LAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL EAST GIPPSLAND AREA REVIEW FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS December 1986 This text is a facsimile of the former Land Conservation Council’s East Gippsland Area Review Final Recommendations. It has been edited to incorporate Government decisions on the recommendations made by Order in Council dated 15 December 1987 and subsequent formal amendments. Where the Review refers back to the March 1977 East Gippsland Area Final Recommendations, for completeness recommendation wording and Crown descriptions have been reproduced. Added text is shown underlined; deleted text is shown struck through. Annotations [in brackets] explain the origin of changes. 2 MEMBERS OF THE LAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL D. H. F. Scott, B.A. (Chairman) R. W. Campbell, B.Vet.Sc., M.B.Admin.; Director, Land Protection Division (Deputy Chairman) C. N. Austin, C.B.E. D. M. Calder, M.Sc., Ph.D., M.I.Biol. L. Macmillan B.Sc. (Hons) P. A. Eddison, Dip.T.R.P.; Director-General, Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands R. D. Malcolmson, M.B.E., B.Sc., F.A.I.M., M.I.P.M.A., M.Inst.P., M.A.I.P. J. J Wright, B.Sc. (Tech.), M.Eng.Sc., Grad.Dip.O.R.; Chief General Manager, Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs G. G. Newman, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.B.Admin., Ph.D.; Director, Fisheries Division J. P. Paterson, B.Com., Ph.D.; Director-General, Department of Water Resources D. S. Saunders, B.Agr.Sc., M.A.I.A.S.; Director, National Parks and Wildlife Division R. P. Smith, B.Sc., M.B.Admin., Ph.D.; Director, Public Land Management and Forests Division K. G. Bowen, B.Sc. (Hons) Dip.Ed.; Group Manager - Minerals, Department of Industry, Technology and Resources ISBN 0 7241 9226 3 3 CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 4 A. PARKS 19 B. REFERENCE AREAS 42 C. WILDLIFE 47 D. WATER PRODUCTION 51 E. STATE FOREST AND TIMBER PRODUCTION 56 F. FLORA RESERVES AND FLORA AND FAUNA RESERVES 86 G. BUSHLAND RESERVES 89 H. THE COAST 91 I. RIVERS AND STREAMS 94 J. ROADSIDE CONSERVATION 107 K. EDUCATION AREAS 111 L. RECREATION 114 M. SCENIC RESERVES 123 N. HISTORIC RESERVES 124 O. AGRICULTURE 126 P. MINERAL AND STONE PRODUCTION 128 Q. UTILITIES AND SURVEY 133 R. TOWNSHIP LAND 137 S. OTHER RESERVES AND PUBLIC LAND 138 T. COMMONWEALTH LAND AT POINT HICKS 139 Appendices: I Final Recommendations for Parks in the Previous East Gippsland Investigation 140 II The NIEIR Economic/Employment Evaluation: Summary of Findings 141 Maps: 1–5 Public land recommended for alienation. omitted A Final Recommendations. 1:250 000 omitted 4 INTRODUCTION The Land Conservation Council was established by the Land Conservation Act 1970. As one of its three functions, it makes recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Environment with respect to the use of public land, in order to provide for the balanced use of land in Victoria. Notices showing the boundary of the East Gippsland study area and advising that an investigation was to be carried out were published in the Victoria Government Gazette of 18 July 1984 and in local and other Victorian newspapers in July 1984. A descriptive resources report was published on 28 August 1985. Submissions Following the publication of the report, the Council received 1930 submissions on the future use of public land. Individuals, associations, companies, and local and State government bodies, representing a wide cross section of the community, made helpful submissions covering possible forms of land use for the district. In addition, discussions have taken place with many individuals and groups, both in East Gippsland and in Melbourne prior to the formulation of recommendations. After considering these submissions, and having visited the study area, the Council formulated its proposed recommendations, which were published on 14 May 1986. The Council subsequently received 4, 807 submissions commenting on these proposals and had further input from various groups and individuals. After due consideration, the Council now presents its final recommendations. Availability of submissions All submissions received by the Council are available for inspection at the Council’s offices. Report contents This report contains the Council’s final recommendations concerning the use of public land in the East Gippsland study area, the boundaries of which correspond to those of the Shire of Orbost. The recommendations in the text are grouped under major headings, such as Parks, State Forest, and so on. Accompanying the text [Note: not in this version] is a map at the scale of 1:250,000 which covers the whole study area and gives a broad view of the recommended land uses. More detailed maps show areas recommended for agriculture (by alienation). Additional information on boundaries is held by the Land Conservation Council. Land uses The Council recommends the continued use or establishment of: parks in areas of particular importance for recreation and nature conservation; reference areas and education areas (covering part of the range of land types found in the study area); flora reserves and flora and fauna reserves for areas of value for conservation of representative plant communities and habitat; and wildlife reserves for several sites containing valuable faunal habitats. Other areas are recommended as historic reserves and substantial areas are recommended as State forest. Where demands from competing uses vie for a given area of land, it is not possible to satisfy them all. Wherever possible, these recommendations attempt to achieve balance in providing for the present needs of most forms of use while retaining flexibility and the opportunity to adjust to future changes in such demands. They do so by placing as much of the public land as possible under forms of use that do not have a major impact on the natural ecosystem. 5 Flexibility in planning is essential. Our knowledge of many resources (for example, minerals) and of the distribution and ecology of plants is very imperfect. There must be many places in Victoria where special values remain unrecognised and for which no special provision can be made in present planning. Furthermore, future demands for resources on public land may require alteration or modification of these recommendations, which are based on the best information presently available. Table 1 summarises the recommendations in terms of the major forms of use. It is important to realise that each primary use has a number of compatible secondary uses. In addition to nominating the best uses for the land, the recommendations indicate what is considered to be the most appropriate form of tenure for the land and the most appropriate management authority Table 1: Public land use Percentage of all land Percentage of all public Land use categories Area covered by these land covered by these (ha) recommendations recommendations National parks 239 156 25 29 State park 3 300 < 1 < 1 Coastal park 11 100 1 1 Regional park 800 < 1 < 1 Reference areas 11 045 1 1 Wildlife reserves 11 180 1 1 Flora and flora and fauna reserves 6 005 < 1 1 State forest 542 800 57 65 Bushland reserves 220 < 1 < 1 Coastal reserve 815 < 1 < 1 Streamside reserves 60 < 1 < 1 Education areas 1 960 < 1 < 1 Recreation areas 340 < 1 < 1 Scenic reserves 1 565 < 1 < 1 Historic reserves 100 < 1 < 1 Agriculture 1 315 < 1 < 1 Major utilities 810 < 1 < 1 Mineral and stone reserves 50 < 1 < 1 Other land uses collectively make up the balance. Figures are rounded. [These areas have not been adjusted for subsequent changes] New information The Council is aware that many changes in demand for the use of public land cannot be foreseen, and that the value of environmental resources will change as exploration, research, and technology progress. For these reasons, the Council believes that periodic reviews of public land use in the State are desirable, and it must be expected that resources will be re-allocated or adapted to meet changed demands. In its previous recommendations the Council identified two areas, the Gelantipy Plateau/ Bowen Range and the headwaters of the Goolengook River, designating them as areas with both high conservation and timber values that were to be withheld from logging or new roading until public land use in East Gippsland was reviewed. The Council did not commit these areas to any primary use because of a lack of detailed information, strong competing arguments regarding their use, and the availability (in the short term) of other areas with similar timber resources. 6 Since the publication of the Council’s final recommendations for the area in 1977, considerable new information about East Gippsland has been collected, which has generated a number of issues about the way that public land in East Gippsland should be used. Flora and fauna Until several years ago, few surveys of the natural resources in East Gippsland had been undertaken, and the available information covered only part of the study area. Then, however, the Environmental Studies Division of the former Ministry for Conservation initiated a series of research projects to identify sites of zoological, botanical and geological or geomorphological significance in the region, thus enabling the Council to place the attributes and natural values of East Gippsland in a Statewide perspective. These studies provided considerable information about the area as a whole and identified particular species and sites of significance. (For example, the initial discovery of the long-footed potoroo - an East Gippsland endemic - did not occur until the mid 1970s, and it was not described as a new species until 1980.) They also drew together previous knowledge about the area to establish a much improved data base, supplemented by more detailed flora and fauna surveys that the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands conducted and by the Fisheries and Wildlife Service’s work on the fauna.