Comments invited on the draft Moorrinya and Porcupine Gorge National Parks management plan
Assistant Director-General Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Andrea Leverington said a draft management plan for Moorrinya and Porcupine Gorge National Parks had been released for public comment.
“The final management plan will determine how these National Parks will be managed,” Ms Leverington said.
Moorrinya National Park is a remote park, in the Lake Eyre Basin. It features dry, flat plains criss-crossed by watercourses and covered in open eucalypt, paperbark and acacia woodlands, and grasslands and protects a range of animals including the rare square-tailed kite and endangered Julia Creek dunnart.
The park also preserves historic homesteads, shearing sheds and old machinery from the park’s pastoral past. The park’s name, an indigenous word for ‘ironbark’, reflects the cultural heritage of the Yirendali people who have traditional links to the area.
In Porcupine Gorge National Park, Porcupine Creek has carved an impressive canyon through multicoloured sandstones, leaving an isolated monolith, the Pyramid standing on the floor of the gorge.
Permanent waterholes and pockets of vine forest contrast strikingly with the surrounding savanna plains and create a haven for wildlife.
Copies of the draft plan are available from the DERM Customer Service Centre at 160 Ann street Brisbane and from 5B Sheridan Street, Cairns or at www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests.
“I encourage all members of the public and interest groups to read the plan and provide submissions supporting or disagreeing with the proposed management direction,” Ms Leverington said.
Submissions must be lodged by 14 December 2009. Please send your submissions to: Project Manager, Planning Services, Department of Environment and Resource Management, PO Box 2006, Cairns Qld 4870, or email parkplans@derm.qld.gov.au.
Last updated: 30 October 2009