Proposed Freycinet Visitor Gateway site would put threatened species at risk: report

A proposed visitor gateway to Freycinet National Park has sparked environmental concerns, with a new report claiming the development would put threatened plants species at risk.

A new independent report has found that the proposed site for a new visitor “gateway” to Freycinet National Park is an “area of very significant biodiversity” and that building tourism facilities there could have a negative impact on six threatened plant species.

But the Natural Resources and Environment Department (NRE) says planning and assessment approvals are still required before a final location for the development is identified.

Dr Adrian Pyrke, who worked as a ranger, fire management officer and state fire manager at the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) for a total of 25 years and is now retired, produced the report following the state government’s proposal to construct a $30m visitor gateway 500m north of the entrance to Coles Bay.

The gateway will include a carpark with 200 car spaces, 10 coach spaces, and 40 RV spaces, as well as potential overflow parking; a new visitor centre and; a shuttle bus service delivering visitors to the Wineglass Bay carpark.

In his report, Dr Pyrke said the threatened plant species located within the footprint of the proposed development included acacia ulicifolia, caustis pentandra, thelymitra malvina, and xanthorrhoea arenaria, the latter of which is listed under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Honeymoon Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“By any measure, locating a major new development within this area cannot occur without significant destruction of the very values that make the natural environment of the Freycinet National Park so special,” he wrote.

Jamie Kirkpatrick, Distinguished Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania, who is an expert on threatened species, said it was “disturbing” that the site north of the Coles Bay township had been chosen for the visitor gateway.

“It is a total abrogation of responsibility by the State Government and the Parks Service to even consider siting national park developments in a place scientifically well-known for its threatened species,” he said.

UTAS Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Freycinet Action Network convener Sophie Underwood said the area needed “better park and visitor management, not another massive carpark that will just (exacerbate) the problem and expand the impacts”.

However, an NRE spokeswoman said the Freycinet Master Plan, released in 2019, had merely laid out a concept plan for the visitor gateway site and that the PWS would take into consideration natural and cultural values surveys before deciding on a location for the development.

The PWS will also refer the development plans to the federal Agriculture, Water and Environment Department for assessment as a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

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