A growing chorus of environmental advocates is urging the Victorian government to officially designate 350,000 hectares of forest in the Central Highlands as the Great Forest National Park (GFNP) — a move they say is long overdue for both ecological and social reasons.
According to a news article by yahoo news, the campaign is gaining renewed urgency as Melbourne continues its rapid growth and residents face increasing financial pressure.
Advocates argue the creation of the GFNP would provide desperately needed access to nature for city dwellers, while also safeguarding some of Australia’s most critically endangered species.
“We haven’t had a new national park since the late 1990s in Melbourne, yet the city has increased in size equivalent to the size of Adelaide since then,” said Sarah Rees, Project Manager of the GFNP.
“We’ve had huge population growth and we’ve had advances in our hospitals and our schools and roads but had no investment in our green spaces,” she added.
Melbourne trails significantly behind Sydney in terms of publicly accessible green space. While Greater Sydney boasts over 1.1 million hectares of natural areas, Greater Melbourne has only about 165,000 — a stark imbalance that GFNP supporters hope to address.
With more Australians opting for affordable, close-to-home experiences in the face of rising living costs, access to nearby protected areas has become even more essential.
“It’s about an investment into Melbourne and into creating more green spaces for Victorians, particularly under a cost of living crisis where people can’t afford their annual holidays and so forth,” Rees said.
“The point is, everyone goes to these places to refuel, to spend that quiet time, to get away from the hustle and bustle. And the power of this place is you can reach it by public transport.” Rees added.
The proposed park is also considered a vital sanctuary for species on the brink of extinction, including the Leadbeater’s possum — Victoria’s faunal emblem — as well as the Baw Baw frog and galaxias fish.
Rees stressed that the mountain ash ecosystem, where these creatures live, is itself critically endangered and needs legal protection.
“This is an area that houses some of the most iconic yet critically endangered wildlife left in the state, and the mountain ash ecosystem itself is also critically endangered. So it’s about a conservation investment,” she explained.
The region has historically been subject to heavy logging, and campaigners fear that without formal national park status, those activities could resume — especially if there is a shift in political leadership.