By Oliver Lees
A Macedon Ranges landcare group has urged the state government to declare the Wombat Forest a national park.
Malmsbury Landcare Group president John Walter said it was time for the change in order to protect local wildlife and vegetation.
“Whenever I’m in that forest there are issues,” Mr Walter said.
“There’s no protection from motorbike activities, people are often making their own paths.
“[Establishing National Park status] doesn’t remove those activities, but puts more teeth into controlling them. They’ll have to stick to the roads.”
In 2017, the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) led an independent investigation, at the request of the state government, to assess the protection requirements of public forests including Wombat Forest.
VEAC recommended that large areas of forest become national or regional park areas.
According to the Victorian National Parks Association, more than 370 rare and threatened species are found in the areas recommended to be classified as national parks.
Mr Walter said that while conducting spotlighting activities, the landcare group had identified a population of brushtail phascogales, which is a threatened species.
Wombat Forestcare convenor Gayle Osborne said it was past time for the state government to respond to the VEAC recommendations.
“The Wombat forest has so many values that need protecting; the
headwaters of six major rivers, many rare and threatened species and the storage of
Carbon,” she said.
“How long do we have to wait for the Victorian government to take nature protection
issues seriously?”
Victorian National Parks Association executive director Matt Ruchel said he was disappointed the state government was overlooking its legal obligation to respond to the recommendations.
“The clock is ticking, and it’s ticking very loudly for many of our most vulnerable native
wildlife,” Mr Ruchel said.
In 2018, Star Weekly reported that environmentalist and commonwealth centenary medal recipient Loris Duclos objected to designation of the forest as a National Park on the basis that the area needed to be managed for fire risk.
In November 2018, about 700 people took to the streets to voice their concern that national park status would restrict public access to the forest.
