Otways- Regional News - December 2005
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Newest national park opens - December 12, 2005 - AAP - Otways ; - December 2005
Newest national park opens
December 12, 2005 - AAP
VICTORIA'S newest national park, straddling the spectacular Great Ocean Road, has been opened by Premier Steve Bracks and Environment Minister John Thwaites.
The Great Otway National Park, the largest on the Victorian coast, covers 103,000 hectares of rugged coastline and rainforest along the Otway Ranges, in Victoria's south-west.
The new park comprises the existing Otway National Park, the Angahook-Lorne, Carlisle and Melba Gully state parks and tracts of former state forest.
The national park will put an end to the timber industry in much of the region, for many years the scene of clashes between loggers and environmentalists.
But a further 40,000 hectares, known as the Otway Forest Park, has been set aside for trail-bike riding, four-wheel driving, horseback touring and, for now, some logging.
Mr Bracks said yesterday that native forest logging would be phased out in the Otways by 2008.
About $13 million would be spent over four years to establish the parks, he said.
"The creation of this new park is a huge step towards a tourism future for the region," he said in a statement. "It will allow the region to make the most of its tourist potential, and will create new job opportunities."
The park would protect old-growth forest and 43 threatened plants and animal species, including the spot-tailed quoll and spiral sun orchid, he said.
AAP
State Government accepts almost all VEAC 'Final Recommendations' for the Otways - from Oren Campaign Website - includes details of specific contentious areas now included in the national park
Other news articles on the enlarged Greater Otways National Park :