Conservation Action Plans

Parks Victoria is now adopting a best-practice approach to conservation planning for managing the extensive parks estate across Victoria.

Using the Conservation action planning methodology, we can identify and focus on strategies that will achieve the greatest improvement in the overall health of ecosystems. This planning process is being used by many conservation agencies around the globe, and can help us share information with international partners when tackling similar problems.

The Conservation Action Plans (CAPs) cover eighteen parks landscapes classified according to ecological attributes, landforms and administrative boundaries. They are developed through workshops with Traditional Owners, partner agencies, stakeholders, researchers, and scientists. These workshops identify the priority threats to conservation assets and what management strategies and actions will improve their condition over the next 15 years. After 5 years, the plans will be reviewed, and progress evaluated against implementation of priority actions, threat mitigation objectives and outcomes identified for conservation assets.

Wilsons Promontory

The Wilsons Promontory Landscape consists of five parks and reserves, including several marine protected areas. The entire promontory is of national geological and geomorphological significance and contains a number of sites of state and regional significance. More than 20% of Victoria’s native plant species and half of the state’s bird species occur in the national park.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Look at the poster
Download the CAP
Plan your visit

Wimmera

The Wimmera Park Landscape covers more than 350 parks and reserves with a combined area of about 198,000 hectares. The landscape includes nationally important wetlands, including Victoria’s largest freshwater lake, contains five vegetation communities that are nationally threatened and provides habitat for eighty nationally-threatened species of flora and fauna.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Look at the poster
Download the CAP

Grampians (Gariwerd)

The Grampians (Gariwerd) Parks Landscape covers 12 parks and reserves with a combined area of 278,164 hectares. More than one third of Victoria’s native plant species occur in the area, which also provides habitat for 40 nationally-threatened species of flora and fauna. About three-quarters of the park is designated as a Special Water Supply Catchment Area, providing high-quality water for communities across western Victoria.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Look at the poster
Download the CAP

Plan your visit

Mallee

The Mallee Parks Landscape consists of more than 350 parks and reserves. The landscape includes significant areas of remote wilderness featuring sandy dunes, heathlands, woodlands, grasslands, rivers, lakes and wetlands including the Lake Albacutya Ramsar site. It contains more than 1,000 species of native plants and protects habitat for more than 1,300 native animals, over 80 of which are significant.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Look at the poster
Download the CAP

River Red Gum

The River Red Gum Park Landscape is a linear oasis, with many of its ecosystems periodically connected by floodwaters. The landscape provides diverse, unique, high-quality habitats essential for the persistence of threatened species that rely upon seasonally inundated wetlands and floodplain environments. It is characterised by iconic large, old trees, vast floodplains, and internationally significant wetlands.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Look at the poster
Download the CAP

Great Otway

The Great Otway Parks Landscape consists of 47 parks and reserves with a combined area of more than 135,000 hectares. It is a landscape of old-growth forests, cool temperate rainforests, biodiverse heathlands, a large expanse of essentially unmodified coastline and important marine ecosystems. It contains more than 7300 fauna and flora species, including 38 nationally endangered or vulnerable species.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Download the CAP

Gippsland Plains and Strzelecki Ranges

The Gippsland Plains and Strzelecki Ranges Parks Landscape contains more than 200 parks and reserves with a combined area of more than 145,000 hectares. It is characterised by old-growth forests, internationally recognised wetlands, sandy beaches backed by coastal dunes and heathlands, and extensive seagrass beds and rocky reefs. The landscape is home to more than 2400 native fauna and flora species, including 5 nationally critically endangered and 46 nationally endangered or vulnerable species.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Download the CAP

Western Port and South-east Melbourne

The Western Port and South-east Melbourne Parks Landscape contains a range of smaller parks and reserves close to Melbourne, and must balance protecting significant conservation and biodiversity values with visitation and recreation. It is characterised by a wide variety of different ecosystems types, including heathlands, forests, wetlands, coasts and intertidal and subtidal reefs. The landscape contains the Western Port Ramsar Site, 28 wetlands of national or state significance and more than 2850 fauna and flora species, including five nationally critically endangered species and 46 nationally endangered or vulnerable species.

To learn more about the Conservation Action Plan for this area:
Read the summary
Download the CAP

CAPs will be developed for the following landscapes:

Western Plains and Wetlands
East Gippsland
Northern Plains and Box-Ironbark
Basalt Plains and Bellarine Peninsula
Central Highlands
North-east Melbourne
Central West Goldfields
Goulburn and North-east Slopes
South West
Greater Alpine