ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION V E R N M E R N M O E O V E G N G N T T E E O H O H Department of F Issue 10/09 T F T Environment and Conservation W W E A E A I I S L S L T A T A E R R E R R N A U S T 3 November 2009 N A U S T News Our environment, our future New Dirk Hartog Island National Park DEC will soon manage a national park on amazing location within a World Heritage Western Australia’s largest island, Dirk Area, enabling the tourism industry to Hartog Island in the Shark Bay World market the island as an important attraction Heritage Area. alongside the world-famous dolphins of In Shark Bay to announce the new national Monkey Mia. park, Environment Minister Donna Faragher “Creating the national park will open said the new national park covered almost it up to tourists under carefully managed the entire area of the 63,000-hectare island, sustainable tourism arrangements. protecting its unique environmental, cultural “It will also provide a pathway for the and historical assets, and creating a drawcard traditional owners of Dirk Hartog Island, the for nature-based tourism. Malgana people, to engage in the ongoing “Dirk Hartog Island forms the western- management and conservation of the most point of Australia and is an incredibly region.” biodiverse area with outstanding natural The Minister said management of the values including more than 250 native plant national park would also include sheep and species, three endemic threatened bird feral goat removal from the island followed species and a number of threatened reptiles,” by a major project to restore its natural values. she said. “Native animals on Dirk Hartog Island have “The park is nationally significant as suffered from feral goats and cats, with 12 of Dutch sea captain Dirk Hartog’s landing on the 15 original native mammal species now the island on 25 October 1616 is the first believed to be locally extinct on the island,” evidence of European arrival in Australia. she said. “The State Government’s vision is to A small piece of freehold land will be turn Dirk Hartog Island National Park into retained for nature-based tourism facilities by one of the world’s premier national parks the Wardle family, who have been operating showcasing its significant history and the pastoral lease on the island since 1968. (Left to right) DEC Director General Keiran McNamara, Project Officer Shark Bay World scientific value. A reserve will also be created at Heritage and Shark Bay Shire President Cheryl Cowell, local Malgana man and owner of “The park’s declaration will help to create Tumbledown Point for the use and benefit of Wula Guda Nyinda tours Darren ‘Capes’ Capewell, Environment Minister Donna Faragher and national and international awareness of this the Malgana Aboriginal people. Netherlands Consulate-General for Western Australia Arnold Stroobach. In this issue Page 1: New Dirk Hartog Island National Park Page 2: A brighter future for fire management • Formation of the Office of the EPA exit 10/09 Page 3: Seed bank celebration • Paving the way for national park accommodation Page 4: Kimberley field work nears completion • New plant species discovered in remote Kimberley ECN A brighter future for fire management NOW back on Australian soil, members was also seen as a significant advantage to of the DEC and Forest Products effective incident management. Commission contingent who travelled Keith said the Canadians also had very to British Columbia to help fight fires different practices in finance management, have reflected on their experiences and including carrying out an estimated total fire the lessons they learnt, which are being cost in the early stages of each fire. examined for possible implementation in “The Canadian team we handed over to on WA. departure had a finance team of seven!” Keith While the Canadian fire management said. systems are very similar to those used in Some of the other Canadian practices that Australia, they also presented different were of interest included using the skills techniques and tools. of retired fire managers and multi-agency Fire Management Services Branch Acting management of evacuations. Manager and Incident Controller at the “If I required it, the deployment affirmed for Canadian fires Keith Low said one significant me the value of our Australasian Inter-service variation between the countries was fatigue Incident Management System, or AIIMS, and management practices, as the Canadian the capacity of the agreements between teams took on deployment lengths of 14 Australia and New Zealand and the USA and days, as opposed to WA’s deployments of Canada to be mutually beneficial,” Keith said. Fire Management Services Branch Acting Manager Keith Low (left) and five days. “It also affirmed that WA remains at Busselton District Manager Greg Mair take some time out in Lillooet, The coordination of incidents through a the forefront of fire management and fire British Columbia. multi-agency regional coordination centre suppression but can always learn from others.” Formation of the Office of the EPA Published by the Department of Environment and Conservation’s Strategic Development and PREMIER Colin Barnett and Environment Minister DEC will retain responsibility for conservation and Corporate Affairs Division, Cygnet Hall, Donna Faragher have announced the formation environmental regulatory matters such as clearing (cnr) Mounts Bay Road and Hackett Drive, of a new Office of the Environmental Protection of native vegetation, natural resource management, CRAWLEY, Western Australia, 6009 Authority (EPA) to meet the growing complexity, pollution, licensing and works approvals. Managing Editor: Madeleine Clews size and demands of development assessment in the Environment Minister Donna Faragher said the changes Editor: Rhianna King State. were based on recommendations in a number of reports, The new agency will be provided with its own General including The Role and Structure of the Environmental Contributing Editors: Catherine Jack, Manager, staff, budget and administrative capability. Protection Authority by the Minister’s Environmental Samille Mitchell DEC Director General Keiran McNamara and EPA Stakeholder Advisory Group, chaired by former EPA Design and Production: Peter Nicholas Chairman Paul Vogel together announced that the chairman Dr Bernard Bowen. Telephone: (08) 9389 8644 new agency would have responsibility for parts of “These changes will result in increased transparency Email: [email protected] the Environmental Protection Act dealing with policy and independence, leading to greater community and development, environmental impact assessments and industry confidence in the activities of the EPA,” the compliance monitoring of Ministerial conditions. Minister said. In this issue Page 1: New Dirk Hartog Island National Park Page 2: A brighter future for fire management • Formation of the Office of the EPA exit 10/09 Page 3: Seed bank celebration • Paving the way for national park accommodation Page 4: Kimberley field work nears completion • New plant species discovered in remote Kimberley ECN Paving the way for national park accommodation DEC-managed national parks line sustainability criteria pioneered may soon boast more and by DEC to assess proposals. varied accommodation options “This will ensure that the thanks to the new Naturebank developments will adopt program. world’s best practice standards Launched by Tourism Minister of operation and create socio- Liz Constable and Environment economic opportunities in regional Minister Donna Faragher, areas, especially for Aboriginal Naturebank paves the way for people,” he said. the release of land for low-impact “And a broader range of DEC Senior Research Scientist Anne Cochrane with feather-leaved banksia seedlings. accommodation, mostly within accommodation means we can national parks and reserves. attract a broader range of visitors Naturebank works by identifying while also closely managing the Seed bank celebration potential visitor accommodation impacts. sites and undertaking due diligence “The operations will have key THE international Millennium Seed Bank material from each species to ensure successful required to make a site ready for performance indicators measuring (MSB) partnership is celebrating collecting reintroduction if extinction occurs in the wild.” release. environmental and social and conserving 10 per cent of the world’s The MSB project is the most ambitious DEC Tourism Branch Manager performance and will be audited wild plants by banking its 24,200th international conservation project in the Rod Quartermain said applications regularly. species. world and part of the Royal Botanic Gardens’ for accommodation would still go “The leases will encourage and Since 2001, DEC’s Threatened Flora Seed Breathing Planet program. through a strict approvals process, reward best practice rather than Centre has contributed more than 14 million Anne said the partnership with MSB, which but Naturebank would make the just setting minimum standards.” individual seeds to the MSB, founded by the also involved the Kings Park and Botanic process more streamlined. The accommodation will be Royal Botanic Gardens in the United Kingdom, Gardens Authority, had enabled DEC’s “It’s not a short-cut for environmentally and culturally from more than 1,000 Western Australian Threatened Flora Seed Centre to double its approvals, but it gets as many sensitive, similar to the State’s plants. collecting capacity, which had led to the clearances as possible for new already successful nature-based DEC Senior Research Scientist Anne identification of new taxa, threatened flora sustainable accommodation outlets facilities – such as Eco Retreat in Cochrane said the centre conserved seeds of populations and range extensions. out of the way ahead of their Karijini National Park, the safari threatened species and used the banked seed “The partnership has made a huge release,” Rod said. camps in Purnululu National Park to re-establish plant populations in the wild. achievement for global plant conservation “We can now invite expressions and Sal Salis at Ningaloo Reef.