Yarra Ranges National Park to expand under new Allan Government plan

The Victorian government will expand Yarra Ranges National Park to include protected water catchments, but ruled out further changes to state forests.

The Yarra Ranges National Park will be expanded, but there will be no further changes to the Central Highlands state forests.

The Allan Government has agreed to expand the Yarra Ranges National Park to include all protected water catchments.

In responding to the recommendations of the Eminent Panel for Community Engagement on the future of Victoria’s Central Highlands 390,000ha of state forest, the government announced it would introduce legislation to “expand the Yarra Ranges National Park to include Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve”, which can be seen as dark green areas in map below.

As protected water catchments the reserve was already closed to the public.

However the panel also recommended vast swathes of the central highlands (dark orange areas on map) be converted into forest parks, similar to those that already covering large parts of southwest Victoria’s Cobboboonee and Otway Ranges.

Eminent Panel’s recommendations on expanding protected areas in the Central Highlands.

Under the Crown Land Reserves Act a Forest Park creates “opportunities for informal recreation for the enjoyment of natural surroundings”, as well as “protecting and conserving biodiversity...and supplying a limited range of natural resource products”.

But while the government has committed to extend the Yarra Ranges National Park to include the tributaries reserve, it has stated “there will be no further changes to our state forests”.

Opposition public land spokeswoman Melina Bath said any move to create forest parks would allow the government to simply restrict bush users access at a later date.

“It’s a conveyor belt that would allow them to create a Great Forest National Park by stealth,” Ms Bath said.

Green groups have been campaigning for almost a decade to bring most of the Central Highlands 390,000ha of state forest into a GFNP.

But 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”.

Premier Jacinta Allan also announced the government would spend $30 million on an outdoors strategy that upgraded tracks, trails, campgrounds and toilets in Gippsland’s and North East Victoria’s state forests to boost regional tourism.

“My focus is to bring more families to the bush and more jobs to the regions – and that’s exactly what our plan for Victoria’s great outdoors will do,” Ms Allan said.

“Our forests remain open to every single Victorian and visitor alike – to enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, bushwalking and all the benefits of the bush.”