Plan for our Parks was announced by the WA government in February 2019
- Helena and Aurora Range, Bungalbin has been included in the Plan for Our Parks - "an opportunity for a Helena Aurora National Park".
- The announcement for Plan for Our Parks was made a year and three months following the December 2017 decision not to mine Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin), rather to investigate protecting it within a Class A reserve.
Plan for Our Parks includes at least seven new national parks, a new marine park, nature reserves, a conservation reserve, plus coastal reserves. There are also additions to three natiuonal parks, a terrestrial reserve and a regional park. In all, the focus of this plan includes 18 different areas. The intention of Plan for Our Parks is to add 5 million hectares to the conservation estate of Western Australia.
Plan for Our Parks (DBCA website)
Can download updated Plan for Our Parks Map, (Plan for Our Parks overview 2024) from this link to the DBCA website
Progress with Plan for Our Parks from February 2018 to June 2020
adapted from
'Update from the Director General - June 2020'
(source: DBCA website)
Created national parks Houtman Abrolhos Islands National Park
Added to national parks site L to Murujuga National Park
Created class A reserve Over Beeliar Wetlands
ILUA Negotiations currently underway
Buccaneer Archipelago Marine Park
Fitzroy River National Park
Matuwa Kurrarra Kurrarra National Park
Lake Mason National Park
Kaluwiri National Park
Expansions of national parks and regional parks currently progressing
Wellington National Park
Preston River to Ocean and Leschenault RPs = Greater Bunbury RP
Draft joint management plan being prepared
Nyinggulu (Ningaloo) coastal reserves
Update of - Other Proposals to be progressed for Plan for Our Parks
New proposed national parks
Fortescue Marsh National Park
Giralia National Park (nr Kennedy Range NP)
Helena Aurora National Park
New proposed nature reserves Wanjarri Nature Reserve
New conservation reserves Badimia conservation reserve
Additions to national parks
Mount Augustus National Park
Kennedy Range National Park
Shark Bay Terrestrial Reserve
Additions to the Plan for Our Parks (June 2020)
Following the consultation process during 2019, a further nine proposals have been added to the Plan for Our Parks initiative - primarily to help insure that the WA government will meet its target of adding 5 million hectares to the conservation estate of Western Australia by 2024.
potential new national parks
Meentheena National Park
Thundelarra National Park
Die Hardy Range National Park
Waldburp National Park
Cockburn Range National Park
potential new conservation reserve Wanna Conservation Reserve
potential additions to Karijini NP, Peak Charles NP, Frank Hann NP
potential to add Quannup to D'Entrecasteaux NP
potential to reinstate Lake Jasper to D'Entrecasteaux NP
Plan for Our Parks is visionary and long overdue.
Class A conservation reserves provide the highest level of protection to our Natural Heritage. They occur primarily in the form of Class A national parks, natures reserves and marine parks, though sometimes as other types of reserves or parks. A brief summary of the vesting of Class A conservation estate in WA, prior to the Plan for our Parks, is provided below.
Creation of CLASS A conservation estate, 1980-2018 in WA
- Please note that the information below is as accurate as is currently available (2018), though may not be entirely accurate in regard to the year vested (in some instances may be within a year or two of year indicated).
National Parks1 created and vested in Western Australia (WA) during the last 39 years, 1980-2018 have included:
- a total of 46 new national parks,
- 30 of these new national parks were vested in 2004 (or close to), with
- only one national park created since 2005 (Dirk Hartog Island National Park in 2009).
Class A Nature Reserves created and vested in WA during the last 39 years, 1980-2018, have included:
- a total of 249 new Class A nature reserves,
- a number of these were originally vested as Class C reserves than later reclassified as Class A reserves, particulalry in the 1980s.
- only four Class a nature reserves were vested from 2010-2018 (only one since 2015).
- 63 were vested from 2000-2009
- 76 were vested from 1990-1999
- 106 were vested from 1980-1989.
(1 marine national parks have not been included in these figures.)
These figures indicate that very little Class A conservation estate has been vested in the last decade. The Plan for Our Parks WA government initiative can be seen as long overdue and timely.
While Class A conservation estate provides the highest level of protection in Western Australia, there are other levels of conservation estate that allow other landuses. Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin) is currently within a Conservation Park (vested in 2005) that allows mining. The proposed Helena Aurora Range National Park within the Plan for Our Parks initiative will protect Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin) from mining.