PARK WATCH Article September 2025 |
Western Port Woodlands have finally been declared a distinctive landscape, reports Jordan Crook, Parks and Nature Campaigner
It’s official! The Western Port Woodlands are now recognised as a Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) in the Bass Coast.
The planning minister released the final planning policy in June. This milestone is a result of an enormous community effort. Thanks to people like you, these incredible woodlands are now officially recognised as the important natural habitat we always knew they were.
While the minister’s Statement of Planning Policy (SPP) recognised the Woodlands, it stopped short of putting robust controls in place to stop further habitat destruction.
Instead, it recommends a strategic environmental assessment and an evaluation of whether the protection of high biodiversity values under the existing planning and extractive industry regulations are effective.
The SPP calls for a balance between nature protection and extractive industries in the Bass Coast. This would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. The Western Port Woodlands are an oasis in a desert of one of Victoria’s most cleared natural landscapes.
There’s already a large pool of data from citizen scientists and others proving the Woodlands are home to threatened wildlife. There’s Southern Brown Bandicoots, Powerful Owls, Strzelecki Gums and – my personal favourite – Tea-tree Fingers fungus.
Incredibly, this corridor is still threatened by industrial sand mining operations and other pressures.
Enough talk; it’s time for action. As part of the Woodlands Alliance, we’re pushing State Government for immediate funding to survey and properly map the Woodlands. Then we need an evidenced and community focussed plan to protect this special place. Wildlife, plants, and people all depend on it.
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