BENDIGO conservationists are calling for protection of the Wellsford State Forest through the creation of a national park.The Bendigo and District Environment Council has set up a campaign led by convenor Stuart Fraser after the forest was identified as needing protection.The Victorian National Parks Association identified Wellsford along with 20 other sites still under threat from logging.“BDEC supports the VNPA in its findings,” Mr Fraser said. “This is a special place and requires immediate protection, as it lies between the Wellsford Regional Park, the Sugar Loaf Fora and Fauna Reserve and the Campaspe River, forming a biolink between important conservation areas.”Mostly a box ironbark forest, Wellsford provides habitat for rare and threatened flora and fauna.“There’s a dead spot in central Victoria - it’s useless for timber, but the country should still be preserved,” Mr Fraser said. The group was preparing to fight for preservation, he said.The authorities did not like national parks beside a city.“They did it with One Tree Hill because it is a significant piece of land.”Mr Fraser said something serious needed to be done to protect central Victorian forests.“Otherwise great clearing will take place.”