Victoria has a swag of truly majestic national parks, like Wilsons Promontory and the Grampians, and soon there'll be more to add to the list. The state government has been planning to create three new national parks in Victoria for a while now, and hopes are high that they will become official very soon. The new parks are part of a mission to conserve native flora and fauna, as well as enhancing recreation and tourism opportunities in the state's great outdoors.
The new national parks will be the Wombat-Lerderderg National Park, the Mount Buangor National Park and the Pyrenees National Park. Each one will be formed by linking existing state forests, parks and reserves, to create a total of more than 75,000 hectares of newly formed parks in Victoria's Central West.
The state parks that will become part of the new national parks will remain essentially unchanged and most recreational activities will still be permitted, aside from prospecting and most forms of recreational hunting.
Wombat-Lerderderg National Park will be the largest of the three new parks, spanning 44,000 hectares between Daylesford and Bacchus Marsh. Half will be the existing Lerderderg State Park and the other half will be made up of the existing Wombat State Forest.
Mount Buangor National Park will be 5,282 hectares, about half of which will be made up of Mount Buangor State Park and the other half Mount Cole State Forest. The third is the 15,000-hectare Pyrenees National Park, which will be created west of Avoca.
The plans for the three new national parks were first announced three years ago, so it's been a long time coming, but two of the three new parks are reportedly planned to be introduced into legislation this month. Find out more here.
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