Victoria’s newest national park

The Wilderness Society (Victoria) Inc
Media  Release                  
12 September 2008

The Wilderness Society congratulates Premier Brumby on passing legislation that protects the 27,000 hectare Cobboboonee Forest in new National and Forest Parks.

The bill passed the Victorian Upper House today with both the ALP and the Australian Greens voting for the legislation.

The Cobboboonee Forest lies inland from the coast, near Portland, in far South-west Victoria.

“Because the south-west is one of the most highly cleared regions in Australia’s most cleared state, the new Cobboboonee National Park was a desperately needed addition to Victoria’s National Park system,” said Geraldine Ryan today.

“The new protected area is a haven in its own right. The Cobboboonee is home to many endangered plants and animals: rare forest owls, the endangered Spot-tailed Quoll precariously hanging on in the region, Yellow-bellied Gliders and ground mammals such as the Long-nosed Potoroo and Southern Brown Bandicoot.”

“The new parks will be a vital part of wildlife migration corridors needed in climate change.”

“An additional bonus is that, once protected, older forests such as the Cobboboonee are great carbon stores and can draw carbon dioxide from the air and store it safely in trunks, branches, soil and roots for hundreds of years.”

“In opposing a Cobboboonee National Park the Liberal Party contradicts its own state election policy. The majority of Victorians who are concerned about climate change and the future of our wildlife should be disappointed that the state Liberals opposed the new National Park.”

“Throughout the world intact habitat connections from coast to inland and mountains are now rare. The new Cobboboonee National Park is a real step, a lynchpin in the reconnecting of the coast and inland, from the sea to the Little Desert and on to the mountains of Gariwerd-Grampians National Park.”