65,000 hectares of Victorian forest just became national parks

On October 5, three new national parks — Wombat-Lerderderg (about 44,700 hectares), Pyrenees (about 15,100) and Mount Buangor (about 5,300) — officially came into force in Victoria, the state's first substantial new national parks in 15 years. More than 65,000 hectares of new national parks plus 13,000 hectares of reserves now protect platypuses, greater gliders, powerful owls and the critically endangered Mount Cole grevillea. It is the payoff of a grassroots campaign that began in 2010, when Wombat Forestcare volunteers produced the ecological surveys that made the case for protection.