Gondwana Link Walpole Wilderness in South Western Australia

THE WALPOLE WILDERNESS

The proposed Walpole Wilderness Area (WWA) forms one of the core intact, protected areas in the Gondwana Link pathway. It encompasses 330,000 ha array of stunning landscapes such as tall forests, granite mountains, wetlands and heaths, river systems and pristine coastal environments. The area is dotted with important biodiversity and has very high species richness. It contains about 1500 native vascular plant taxa, a level of diversity comparable to both the Stirling Range and Fitzgerald River National Parks.

The Walpole Wilderness Area has great wilderness qualities. It is the largest and most significant protected area in both the Jarrah Forest and Warren Bioregions, combining the three existing Mt Frankland, Shannon and Walpole-Nornalup National Parks (approx. 110,000 ha) with four new national parks totalling 230,000 ha. Together with the adjacent D’Entrecasteaux National Park, the wilderness area forms one of the largest contiguous reserve systems within southwestern Australia.

The area is particularly important in a biogeographic sense because much of it receives the highest annual and least seasonal rainfall in the south of the state. For this reason, the area contains many endemic and moisture-dependent relictual plants and animals. These include the sunset frog (Spicospina flammocaerulea), the tingle trapdoor spider (Moggridgea tingle) and the magnificent large tingle trees; red tingle (E. jacksonii), yellow tingle (E. guilfoylei), and Rates tingle (E. brevistylis). The wilderness area will protect many icon old growth forests thereby protecting important sites that contain populations of sedentary relictual plants. It will allow for a landscape within which mobile species can move freely.

This magnificent wilderness will now be protected for future generations. This has been achieved after a long and arduous campaign by a range of environmental groups and individuals. However, we still need to ensure sensitive management of such areas, particularly the need for a more rational approach to fire management in light of the presence of sensitive relictual biota. Such areas and management are the only way that much of the flora and fauna will be able to survive and continue to evolve in the face of rapid climate change.