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State's national, marine parks plan 'on the mark'
Jenne BrammerThe West Australian
Thursday, 14 March 2019 8:08AM
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Camera IconMillstream Chichester national park.Picture: Christabell Mitchell
A new report to be released today will throw weight behind the State Government's recently announced plans to create millions of hectares of new national and marine parks and reserves across WA.
The State Government's Plan for Our Parks initiative aims to create opportunities for nature-based and cultural tourism, provide enhanced biodiversity conservation and build on Aboriginal joint management, by creating five million hectares of new national and marine parks and reserves across WA over the next five years.
Planned parks stretch from the rangelands, the Perth area and Bunbury, to the South West forests, and southern coast.
The move supports the findings in a report, commissioned by Pew Charitable Trusts and produced by the Centre for Conservation Geography, which investigates a forgotten network of 63 government-owned properties and identifies a series of biodiversity hotspots which contain a high number of plant and animal species, many found nowhere else on Earth.
Although the properties addressed in the report encompass just 2 per cent of WA, Pew says these are home to more than one quarter of the State's vertebrate animal species.
Pew WA outback manager David Mackenzie said these properties were purchased for conservation during the past two decades, but little was known about them publicly.
"The investigation reveals that these areas represent an unprecedented opportunity to protect some of WA's most special natural places," he said.
"The WA Government's plans flag nearly half the properties for possible inclusion as new national parks, which would be an extraordinary legacy for future generations.
"These properties represent a remarkable return on investment for nature and West Australians in the form of new tourism destinations, new jobs and guaranteeing the protection of our unique natural places for future generations. The report confirms that the Government is on the right track in expanding WA's national parks."
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