The Great Forest National Park is a proposed national park in eastern Victoria, Australia. It is envisaged that the park would protect the forests of the Central Highlands and species of conservation concern such as the endangered Leadbeater's possum. [1] [2] The concept was developed by regional community groups and forest ecologists and researchers from Australian National University and the University of Melbourne.
The park would extend between Kinglake National Park (west) and Baw Baw National Park (east), Lake Eildon National Park (north) and Bunyip State Park (south). [3] It would encompass 355,000 ha of land, including the Yarra Ranges National Park and existing state forests such as the Cathedral Range State Park and Toolangi State Forest. [4]
A Report produced by the Nous Group found that the establishment of the Great Forest National Park with three different investment scenarios could generate as much as 379,000 additional visitors to the region. The Report identified that investment could also lead to as much 740 new full time jobs and added economic benefit of $71.1 million in local GDP.
An opinion poll conducted in 2014 showed that 89% of Victorians support a national park in the proposed area. [5] [6] The proposal is also supported by 30 environmental and scientific groups, including the Royal Society of Victoria, Australian Conservation Foundation and The Wilderness Society. [5] Prominent environmentalists supporting the park include David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, [4] Tim Flannery and Bob Brown. [7]
Opponents of the park include the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, [8] and the Victorian Association of Forest Industries, [7] that opposes any extension to the state's national park system. [9]
The proposal was a key topic in the 2014 Victorian state election. While the incumbent Liberal-National Coalition ruled out support for any new national park, the proposal was supported by The Greens. [4] The Labor Party was divided on the issue and did not actively support the plan during the election campaign. [10] In 2015 environment minister Lisa Neville expressed support for the national park. [11]
The Alpine National Park is a national park located in the Central Highlands and Alpine regions of Victoria, Australia. The 646,000-hectare (1,600,000-acre) national park is located northeast of Melbourne. It is the largest National Park in Victoria, and covers much of the higher areas of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, including Victoria's highest point, Mount Bogong at 1,986 metres (6,516 ft) and the associated subalpine woodland and grassland of the Bogong High Plains. The park's north-eastern boundary is along the border with New South Wales, where it abuts the Kosciuszko National Park. On 7 November 2008 the Alpine National Park was added to the Australian National Heritage List as one of eleven areas constituting the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves.
Victoria is the smallest mainland state in Australia. As of 2008 it contained 2,850 separate protected areas with a total land area of 39,273 km2 (15,163 sq mi). Of these, 45 were national parks, totalling 28,023 km2 (10,820 sq mi).
The Baw Baw National Park is a national park located on the boundary between the Victorian Alps and Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia. The 13,530-hectare (33,400-acre) national park is situated approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Melbourne and 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the Latrobe Valley. The park contains the forest covered Baw-Baw Plateau and surrounds the Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort.
Yarra Ranges National Park is located in the Central Highlands of Australia's southeastern state Victoria, 107 km northeast of Melbourne. Established in 1995 and managed by the statutory authority Parks Victoria, the park features a carbon-rich, temperate rainforest and a subalpine eucalypt forest on its northern plateau. It is home to large stands of mountain ash, the tallest tree species in Australia and among the tallest in the world. A wide diversity of fauna make their home across the park's 76,003 hectares, including kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypuses and 120 species of native birds. Among the conservation challenges facing Yarra Ranges National Park are climate change and invasive species of weeds.
Leadbeater's possum is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine ash, mountain ash, and snow gum forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne. It is primitive, relict, and non-gliding, and, as the only species in the petaurid genus Gymnobelideus, represents an ancestral form. Formerly, Leadbeater's possums were moderately common within the very small areas they inhabited; their requirement for year-round food supplies and tree-holes to take refuge in during the day restricts them to mixed-age wet sclerophyll forest with a dense mid-story of Acacia. The species was named in 1867 after John Leadbeater, the then taxidermist at the Museum Victoria. They also go by the common name of fairy possum. On 2 March 1971, the State of Victoria made the Leadbeater's possum its faunal emblem.
Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps. It covers an elongated area of 41,556 km2 (16,045 sq mi) located further east of the Shire of Cardinia between Dandenong Ranges and Mornington Peninsula, and is bounded to the north by the mountain ranges and plateaus/highlands of the High Country, to the southwest by the Western Port Bay, to the south and east by the Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea, and to the east and northeast by the Black-Allan Line.
Sherbrooke is a settlement in Victoria, Australia, 35 km east of Melbourne, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Sherbrooke recorded a population of 294 at the 2021 census.
Mount Baw Baw is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Woiwurrung language spoken by Eastern Kulin people. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly signifies, echo, or ghost.
The Victorian Alps, also known locally as the High Country, is a large mountain system in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. Occupying the majority of eastern Victoria, it is the southwestern half of the Australian Alps, the tallest portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, both sources of rivers and drinking waters for Melbourne, are branches of the Victorian Alps.
The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, also known as the FFG Act, is an act of the Victorian Parliament designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Australian state of Victoria for perpetuity. It was the first Australian legislation to deal with such issues. It enables the listing of threatened species and communities and threats to native species, and the declaration of critical habitat necessary for the survival of native plants and animals.
The Central Highlands subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes the municipalities of Rural City of Ararat, City of Ballarat, Golden Plains Shire, Shire of Hepburn, Shire of Moorabool, Shire of Pyrenees
The Cathedral Range State Park located in Victoria, Australia, approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of Melbourne. It is situated between the towns of Buxton and Taggerty and runs parallel to the Maroondah Highway. The Cathedral Range was declared a State Park on 26 April 1979. It consists of 3,577 hectares and contains the rugged Razorback and spectacular peaks of the Cathedral Range, Little River and forested hills of the Blue Range. Due to its proximity to Melbourne the Cathedral Ranges are a popular destination for both day and weekend adventures. Bushwalking, camping, rock climbing and abseiling are some of the more popular activities available. Cathedral Range State Park is listed as Category II under the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and is an example of a park that can be used for recreation, education and conserving natural ecosystems.
The Shire of Upper Yarra was a local government area centred on the upper reaches of the Yarra Valley, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, extending eastwards into Victoria's interior. The shire covered an area of 1,732 square kilometres (668.7 sq mi), and existed from 1888 until 1994.
Established in 1965, the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is located 45 km east of Melbourne in the Upper Yarra Valley, near the towns of Yellingbo, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Hoddles Creek, Cockatoo, Emerald, Monbulk and Seville. Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is a narrow riparian reserve with stream-frontage land along the Woori Yallock, Shepherd, Cockatoo, Macclesfield and Sheep Station Creeks.
Mount Selma is a mountain located to the north-east of Aberfeldy in Victoria, Australia. Its peak is 1463 metres above sea level. The headwaters of the Aberfeldy River rise on its southerly slopes.
VicForests is a Government Backed Enterprise (GBE) operating in the Australian state of Victoria. It was created – as a state body under Section 14 of the State Owned Enterprises Act 1992 – by the Victorian Government, being declared a state business corporation on 18 October 2003. Its principal function is to manage, undertake logging and commercial sale of timber in Victoria.
David Lindenmayer,, is an Australian scientist and academic. His research focuses on the adoption of nature conservation practices in agricultural production areas, developing ways to improve integration of native forest harvesting and biodiversity conservation, new approaches to enhance biodiversity conservation in plantations, and improved fire management practices in Australia. He specialises in large-scale, long-term research monitoring programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily in forests, reserves, national parks, plantations, and on farm land.
The Toolangi State Forest region in southern Australia extends from Mount Monda in the south up to Murrindindi in the north and includes the township of Toolangi. The forest is mainly eucalypt forest that has regrown from the 1939 Victoria Bushfires.
Coopers Creek is a locality and mine in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. In the 1860s, Coopers Creek was settled during the Victorian gold rush and, throughout its history, gold, copper and lime have been mined there. Today, Coopers Creek is effectively limited to two camping sites, the first near the site of the mining town and the second to the east at Bruntons Bridge. Ruins from the locality's mining history, and the Copper Mine Hotel are all of the locality's history which survives. In August 2022, the 21 properties that comprise the town were listed for sale.
The Southeast Australia temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of south-eastern Australia. It includes the temperate lowland forests of southeastern Australia, at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range. Vegetation ranges from wet forests along the coast to dry forests and woodlands inland.