Australia just created three new national parks — the first big ones in 15 years

Victoria has proclaimed three new national parks — Wombat–Lerderderg (about 44,700 hectares), Pyrenees (about 15,100), and Mount Buangor (about 5,300) — plus three conservation parks, seven new or expanded regional parks, and some thirty nature reserves, protecting more than 65,000 hectares in all. It is the state's first substantial national park creation in fifteen years, sheltering powerful and barking owls, swift parrots, southern greater gliders, platypuses, and the Mount Cole grevillea. The parks were designed with Traditional Owners — Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Wadawurrung Country — and follow years of campaigning by Wombat Forestcare and the Wilderness Society.