Greater Alpine National Parks Management Plan
The study area
The Alpine parks management plan will include the Alpine, Baw Baw, Mount Buffalo, Errinundra and Snowy River National Parks as well as the Avon Wilderness Park, Walhalla and adjacent Historic Parks. This area is over 880,000 hectares in size. Click Here (3.5mb) to see the map.
Timelines
Why we need a new plan
The Greater Alpine National Parks are reserved and managed under the National Parks Act 1975 (Vic.). The Act requires the Secretary to DSE to preserve and protect the natural condition of the parks, and their natural, cultural and other features and, subject to this, to provide for the use of the parks by the public for enjoyment, recreation and education. Appropriate research activities are also provided for under the Act. The Act requires management plans to be prepared for parks and the management plan for the Alpine National Park to be tabled in both Houses of the Parliament. This project will consolidate all the existing plans to provide a broad strategic plan for managing and protecting these special Alpine parks.
Under government legislation all national parks and other protected areas need to have a management plan and most plans are reviewed every 10-15 years. The plan for the Alpine National Park (1992) is due for review. The other parks within the study area either have plans due for review or plans which expire shortly.
Responding to a changing environment
There have been a number of significant changes in the parks since the various plans were adopted, including climate change, wildfires, grazing, recreation demand and community expectations. In addition, there have also been changes in general park management with the establishment of Parks Victoria, the development of new park management tools and research and monitoring have increased the knowledge base on which decisions can be made. It is intended that the revised plan will incorporate these changes at a strategic level and reflect the aspirations of the indigenous community.
A plan for the community
The existing management plans total over one thousand pages of text. The new plan will use more maps and imagery of this magnificent landscape and the community will be invited to be involved much earlier than in previous management planning processes. It is important for Parks Victoria to understand how the community value and use the parks and how they see management and use of the landscape changing in an era of climate change.
Public exhibition of plan
Once a draft plan has been created it will be placed on public exhibition for a minimum of 60 days. During this period you will be able to write to Parks Victoria with comments relating to the plan.
