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A KEY group opposed to the push to create new national parks around the state says "saddened" is not the right word to describe the government's decision to back three more.
"Furious would be closer to the truth", the Bush Users Group United's Mark Shannon said in a statement shared to the group's Facebook page.
"We are currently looking at our options."
The government has backed calls for forests elsewhere in the state to be transformed into the national parkland.
The Bush Users Group has been a driving force behind the push against extra regulations for bushland.
That has included protests in Bendigo.
The group has argued that bush users like prospectors and firewood collectors risked being stopped from using parks if regulations were too stringent.
Mr Shannon told supporters the Bush Users Group had begun contacting supporters in parliament.
The Bendigo Advertiser has reached out to Mr Shannon for comment about the Wellsford Forest, which would not be made into national parkland under the government's plan.
That would include keeping firewood collection areas open to 2029.
12.50pm
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners say the Wellsford Forest is worthy of better protections, even as they welcome other regional bushland becoming national forest.
The state government has endorsed a push to make land in the Wombat, Pyrenees and Mount Cole forests into national park but declined to give bushland outside of Bendigo the same status.
Two groups have issued a joint statement saying they were "very pleased" with the decision, which they said would benefit all central Victorians.
"However, we are concerned that the pre-European ironbarks in the Wellsford State Forest were not given more protection than (that of a) regional park," the Bendigo and District Environment Council and the Wellsford Forest Conservation Alliance said.
The groups also worry that members of the public could keep collecting firewood from designated parts of the Wellsford until 2029.
They say the system is already being abused.
Campaigners recently took the Bendigo Advertiser to a section of forest where trees had recently been felled.
The campaigners suspected members of the public had removed them, potentially to sell on a firewood black market.
The government has agreed in principal that areas that could have been turned into national park should be added to the Bendigo Regional Park, which would phase out grazing and timber harvesting.
It says it wants time for any ecological assessment studies or research into a sustainable timber supply that might be needed as the state transitions to other sources of firewood.
BDEC and the WFCA's statement did not include any comments on the government's decision to leave the door open to miners to operate in the area.
Other environmental campaigners have suspected for some time that the government has been considering mining options in the Wellsford and that it could potentially influence policy decisions there.
Miners may well have been able to dig tunnels under the park even if it was a national park, but they would have needed to do it at least 100 metres below the surface, under the plans the government rejected.
Its decision leaves the door open to miners at a time of booming exploration in Victoria, and as the government prepares to announce which companies will be able to explore separate land through large swathes of central Victoria, including eastwards of the forest around Fosterville.
"The government supports mining occurring beneath the park addition and acknowledges that some minimally intrusive surface activity may need to occur in the regional park addition to support this," the government said.
Earlier
The state government will not add sections of the Wellsford Forest to the Greater Bendigo National Park, going against an independent recommendation.
On Thursday morning the state government handed down a long-awaited response to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council's (VEAC) Central West Investigation Final Report by accepting in principle or accepting in part 76 of the 77 recommendations.
However, the government did not accept recommendation A3 for the Greater Bendigo National Park (addition).
The recommendation outlined that an area of 3152 hectares to a depth of 100 metres be added to the existing Greater Bendigo National Park beyond the investigation area and be used in accordance with the general recommendations for national parks
The government instead ruled the area will be added to the existing Bendigo Regional Park.
This meant, the government said in its response, the forest could support "a broader range of recreational activities, provide another area for domestic firewood collection (from designated sites) until June 2029, and provide greater flexibility for the North Central Victorian Goldfields Ground Release."
DELWP and Parks Victoria are responsible for implementing this recommendation.
Related:
- Bush user groups rally against Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
- Bush user groups vow to fight plan to make Wellsford forest a regional park and nature reserve
- Draft Victorian Environmental Assessment Council plan splits upper house candidates in Northern Victoria
- Bendigo's Wellsford forest could have land made into regional and national parks after recommendations from Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
"What we want is certainty for the area ... it's been twenty years. We know people in the community want that certainty," campaigner Wendy Radford said in June 2020.
The government's response also varied recommendation A4 for the Wombat-Lerderderg National Park by committing to create a 4855-hectare Barkstead Regional Park instead of including the area in the recommended national park supporting a broader range of recreational activities and provide another area for domestic firewood collection (from designated sites) until June 2029.
The government response will lead to the creation of three new national parks which will, together with new conservation parks, nature reserves and bushland reserves, protect important habitat connectivity for rare and threatened species. this will increase Victoria's system of protected areas by approximately 50,000 hectares.
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D'Ambrosio said the report would ensure the parks, reserves and forests of central west Victoria were appropriately protected, managed, and able to support all public land users.
"The government response aims to balance the wide-ranging demands on public land in central west Victoria to ensure these areas will continue to underpin the region's natural, social and economic prosperity for generations to come," she said.
"The government response will see the creation of three new national parks, together with new conservation parks, nature reserves and bushland reserves, to protect important habitat connectivity for rare and threatened species. These new parks and reserves will increase Victoria's system of protected areas by more than 50,000 hectares, sustaining biodiversity and other natural values.
"The government response also provides for seasonal, recreational deer hunting (by stalking) in the Pyrenees and Wombat-Lerderderg National Parks, in the areas where it is currently permitted, and with some restrictions. There will continue to be opportunities for prospecting in the three blocks of the investigation area. Additionally, four-wheel driving, trail-bike riding, mountain biking, bushwalking, picnicking and nature observation opportunities are not impacted by the government response to VEAC's recommendations.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"Public land in central west Victoria is essential to Traditional Owners' connection to country. The government supports the aspirations of Traditional Owners to manage their country and is committed to partnering with them to implement this government response."
VEAC's Central West Investigation commenced in March 2017 and focused on three distinct central Victorian public blocks of land in central west Victoria.
The investigation covered 161,215 hectares of public land equating to about two per cent of Victoria's public land estate.
The final report was tabled in parliament on August, 15 2019.
To view the state government's 49-page response, click here.
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