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Parks Victoria Annual Report 2000-01

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Parks Victoria Annual Report 2000-01 P ARKS VICTORIA ANNUAL REPORT 2000-2001 VISION An outstanding park and waterway system, protected and enhanced, for people, forever. PURPOSE We exist to: • Conserve, protect and enhance environmental and cultural assets; • Responsibly meet the needs of our customers for quality information, services and experiences; • Contribute to the social and economic well being of Victorians; •Provide excellence and innovation in park management. CONTENTS Vision and Purpose Chairman’s Foreword 1 Celebrating the International Year of the Volunteer 2 Key Achievements 4 Section 1 Chief Executive’s Message 8 Corporate Governance 10 The Board 12 The Executive Team and Organisational Chart 14 Section 2 Protecting and Conserving Our Heritage 16 Section 3 Working with the Community and our Partners 20 Section 4 Enhancing the Visitor Experience 24 Section 5 Wildfire Management 32 Section 6 Organisational Performance 36 Section 7 Financial Statements 40 Legislative Framework Chairman’s Foreword Peter Buzzard The Hon. Sherryl Garbutt MP Chairman, Parks Victoria Minister for Environment and Conservation Dear Minister, On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to submit the fifth Parks Victoria Annual Report to you. This year, Parks Victoria continued to deliver high-quality parks services on behalf of the State. The skills, dedication and commitment of the staff of Parks Victoria ensure that this work is carried out with a high level of expertise, borne out once again by the organisation’s achievements this year, particularly in the field of environmental management. Of course, in this International Year of Volunteers, Parks Victoria is delighted to acknowledge the support and dedication of the many volunteers who offer their time to help preserve and enhance our precious parklands. The assistance, expertise and passion of the individuals and hundreds of groups who were involved in a range of projects in our parks have been integral to our achievements. In July 2000, Dr Geoff Wescott and Pam Robinson were appointed to the Board, and Don Saunders was appointed in February 2001. There are many achievements described in the annual report and I would urge you to take special note of the significant ones highlighted on pages 4 – 7 of the report. Finally I would like to thank you, Minister, for your support and close involvement with Parks Victoria during the year. Peter Buzzard Chairman Parks Victoria September 2001 1 International Year of Volunteers Volunteers make an outstanding contribution to a strong, During the year, volunteers provided more than 17,500 days cohesive society and embody the best of Australia’s cultural of assistance in a diverse range of projects across Victoria. traditions. While Parks Victoria facilitates some of the community and volunteer programs, many others are started and managed As part of the 2001 International Year of Volunteers, Parks externally by committed and concerned groups of people Victoria celebrated and recognised the contribution of park with some Parks Victoria support. volunteers and the staff who support them with a series of events throughout the State. A near record number of The contribution made by park volunteers and the support volunteers participated in Clean Up Australia Day, 50 they provide to Parks Victoria staff is truly impressive. volunteers in 15 parks successfully ran the Camp Host Volunteers play an invaluable supportive role in removing and programs across 19 sites, while volunteers from 17 groups controlling pest plants and animals, revegetating sites, contributed to the success of the Parks Festival at Albert Park enhancing four-wheel drive tracks, conserving historic and in May. cultural sites, carrying out surveying, monitoring and research activities, helping out at visitor centres and information desks, educating visitors, lending a hand at special events, taking part in interpretation, guiding and Camp Host programs and helping out with the production of publications, general administration and fundraising. Above: Families volunteer to plant trees at Jells Park. 2 Above: Dedicated volunteers helping maintain tracks in Baw Baw National Park. Below from left: Young volunteers at Button Grass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park, help to plant some trees; Davina Young, Pamela Todd and Ernie Matthews liven up Werribee Park. 3 Key Achievements Clockwise from left: South Channel Fort; Minister Garbutt opens the new visitor facility at the Twelve Apostles; State of the Parks Report; The Twelve Apostles Visitor Facility. State of the Parks 2000 Report Seasonal Ranger Program Parks Victoria achieved a major milestone with the public To support and enhance the delivery of visitor services during release of the State of the Parks 2000 Report, which provides summer, Parks Victoria employed 48 seasonal rangers, many a comprehensive picture of the overall environmental of them in regional areas. condition of the parks system. The report represented the culmination of more than three years’ work. Twelve Apostles Visitor Facility Indigenous Employment Program The Twelve Apostles Visitor Facility was completed and officially opened. Built to strict environmental criteria, the We employed seven new rangers and three team leaders in centre will be a focus for the one million visitors a year who the first phase of the Indigenous Employment Program. visit this natural wonder. Indigenous Cross-Cultural Training South Channel Fort Jetty Reconstruction In an innovation that was widely applauded, prominent elders The reconstruction of this Port Phillip Bay heritage icon was and members of Victoria’s Aboriginal communities conducted completed in time for summer, giving visitors access to the a cross-cultural awareness training program for 150 staff fort for the first time since the closure in 1997 of the old jetty. across the State. 4 Left: Minister Garbutt launches the Werribee Precinct Region of Excellence project at Shadowfax Winery, Werribee Mansion. Below: Three of the Kookaburra Award winners – Dr Malcolm Calder, Leon Costermans and Dr David Ashton. San Remo Jetty Kookaburra Awards The Minister officially opened the rebuilt $1.5 million San Parks Victoria established the Kookaburra Awards to Remo Jetty and Pelican Walk, which have greatly improved recognise and acknowledge outstanding individuals who are foreshore access and harbour facilities. involved in preserving, enhancing and expanding Victoria’s parks system. This year’s winners were Dr David Ashton, Hooded Plover Protection Dr Malcolm Calder, Eileen Collins, Leon Costermans, Jane Calder and David Tatnall. Fox control, sea spurge control and population monitoring of Hooded Plovers along 30 kilometres of the Mornington Werribee Precinct Region of Excellence Peninsula coastline will help protect this species. Parks Victoria led a strategic partnership with the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Program Government, the private sector and the community to produce a strategy for developing Werribee into a centre The Helmeted Honeyeater Team joined forces with the of excellence in conservation management, a major tourist, Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) and education and recreation destination and a focus for many Healesville Sanctuary to reintroduce this critically endangered significant annual heritage and cultural events. bird species to the Diamond Creek floodplain in Bunyip State Park. 5 Clockwise from left: There is a great diversity of environmental research projects undertaken as part of the Research Partners Program; The gentle art of koala relocation in Mt Eccles National Park. Research Partners Program Metropolitan Open Space Strategy Since its inception in May 2000, 52 targeted environmental Parks Victoria completed the draft strategy for the research projects have been established under the Parks metropolitan area. The Linking People and Spaces Strategy Victoria Research Partners Program. Program partners is a 20-year plan that envisions a partnership approach with include the University of Ballarat, Arthur Rylah Institute for local government, State and community land managers to Environmental Research, the University of Melbourne, Deakin guide sustainable open space initiatives. University and the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology at the Royal Botanic Gardens. City of Greater Geelong – Study of Open Space Networks Anglesea Heathlands Private Sector Management Partnership Parks Victoria, in partnership with the City of Greater Geelong, developed a Study of Open Space Networks. Parks Victoria will work in partnership with Alcoa to manage The study promotes the importance of open space and the 7000-hectare Anglesea Heathland, which adjoins emphasises trail linkages. Opportunities for improving and Angahook-Lorne State Park. Under the agreement Alcoa expanding the shared trail network were identified, as well will fund a management plan and ground works. as a prioritised program for implementation. Koala Relocation Parks Victoria continued its koala relocation program to reduce environmental damage on Snake and French Islands and at Mt Eccles National Park. 6 Clockwise from left: The Metropolitan Open Space Strategy: Linking People and Spaces will guide sustainable open space initiatives; Minister Garbutt launches the Wilsons Promontory National Park Draft Management Plan. Wilsons Promontory National Park Draft Directions in Historic Places Management Management Plan This ground-breaking draft report outlines Parks Victoria’s This draft plan, released for community consultation in strategic long-term heritage conservation
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