NEWS 22 December 2021 |
The beloved Grampians now have a plan to guide how they are managed.
The final Greater Gariwerd Landscape Management Plan, released this week, provides a map for the future management of one of Victoria’s most significant national parks.
The list of things that need to be done to protect and improve the health of the park is long, and more investment is needed in ecological management (not just visitor infrastructure).
As we said in our Park Watch article on the issue earlier this year, “We know how much support the thousands of native plants and animals that live in the ancient uplifted sandstone slopes of Gariwerd will need if their remarkable 500-million-year-old evolutionary path is to continue”.
The native plants and animals of Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, as for all of Victoria’s national and state parks, are given prime protection status in Victoria’s National Parks Act (1975). Any other activity in the parks must surrender to that level of natural heritage protection.
In that sense, the law states that a national park pretty much belongs to that remarkable multitude of life forms or, at least, that their occupancy and welfare must be guaranteed.
The plan was developed with Traditional Owners – the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, and Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation.
- We thank everybody who took the time to make a submission to the draft plan.
