Are flora, fauna losers in national park move?

DEAR Editor,

I am well known to your fine regional newspaper and readers will recall my backyard is the Lerderderg State Park and Wombat State Forest where I have camped with family and friends for the past 54 years.

I am a member of the admin team of the Bush User Groups United (BUGU) Facebook Page.

In my opinion, the flora and fauna of this fine stand of trees are the biggest losers when the Victorian Government passed the legislation to reclassify Wombat State Forest and Lerderderg State Park to the Wombat-Lerderderg National Park.

With the current state of existing national parks and the likelihood this new NP will not enjoy any special privileges with management and maintenance, many are saying we have another Grampians in the making.

We now hear the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) has been disbanded and the five council members relieved of their duties, council members who took selective notice of the Community Reference Group members of the Central West Investigation on the Wombat, Wellsford, Mount Cole and Pyrenees Range state forests, and ignored the Victorians who responded to the two consultancy periods with 67 per cent against more national parks under the current rulings.

The council members were a hand-picked biased group and served this government well in closing access to recreational users of a forest that has served Victorians over many years, from gold rush days to commercial timber harvesting to providing an escape from city life for lovers of the bush.

Those who use this forest area for enjoyment, adventures with family and mates, have been the true stewards and the majority have well-earned credentials in understanding respect for mother nature.

There are also those who live within the current state forest, some from generations of workers past, others more recent who have created a cottage industry from the climate of this area.

An example of the dissent from a local living and creating in Wombat State Forest I copy below:

“Thanks to VEAC (which apparently no longer exists) VNPA, Friends of the Wombat, Greens, Labor and other ideological, academic city dwellers, we, the people who actually live with the Wombat on our doorstep, are now just awaiting a massive firestorm,” the local said.

“Huge fuel build-up, and the impending status of another mismanaged national park, will create the perfect scenario for an inferno that will destroy everything in its path.

“Thank you to the people who have no idea about forests for putting all of us, the flora and the fauna in imminent danger. You will have blood on your hands.”

Also as a result of this action by the State Government, there will be certain loss of patronage and income for the businesses in the forest communities, bakeries, general stores, markets, hotels, caravan parks, service stations and cafes, et cetera.

Most of these small businesses I visited over the past eight years were not convinced eco-tourism will be the catalyst for boom times as suggested in the VEAC reports.

The deed has been done and of course there are differing factions and opinions on the decision. Only time will tell the long-term survival of this forest or is the very recent statements from experts that Victoria faces nuclear bomb fire risk this summer.

For whatever reason the status change to national park is not expected to be actioned until October 2026.

Stephen Smitham

Darley