New policy to protect wilderness areas

30/10/04
The State Government today unveiled its policy to protect the State's wilderness areas.
Environment Minister Judy Edwards said a wilderness policy was an integral part of the Protecting Our Old Growth Forests policy, in particular the creation of the Walpole Wilderness Area in the forests between Walpole and Denmark.
"Wilderness is an area substantially unchanged by European intervention, with large and remote areas to protect biodiversity and ecological processes over the long term," Dr Edwards said.
"We will adopt the Australian Heritage Commission's Natural Wilderness Inventory as the basis for determining wilderness areas.
"Key criteria include remoteness from settlement and remoteness from access, with the minimum size of a wilderness area being 8,000ha in the southern part of the State and about 20,000ha in the arid, semi-arid and tropical regions."
The Minister said a wilderness area would only be accessible to the general public by foot and would not include walk trails, signs and track markers. Access by other means would be limited to fire, rescue and essential management operations.
The release of the policy followed an extensive public consultation period and liaison with key stakeholders such as the Wilderness Society. The policy had also been endorsed by the Conservation Commission of WA.
"One aspect that drew considerable comment during the public consultation phase was fire management," Dr Edwards said.
"The policy states that, wherever possible, ground-disturbing fire management activities will be conducted outside of wilderness areas, including roads, firebreaks, fuel reduced buffers and water points."
The Minister acknowledged the contribution of the voluntary conservation movement and those members of the public who contributed submissions on the draft policy.
"The aim of this policy is to manage wilderness areas for their intrinsic values and provide unique recreational opportunities," she said.
"These islands of natural beauty need to be protected because they have been relatively untouched by modern society.
"This policy provides a clear framework as to how we will manage and conserve our wilderness areas for the benefit and enjoyment of generations to come."
Minister's office: 9220 5050