as former logging tracks."
The Minister said a significant part of the proposed policy was also the involvement of indigenous people in wilderness management and their access for cultural activities.
"The draft policy draws on the Malimup Communique that was developed at a meeting of indigenous community representatives, Government land management agencies and non-Government environmental groups at Malimup Spring near Windy Harbour south of Northcliffe in May 1998," Dr Edwards said.
"This communique is concerned with indigenous people and the management of areas reserved or zoned as 'wilderness', primarily within national parks and other parts of the conservation estate."
The draft policy uses the concept of wilderness quality developed by the Australian Heritage Commission and outlines criteria under which wilderness can be classified under the State's Conservation and Land Management Act.
Copies of the policy are available from the Department of Conservation and Land Managements website, http://www.naturebase.net and from the department's Crawley office on 9442 0300.
Submissions on the draft policy close on August 11 and should be sent to the Department of Conservation and Land Management, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, WA 6983 and marked Attention: Aminya Ennis. Submissions also can be emailed to aminyae@calm.wa.gov.au
Minister's office: 9220 5050