Three more national parks released for public comment

14/7/03
The boundaries of three new parks in the forest areas along the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge have been released as part of the State Government's community consultation process under its Protecting Our Old-Growth Forests policy.
Environment Minister Judy Edwards said the proposed parks were in the Yelverton, Bramley and Forest Grove forest blocks, near Margaret River.
"In ending the logging of old growth forests, we made a very clear commitment to create 30 new national parks and two new conservation parks in the South-West," she said.
"The release of these indicative boundaries for the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge parks now brings to 19 the number of parks that have been mapped at a fine-scale.
"The creation of these parks reflects our serious commitment to protect Western Australia's unique environment for future generations."
The 790 hectare Yelverton National Park was selected because of the occurrence of the Jarrah Leeuwin ecosystem and remnant vegetation.
The 4,020 hectare Bramley National Park is high in flora species richness and contains a number of vegetation complexes that are not well reserved. The park includes representation of the Jarrah Leeuwin, Jarrah Woodland, Karri West Coast, and the shrub, herb and sedgeland ecosystems.
The 1,400 hectare Forest Grove National Park is also rich in flora species and contains a number of vegetation complexes that are not well reserved.
The Jarrah Blackwood, including old-growth forest, Jarrah Leeuwin, Karri West Coast, and the shrub, herb and sedgeland ecosystems are represented in the park.
This proposed park will link with a further 1,570 hectares in the Chapman Brook area that was bought for inclusion in the national park network along the Blackwood Valley.
Dr Edwards said the State Government was also creating additional national parks along the lower Blackwood River and some of its tributaries between the Bussell Highway and Nannup.
"These Blackwood Valley parks will extend over more than 67,000 hectares of which 35,160 hectares are old-growth forest," she said.
"The State Government is also supporting the creation and management of these new parks through its allocation of an additional $25million in our first term to the Department of Conservation and Land Management.
"These proposed parks will not only strengthen the conservation reserve network throughout the southern forests, new facilities will assist in attracting an increasing number of visitors which in turn will have flow-on effects for local tourist operators and forest communities."
Information and park maps will be available shortly and sent to the range of interest groups, as well as being available on the Department of Conservation and Land Management's website http://www.naturebase.net.
They can also be ordered from the department's offices at Bunbury and Manjimup.
Advertisements will be placed in local newspapers to let the public know when the maps will become available.
Dr Edwards said similar calls for comment would be progressively made as the remainder of the proposed parks were mapped at a finer scale than available in the draft Forest Management Plan.
Minister's office: 9220 5050