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Guide letter to the Victorian Environment Minister and Shadow Minister

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you as a someone vitally interested in the conservation of the natural areas of south eastern Australia.

As you know there is a growing awareness in Australia and around the world of the importance of contiguity of conservation areas. In accordance with the goal of achieving greater connectivity and also in recognition of the importance of protecting the natural heritage of the high country and the adjacent forests of south eastern Australia I respectfully urge the Victorian Government to give serious consideration to extending the Alpine National Park westwards to incorporate the Baw Baw National Park and to joining the national parks in East Gippsland into a single national park.

The first proposal which involves extending the Alpine National Park to link up with Baw Baw National Park, thereby closing the single gap which exists in the chain of protected areas extending from west of Canberra to north of Melbourne, resurrects the concepts first advanced by the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1969 and the Victorian National Parks Association in 1974. Unfortunately, consideration of a continuous park was adversely affected from the 1970s by the division of this region into two separate Study Areas for the purpose of the making of land use recommendations by the Land Conservation Council Victoria.

As an initial step the central part of the area linking the alpine areas of the Western Alps region has been included in a National Heritage List nomination the details of which can be inspected as a public notice on the internet.  This provides some indication of the intrinsic heritage values of the deep valleys and intervening high areas.

A similar approach has been taken with the proposed East Gippsland Forests National Park which is similar in concept to the South East Forests National Park in New South Wales which was formed from five earlier parks and state forest. These areas have also been nominated for the National Heritage List.

Acted on, these two proposals will significantly enhance the protection of the areas in the proposed ‘sea to snow’ world heritage nomination which has been under official consideration for many years.

Details of both national parks, including maps of the proposed boundaries can be found on the Colong Foundation for Wilderness website. www.colongwilderness.org.au

I have sent a copy of this letter to the shadow Victorian Environment Minister and have also written to your counterparts in the Commonwealth, New South Wales and ACT Governments requesting their support for these projects through the forum of the Australian Alps Ministerial Council.

Yours sincerely

Signed

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Supporting letter to key Ministers and other leading Parliamentarians:

Include the following points in your letters to the above Parliamentarians:

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you as a person vitally interested in the conservation of the internationally significant natural areas of south Eastern Australia.

As you know there is a growing awareness in Australia and around the world of the importance of contiguity in nature conservation. In accordance with the goal of greater connectivity and also in recognition of the importance of protecting the natural heritage of the high country of south eastern and the adjacent forests I have written to the Victorian Government urging it to act on two proposals for park extension, the first which would close the single gap which exists in the chain of protected alpine areas extending from west of Canberra to north of Melbourne and the second which would create a new national park in East Gippsland.

The first proposal which involves extending the Alpine National Park to link up with Baw Baw National Park resurrects the concepts first advanced by the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1969 and the Victorian National Parks Association in 1974. Unfortunately, from the 1970s onwards, consideration of a continuous park was adversely affected by the division of this region into two separate Study Areas for the purpose of the making of land use recommendations by the Land Conservation Council Victoria .

I am aware that as an initial step the central part of the area linking the alpine areas of the Western Alps region has been included in a National Heritage List nomination the details of which can be inspected as a public notice on the internet.  This provides some idea of the intrinsic heritage values of the area which includes deep valleys as well as intervening sub-alpine areas.

A similar approach has been suggested for East Gippsland where the proposed ‘East Gippsland Forests National Park’ would be contiguous with the South East Forests National Park created in New South Wales from five earlier parks and state forest. All of these  areas also has been nominated for the National Heritage List.

Details of the proposals including descriptions and maps appear on the website of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness. www.colongwilderness.org.au

I urge you to take the steps necessary through the forum of the Australian Alps Ministerial Council and other channels to provide every possible encouragement to the Victorian Government  to proceed with park proposals which I believe will substantially improve the protection of areas identified as important for a ‘sea to snow’ world heritage nomination.

Yours sincerely

Signed

National Heritage Crisis - an urgent call for assistance

As I feel sure most people in the heritage protection movement are aware, Australian heritage protection at the Commonwealth level is close to a crisis situation. The departmental staff resources are grossly inadequate, and the system of assessment under the EPBC Act (including the Australian Heritage Council) is that developed by the Howard Government which had a minimalist approach to heritage protection. There is no sign of reform on the horizon.

The last major changes of heritage assessment in 2006 involved what was euphemistically referred to as a ‘streamlining’ of the assessment process. It could have been more accurately described as an approach which involved wholesale ‘axing of national heritage list nominations’.

The streamlining takes the form of a yearly agreement on a Finalised Priority Assessment with the scope for dumping those nominations the system cannot handle. They are discarded in spite of all the work put into them by the nominee and, in some cases, because they are in the ‘too hard’ basket as far as resources are concerned.

As an example of this last problem it seems likely that this year the Australian Alps National Parks will be placed on the National Heritage List; a highly desirable outcome. But what will happen to the nominations for the adjacent forest parts of the proposed Alps and South East Forests World Heritage Area? If these are thrown out the result will be tantamount to a beheading except in this case it will be the legs which are cut off the display of vegetation changes which occur along the ‘sea to snow’ spectrum.

The following are NHL nominations prepared by or in association with the author most of which face the executioner:

South East Forests and Western Alps

        Greater Croajingolong Area

        Greater Coopracambra Area

        Greater Errinundra Area

        Nadgee Nature Reserve#

        Ben Boyd National Park#

        South East Forests National Park with Egan Peaks Nature Reserve#

        Bournda National Park and Nature Reserve#

        Western Alps’ Link

        (# Prepared by Fiona McCrossin of the Colong Foundation)

Norfolk Island - places with rainforest of National Environmental Significance

        Duncombe Bay

        Mission Road

        Red Road Cascade

        Bloody Bridge

        Norfolk Island National Park and Botanic Garden

Others on Norfolk Island

        The setting of the Kingston and Arthurs Creek Heritage Area

        The Norfolk Island Coast (Australia’s oldest coastal reserve – 1794).

Others

        The Australian Antarctic Territory

        Greater Wilsons Promontory Area

        Great Otway National Park with Alcoa Lease and Coastal Reserves

        Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage –
  additional geoheritage, natural beauty and cultural values.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Many of those receiving this call for help will know the values of at least some of these areas. If so please write to the Environment Minister (‘Peter.Garrett.MP@aph.gov.au’) expressing your support for full and proper assessment of them, unrestrained by limited resources and an outdated outlook.

Even more important, please urge the Minister to a) institute an overhaul of the entire National Heritage system; and b) retain all nominations at least until the review has been carried out.

(National Heritage update by Geoff Mosley 8/5/08) phone (03) 9718 2998

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