Wombat-Lederderg is now a national park.
Legislation passed parliament on 18 November to create three new national parks and two conservation parks in Victoria’s central west.
Alongside Wombat-Lederderg, Mount Buangor and Pyrenees are now national parks, and Hepburn and Cobaw are new conservation parks. The Wellsford State Forest has been reclassified as a regional park.
Members of Wombat Forestcare have been campaigning for greater protection of Wombat Forest for 15 years, and park status is a recognition of the very high conservation and catchment values of the forest.
Over many years, Wombat Forestcare has worked alongside the Victorian National Parks Association, has lobbied the state government to protect these forests in parks.
“These forests exist in a landscape that has been highly cleared of native vegetation and represent incredibly important habitat for the persistence of very many threatened plants, animals and fungi,” Wombat Forestcare convenor Gayle Osborne said.
“This is a massive step for the protection of the amazing and wonderful plants, animals and fungi that inhabit our forests.
“We congratulate the state government for legislating these parks. National parks are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation in Australia, and the creation of these parks will ensure that these forests are safeguarded for future generations.”
The Wombat Forest is a ‘stronghold’ for the protection of many threatened native species including the Greater Glider, Powerful Owl, Brush-tailed Phascogale and the endemic Wombat Leafless Bossiaea.
The park will also protect the Wombat Forest as a water catchment with the headwaters of seven major river systems contained in the forest, and the value the forest provides in
terms of ecosystem services and carbon sequestration.
Ms Osborne said that the group was disappointed to hear that the state government, as part of its legislation, has allowed recreational deer hunting in parts of the new Wombat-Lederderg National Park.
“The national parks are only part of the undertaking by the government for the central west,” Ms Osborne said.
“There are regional parks, and bushland reserves still to be legislated, and we hope that these can be created before the end of the year.”
