National park
A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. It is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas. While this type of national park had been proposed the United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. Although Yellowstone was not termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. However, the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve, the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain are seen as the oldest protected areas, predating Yellowstone by nearly a century.
The first area to use "national park" in its creation legislation was the U. S.'s Mackinac, in 1875. Australia's Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the world's third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac National Park was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park and national park status was lost; as a result, Australia's Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. Canada established Parks Canada in 1911, becoming the world's first national service dedicated to protecting and presenting natural and historical treasures; the largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, established in 1974. According to the IUCN, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are always open to visitors. Most national parks provide outdoor recreation and camping opportunities as well as classes designed to educate the public on the importance of conservation and the natural wonders of the land in which the national park is located.
In 1969, the IUCN declared a national park to be a large area with the following defining characteristics: One or several ecosystems not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific and recreational interest or which contain a natural landscape of great beauty. In 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park; these include: Minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which protection of nature takes precedence Statutory legal protection Budget and staff sufficient to provide sufficient effective protection Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources qualified by such activities as sport, fishing, the need for management, etc. While the term national park is now defined by the IUCN, many protected areas in many countries are called national park when they correspond to other categories of the IUCN Protected Area Management Definition, for example: Swiss National Park, Switzerland: IUCN Ia - Strict Nature Reserve Everglades National Park, United States: IUCN Ib - Wilderness Area Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe: IUCN III - National Monument Vitosha National Park, Bulgaria: IUCN IV - Habitat Management Area New Forest National Park, United Kingdom: IUCN V - Protected Landscape Etniko Ygrotopiko Parko Delta Evrou, Greece: IUCN VI - Managed Resource Protected AreaWhile national parks are understood to be administered by national governments, in Australia national parks are run by state governments and predate the Federation of Australia.
In Canada, there are both national parks operated by the federal government and provincial or territorial parks operated by the provincial and territorial governments, although nearly all are still national parks by the IUCN definition. In many countries, including Indonesia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, national parks do not adhere to the IUCN definition, while some areas which adhere to the IUCN definition are not designated as national parks. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy; the painter George Catlin, in his travels through the American West, wrote during the 1830s that the Native Americans in the United States might be preserved...in a magnificent park... A nation's Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty! The first effort by the U. S. Federal government to set aside such protected lands was on 20 April 1832, when President Andrew Jackson signed legislation that the 22nd United States Congress had enacted to set aside four sections of land around what is now Hot Springs, Arkansas, to protect the natural, thermal springs and adjoining mountainsides for the futur
Gippsland
Gippsland is an economic rural region of Victoria, located in the south-eastern part of that state. It covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres, lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps. Gippsland is broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions; as at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, being Traralgon, Warragul, Sale, Drouin and Phillip Island. Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, the Baw Baw Plateau, the Strzelecki Ranges.
The area was inhabited by Indigenous Australians of the Gunai nation and part of West Gippsland by the Bunurong nation. Before permanent European settlement, the area was visited by sealers and wattle bark gatherers, but who did not settle. Samuel Anderson, a Scottish immigrant from Kirkcudbright and explorer, arrived in Hobart, Tasmania in 1830, in 1835 established a squatter agricultural settlement on the Bass River in Gippsland, the third permanent settlement in Victoria, his business partner Robert Massie joined him in 1837. Both had worked for the Van Diemen's Land Company at Tasmania. Samuel's brothers Hugh and Thomas arrived at Bass shortly after, where they established a successful farming venture. Further European settlement followed two separate expeditions to the area. During his expedition to the South in March 1840, Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki led an expedition across the terrain, gave his own names to many natural landmarks and places. Following these expeditions, the area was named "Gippsland", a name chosen by Strzelecki in honour of the New South Wales Governor, George Gipps, his sponsor.
See Count Strzelecki - a magic name in Gippsland Angus McMillan led the second European expedition between 1840, naming the area "Caledonia Australis". The naming of this geographical region, remained the name given by P. E. Strzelecki - Gippsland The township of Bass was surveyed and settled in the early 1860s; the intensive settlement of south Gippsland began late in the 1870s. The story of that process is told in, The land of the Lyre Bird. Gippsland is traditionally subdivided into four or five main sub–regions or districts: West Gippsland South Gippsland the Latrobe Valley East Gippsland. Sometimes a fifth region, Central Gippsland, is added to refer to the drier zone between the Gippsland Lakes and Yarram; the climate of Gippsland is temperate and humid, except in the central region around Sale, where annual rainfall can be less than 600 millimetres. In the Strzelecki Ranges annual rainfall can be as high as 1,500 millimetres, while on the high mountains of East Gippsland it reaches similar levels – much of it falling as snow.
In lower levels east of the Snowy River, mean annual rainfall is about 900–950 millimetres and less variable than in the coastal districts of New South Wales. Mean maximum temperatures in lower areas range from 24 °C in January to 15 °C in July. In the highlands of the Baw Baw Plateau and the remote Errinundra Plateau, temperatures range from a maximum of 18 °C to a minimum of 8 °C. However, in winter, mean minima in these areas can be as low as −4 °C, leading to heavy snowfalls that isolate the Errinundra Plateau between June and October; the soils in Gippsland are very infertile, being profoundly deficient in nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium. Apart from flooded areas, they are classed as Spodosols and Ultisols. Heavy fertilisation is required for agriculture or pastoral development. Despite this, parts of Gippsland have become productive dairying and vegetable-growing regions: the region supplies Melbourne with most of its needs in these commodities. A few alluvial soils have much better native fertility, these have always been intensively cultivated.
In the extreme northeast is a small section of the Monaro Tableland used for grazing beef cattle. Gippsland possesses few deposits of metallic minerals. However, the deep underground gold mines operated at Walhalla for a fifty-year period between 1863-1913. Gippsland has no deposits of major industrial nonmetallic minerals, but it does feature the world's largest brown coal deposits and, around Sale and offshore in the Bass Strait, some of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas in Australia. Like the rest of Australia, the seas around Gippsland are of low productivity as there is no upwelling due to the warm currents in the Tasman Sea. Nonetheless, towns such as Marlo and Mallacoota depended for a long time on the fishing of abalone, whose shells could fetch high prices because of their use for pearls and pearl inlays. For Australian federal elections
Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park
The Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park is a national park in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia. The 18,400-hectare national park is situated 315 kilometres northeast of Melbourne and 120 kilometres east of Albury-Wodonga; the Pine Mountain, one of the largest monoliths in Australia, is located within the park and is believed to be 1.5 times the size of Uluru. The highest peak in the park is Mount Burrowa at an elevation of 1,300 metres above sea level. Protected areas of Victoria
Nothofagus cunninghamii
Nothofagus cunninghamii, the myrtle beech, is an evergreen tree native to Tasmania and Victoria, Australia. It grows in the temperate rainforests, but grows in alpine areas, it is not related to the Myrtle family. It is referred to as Tasmanian myrtle within the timber industry. N. cunninghamii was proposed to be renamed Lophozonia cunninghamii in 2013. There has been some controversy over the change in name from Nothofagus to Lophozonia; these plants range from trees 30–40 m tall with large trunks to low-growing alpine shrubs less than 1 m tall. Maximum height is about 55 m; the leaves are simple and alternate, growing 0.5–1.5 cm long, in Victoria up to 2 cm long. The leaf color is with new growth brilliant red, pink or orange in spring, they are triangular with irregular minute teeth. The plants have separate female flowers on the same tree; these flower form inconspicuous clusters beside leaves near the tips of the branches. The fruit contains three small winged nuts. One may see round, orange-like fruiting bodies of a fungus protruding from the trunk.
It is an excellent cabinetry timber, hard with strong, close grain. It is a soft pink to reddish brown figured and can be polished to a fine sheen, it is used for flooring, cogs of wheels, furniture, is good for steam bending and carving. It is harvested from old growth forest but the vast majority of the timber is left on the ground as it grows with the harvested mountain ash. Dry Density 700 kg/m³. Nothofagus cunninghamii is a robust species, requiring around 900 mm of rain spread throughout the year, it is most common in Tasmania, where it occurs in most regions except the drier Midlands and east coast. It occurs in some moderately large patches in Victoria, it grows best in the deep red mountain soils of Victoria, or in organic soils. It can grow in full shade, albeit through to full sun, given enough water, it is grown from fresh seed, germinating in a few weeks. Cuttings can be struck. Cultivated specimens survive temperatures of 45 °C down to −7 °C. Trees cultivated in western Scotland are hardy.
Both N. cunninghamii and the related N. moorei are excellent hosts for epiphytes. Myrtle wilt, a parasitic fungus, attacks myrtle beech when the air-borne spores settle on open wounds, it is a natural disease of N. cunninghamii, but in recent years it has become a serious problem due to poor logging practices. Myrtle beech forests cannot survive strong fire, must re-establish from neighbouring areas, they can, survive light fires, by regenerating from seed, or sometimes vegetatively from basal epicormic shoots. Myrtle beech forests only form once a wet sclerophyll forest reaches maturity, taking several hundred years to do so. Wrigley, J. W.. Australian Native Plants. Collins. ISBN 0-7322-0021-0. Myrtle wilt
Alfred National Park
The Alfred National Park is a national park located in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The 3,050-hectare national park is situated 388 kilometres east of Melbourne and was declared in 1925; the park is dissected between Cann River and Genoa. The park reserves examples of warm temperate rainforest the jungle of Mount Drummer. Compared to the tropical rainforests of Queensland and New South Wales, this is a floristically depauperate forest, representing as it does the southern limit of this flora; this region is biogeographically interesting as the meeting point between the subtropical flora of the north of Australia and the cool temperate and arid zone floras of the south and west. The rainforest community consists of a closed canopy of Lilly Pilly Acmena smithii with numerous lianas and epiphytes; the park is known for occurrence of four varieties of tree ferns and of epiphytic orchids such as the orange-blossom orchid Sarcochilus falcatus and the rock orchid Dendrobium speciosum.
The park was burnt quite badly in the 1983'Ash Wednesday' bushfires. Protected areas of Victoria "Lind and Alfred National Parks Management Plan". Parks Victoria. Government of Victoria. August 1998. ISBN 0-7306-6265-9
Barmah National Park
The Barmah National Park is a national park located in the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The 28,500-hectare park is located adjacent to the Murray River near the town of Barmah 220 kilometres north of Melbourne; the park wetlands. The area is subject to sporadic flooding from natural and irrigation water flows. Barmah National Park was utilised by Indigenous Australians to find food and materials. Following the settlement of Europeans into the area, the Barmah National Park became an important fishing and logging area, with surrounding land cleared for agriculture and grazing. Rabbits, sheep and horses were introduced into the area; the park continues to be a home to small herds of horses, known as a type of brumby. However plans exist to remove the horses from the park. Hardwood timber was harvested from the Barmah region from around 1870 and logging was an important industry in the region; the park was one of four established by the Victorian Government in 2010 to protect remnant River Red Gum forest.
The other parks created were the Gunbower National Park, Lower Goulburn National Park and the Warby-Ovens National Park. In July 2010, the Government of New South Wales declared the Millewa Forest, on the northern banks of the Murray River, as a national park; the 41,601-hectare forest was renamed as the Murray Valley National Park, making the combined reserves a 70,000-hectare cross–border national park, managed by both governments and the Traditional Owners. The combined parks are the largest continuous red gum forest in the world; the Barmah National Park is a camping, bird watching and recreation destination. The Barmah National Park is known as a temperate semi-arid region, with low rainfall and high evaporation. Average temperature maximums for the year are around 30 °C in January and February, with average minimum temperatures down to 4 °C in July. Average rainfall for the year is 400 millimetres, with the most rain falling in winter with an average monthly rainfall of 40 millimetres; the Barmah National Park is a River Red Gum forest, consisting of an upper storey of red gums, no shrub layer or middle storey, a ground storey of native grasses and rushes.
The edges of the forest merge into a eucalypt-box woodland. The park is a large flood plain and wetland area, with flooding of the Murray River occurring sporadically and due to flow regulation of the river; the main fauna type found within the park are waterbirds. The area is a rich breeding and foraging area for over 200 bird species, it is one of the largest breeding grounds of water birds in Victoria. Reptiles and amphibians are found within the river red gum forest, as well as many native fish species in the river, including the Murray Cod; the main native mammals found include the grey kangaroo, koala and possum species. Introduced animals such as rabbits and horses can be seen throughout the park. Following European settlement of the area, land was extensively cleared to allow for farming and agriculture. Sheep and cattle grazing was a common sight around the Barmah region from the mid to late 1800s; the periodic burning undertaken by Indigenous Australians was halted. Logging of the River Red Gum forests was an important part of the late early 1900s.
The construction of dams upstream from the Barmah National Park, from the 1920s onwards, have had a vast impact on the water flowing in the Murray River and instances of flooding. The Hume Dam was operational from 1936, the Yarrawonga Weir in 1939, the Dartmouth Dam from 1979. Since clearing for agriculture, the subsequent dam construction took place, the Murray River has undergone some form of flow regulation; the Barmah National Park and surrounding River Red Gum forests should flood in spring and winter, due to the water catchment of the Murray River. However, due to flow regulation, the floods now occur in summer and autumn and are less frequent and of shorter duration than previously. A significant decrease in breeding and occurrence of waterbirds, particular woodland bird species and species of migratory birds has been reported in the Barmah National Park; this decrease has been attributed to the changes to the flood regimes occurring in the area. A number of marsupial species are no longer found within the park, including the rufous bettong, bridled nailtail wallaby, western barred bandicoot and lesser stick-nest rat.
Their absence has been attributed to the introduction of foxes. Though the future impact of climate change on River Red Gum forests is unknown, there has been a significant dieback of trees in the area due to ongoing evapotranspiration deficits; the Barmah Forest was declared as a national park by the Victorian Government in 2010 under the National Parks Act, 1975. The park is managed as part of a collaboration between Parks Victoria and the Traditional Owners of the area, including the Yorta Yorta people; the Barmah National Park is an internationally recognised wetland, listed under the Ramsar Convention, a number of bird species that utilise the Barmah National Park are part of the Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement and the China-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement. Flow regulation of the Murray River to benefit the surrounding agricultural land, has been undertaken for many years. However, more the importance of environmental flows is becoming acknowledged. Scientific study has shown that River Red Gums rely on specific levels and durations of floods in order to survive and regenerate waterbird species have speci
Pomaderris
Pomaderris is a genus of 70 species of shrub to small tree in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. 65 of the species are native to Australia and the other five are from New Zealand. There is some overlap. Few of the genus are known to horticulture, the most cultivated species is P. aspera, the hazel pomaderris. The leaves and twigs of the genus are hairy. Pomaderris species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Aenetus ligniveren. Selected speciesPomaderris adnata - NSW, Australia Pomaderris andromedifolia - eastern Australia Pomaderris angustifolia - eastern Australia Pomaderris apetala Pomaderris argyrophylla - eastern Australia Pomaderris aspera, Hazel Pomaderris - eastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris betulina - southeastern Australia Pomaderris bodalla - southeastern Australia Pomaderris brogoensis - southeastern Australia Pomaderris brunnea, Rufous Pomaderris - southeastern Australia Pomaderris cinerea - southeastern Australia Pomaderris cocoparrana - southeastern Australia Pomaderris costata - southeastern Australia Pomaderris cotoneaster, Cotoneaster Pomaderris - southeastern Australia Pomaderris crassifolia - eastern Australia Pomaderris delicata - southeastern Australia Pomaderris discolor - eastern Australia Pomaderris elachophylla, Small leaf pomaderris - southeastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris elliptica - southeastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris eriocephala - southeastern Australia Pomaderris ferruginea - eastern Australia Pomaderris gilmourii - southeastern Australia Pomaderris graniticola - eastern Australia Pomaderris hamiltonii - Pale-flowered kūmarahou, New Zealand Pomaderris helianthemifolia - eastern Australia Pomaderris intermedia - southeastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris kumeraho - Kūmarahou, Gum-digger's soap, New Zealand Pomaderris lanigera - eastern Australia Pomaderris ledifolia, Sydney Pomaderris - eastern Australia Pomaderris ligustrina - eastern Australia Pomaderris mediora - NSW, Australia Pomaderris nitidula - eastern Australia Pomaderris notata - eastern Australia Pomaderris oraria - Bassian Pomaderris, Limestone Pomaderris, Australia Pomaderris pallida - southeastern Australia Pomaderris paniculosa - Scurfy Pomaderris, Inland Pomaderris, Coast Pomaderris - southern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris parrisiae - southeastern Australia Pomaderris pauciflora - southeastern Australia Pomaderris phylicifolia - southeastern Australia, New Zealand Pomaderris pilifera - southeastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris precaria - NSW, Australia Pomaderris prunifolia - eastern Australia, New Zealand Pomaderris queenslandica - eastern Australia Pomaderris reperta - NSW, Australia Pomaderris rugosa - New Zealand Pomaderris sericea, Bent Pomaderris - southeastern Australia Pomaderris subcapitata - southeastern Australia Pomaderris subplicata - Victoria, Australia Pomaderris vacciniifolia, Round Leaf Pomaderris - Victoria, Australia Pomaderris vellea - eastern Australia Pomaderris velutina - southeastern Australia, Tasmania Pomaderris virgata, Upright Pomaderris - southeastern Australia Australian Gardening Encyclopedia, 2003, Random House ISBN 0-09-183596-8 "Pomaderris".
Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2008-02-09. Media related to Pomaderris at Wikimedia Commons
