Petition for a Great Forest National Park for Victoria

To: Premier Daniel Andrews
Petition for a Great Forest National Park for Victoria

Dear Premier and Ministers of Victoria

Victoria urgently needs a comprehensive, representative national park and conservation system. Major threats to nature such as habitat loss land degradation, invasive species, logging, harmful fire regimes, over-grazing, modified water flows still persist. 1

Precious habitat remnants are being bulldozed for urban expansion or roads. Victoria is the most cleared state in Australia, populations of native birds and animals are in free-fall, and less than 25% of our rivers and creeks are in good condition. 2

The Great Forest National Park proposes that Victorians create and add a new 355,000 hectares of protected forests to the existing 170,000 hectares of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria.

The tallest flowering trees on Earth grow north-east of Melbourne. In their high canopies dwell owls, gliders and the tiny Leadbeater’s (or Fairy) Possum. Victoria’s precious and endangered faunal emblem lives only in these ash forests of the Central Highlands. 3

We demand that the State government act on the overwhelming support for the creation of a Victorian Great Forest National Park.

1 VICTORIAN NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION, September 2014, NATURE CONSERVATION REVIEW: Overview and context

2
http://environmentvictoria.org.au/blog/posts/needles-haystack#.VTndPM2hSPo

3
http://www.greatforestnationalpark.com.au/

Why is this important?

Victoria is the most cleared State, and there are major threats to our native species and vegetation. There are ongoing issues such as habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, harmful fire regimes, over-grazing, logging of old growth forests, and modified water flows. Our faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum, is critically endangered, and lives in the Central Highlands of Victoria. A new 355,000 hectares of protected forests to the existing 170,000 hectares of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria is urgently needed.

by Vivienne Ortega on behalf of AWPC

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