Plan for park

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
VICTORIA’S endangered flora and fauna could be protected under a new state park in the Dandenong Ranges if Labor is re-elected.
Labor plans to create a State Emblems Park, which would run along the Woori Yallock Creek between the Dandenong Ranges National Park, Bunyip State Park and the Yarra River at Woori Yallock.
Environment Minister Gavin Jennings joined Monbulk MP James Merlino and Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato at the Yellingbo Nature Reserve last Thursday 18 November to announce that if Labor was re-elected, it would seek from the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council a detailed assessment on the best way to manage the land and protect the critical habitat. Mr Jennings said it would link major parks including Kurth Kiln Regional Park, Warramate Hills Nature Conservation Reserve and Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve.
Mr Merlino said the State Emblems Park could become one of Victoria’s iconic parks that would not only protect the state’s emblems but also attract tourists from across Australia to the region.
“This is a unique opportunity to protect our state emblems. Yellingbo is the sole remaining natural site where Helmeted Honeyeaters exist and the Leadbeater’s Possum population is very significant, particularly following the decimation of the central highlands population in the 2009 bushfires,” Mr Merlino said.
Ms Lobato said that “placing all of the parcels into one park will substantially improve community recognition and understanding of this special region”.
Friend of the Helmeted Honeyeater Bob Anderson and Johns Hill Landcare Group and Friend of Meander Jeff Latter played a large part in co-ordinating the project, which was first discussed with Mr Merlino and Ms Lobato in 2006.
Mr Latter said linking the areas would allow better management of the land.
“We had little pieces of land left behind that were quite significant,” he said.
“We need to figure out how to manage this to have the public land leading the process of the bio-diversity management rather than being dragged along after it.”
When asked whether private landholders could be counted on to contribute to the bio-diversity of the area, Mr Latter said when the perception of the surrounding land was changed and highly recognised, “hopefully the attitude of the people will change with it”.
Mr Anderson said there were groups, such as Yarra4Life, that were already doing work on private properties with federal funding to protect the natural habitats.
Mr Anderson said a state park would be the natural progression of what the groups had already achieved.
“The work’s already been done on the ground, we just need the park to be declared so it’s legal,” he said.
Ms Lobato and Mr Merlino thanked the Woori Yallock Creek Park Alliance for their leadership and vision.
The Alliance is made up of Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater, Meander, Macclesfield Landcare Group, Monbulk Landcare Group, Johns Hill Landcare Group, Friends of Sassafras Creek, Friends of Wrights Forest, Friends of Hoddles Creek, Cardinia Environment Coalition and the Upper Yarra and Dandenongs Environment Council.