Conservationists have labelled the Allan Government’s plan to include protected water catchments in the Yarra Ranges National Park as a “missed opportunity” as further changes to state forests were ruled out.
It came after the government responded to the Eminent Panel for Community Engagement (EPCE) which gave recommendations on the future of 390,000ha of state forest in Victoria’s Central Highlands, which would include the Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve.
Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) parks and nature campaigner Jordan Crook said it was a “missed opportunity” to not act on the full recommendations laid out by the ECPE.
“It’s definitely fallen short, the eminent panel laid out a fairly good plan… but we definitely need more additions and more joining up of the existing national parks instead of just leaving them unprotected,” Mr Crook said.
The Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve is a collection of small concrete weirs which were built to divert water into the Silvan Conduit, which connects the Upper Yarra Reservoir to Melbourne.
Mr Crook welcomed the move to include the Yarra Birrarung Tributaries in the Yarra Ranges National Park due to its role in supplying water to Melbourne.
“The 5000 or so hectares of the Yarra Birrarung Tributaries, it’s good to see them added to the park finally, as they should have been.
“We know logging has a really bad impact on water production, so looking after those upper chippy trees is very important, and there’s been quite a bit of logging up and around there, so there’ll be lots of recovery of those forests,” Mr Crook said.
Though public access to the Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve was already prohibited, the national park status will enshrine it with the highest protections against logging and other threats.
The ECPE proposed parts of the Yarra State Forest to be a forest park – a new type of land category which promotes recreational uses (including hunting) while prohibiting logging.
Shadow Minister for Public Land Management Melina Bath said if the government accepted the recommendations to adapt forest parks, it would be establishing the Great Forest National Park by stealth.
“Behind closed doors Labor’s created a blueprint that lays the foundation to lock up vast areas of public land without transparency, community consultation or the workforce to manage it,” Ms Bath said.
But, the government reiterated its position in not legislating the proposed 525,000ha Great Forest National Park, which would’ve included significant portions near Warburton and Healesville.
But the Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos has previously stated “we’ve been very clear that the Great Forest National Park is not and never has been a government policy”.
The government also did not act on the recommendations to establish the new forest parks.
