Management plan for Waychinicup national park (near Albany)

The Waychinicup national park, near Albany, will be trebled in size under a management plan for the south coast region released by Environment Minister Bob Pearce at Albany and Esperance today.

Mr Pearce said the South Coast Regional Management Plan was the result of four and a half years' work by the Department of Conservation and Land Management and 166 public submissions.

"The plan outlines management guidelines for the land, wildlife and resources of the region, which stretches from Irwin Inlet near Walpole, to the South Australian border and inland to include the Stirling Range," Mr Pearce said.

"As well as expanding Waychinicup, significant increases to conservation reserves in the region are proposed.

"Most new reserves will be created from vacant Crown land and from reserves which are currently unvested, allowing us to widen the range of wildlife and landforms represented in the region's conservation estate," Mr Pearce said.

The Minister said some proposals would be implemented as soon as possible, but others, which had caused concern during the public comment period, would not proceed until CALM had made further contact with those affected.

"A regional plan is tailor-made for a particular area.  It means that CALM can better identify priorities and co-ordinate that region's management," Mr Pearce said.

"The south coast region is of significant international interest - the Fitzgerald River national park is a world biosphere reserve and the Lake Warden system at Esperance has been declared under the international Ramsar Treaty.

"CALM's work on rare species management, such as the noisy scrub bird and the region's diversity of wildflowers, has also attracted international recognition."

The management plan deals with critical aspects of the Department's work throughout the region, including dieback disease control, the management of endangered species, Aboriginal and European cultural sites, recreation and rehabilitation of degraded lands.

"These strategies reveal CALM's intended direction in the south coast region for the next decade," Mr Pearce said.

"More detailed area management plans will be prepared to address key regional issues, the most pressing being the spread of dieback disease in the region."

In the Albany district priority has been given to plans already under way for West Cape Howe national park, Two Peoples Bay nature reserve (home of the noisy scrub bird) and the Stirling Range and Porongurup national parks.

In the Esperance district, priority areas include the Esperance Lakes nature reserves and Stokes national park and its surrounds.

Preparation of these plans will begin as soon as possible.

CALM's first three regional plans were released for the northern, central and southern forest along with the State Government's 1987 Timber Strategy.

The next is expected to be a management plan for the Goldfields region.