Dear Natural
Heritage Policy Team,
Thank you for the opportunity to make submissions regarding the reservation of Future Potential Production Forest Land (FPPFL) within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA).
In March 2016 Minister Groom said, “The Tasmanian Government welcomes the report of the World Heritage monitoring mission to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and we accept all the recommendations.” (1) Recommendation 11 states, “Future Potential Production Forest Land (FPPFL) within the property should not be convertible to Permanent Timber Production Zone Land (PTPZL) and should be granted status as national park.” (2)
The FAQs on the reservation of FPPFL website do not list why National Park has not been considered or why Recommendation 11 from the monitoring mission has been ignored. (3)
In the FAQ section headed, “How did the Tasmanian Government decide on the reserve classes?”, it describes the provision under the act to allocate the same reservation status as a neighbouring reserve. However it also states land can be reserved as per Schedule 1 of the Nature Conservation Act. The approach suggested appears to ignore this second option.
World Heritage values have been confirmed not once but three times by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. First when the boundary modification to include these areas was initially accepted, second when the government attempted to revoke World Heritage Listing and thirdly through the monitoring mission which resulted from the attempt to allow logging and mining in the recent extensions. With such values confirmed resoundingly by internationally recognised experts so many times, it should be clear that national park status would be appropriate under Schedule 1 of the Act. At the very least the land should be assessed and reasons given as to why Recommendation 11 from the monitoring mission is to be ignored.
Management of the TWWHA should be left to the TWWHA Management Plan and its associated zones. Having a variety of reservation statuses within the TWWHA is confusing and unnecessarily complex. In some cases, simply extending existing national parks makes sense. For example the areas around the Arm, Dove and Forth valleys could be added to the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park. The areas along the eastern edge of the Mersey valley could easily be added to the Walls of Jerusalem NP, the areas around Liena to the Mole Creek Karst NP and the areas around Lake Gordon to the South West NP. In the case of the extensive areas along the Great Western Tiers, the reservation of FPPFL provides an opportunity to create a Kooperoona Niara NP. This would allow local communities to benefit from increased exposure and coordinated marketing and promotion of the many walking tracks and attractions in the proposed reserves.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to make a submission.
Sincerely,
Clinton Garratt
TasTrekker
(1) http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/releases/monitoring_mission_report_on_the_twwha
(2) https://whc.unesco.org/en/documents/140379 (Page 7)
kooparoona niara / Great Western Tiers. An example of World Heritage Listed Potential Production Forest which should be declared national park. Photo: Rob Blakers from https://tnpa.org.au/kooparoona-niara-great-western-tiers-national-park-proposal/
