Study tour to explain park management in ancient landscapes

The Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife is staging a field trip on the management of parks in ancient and complex landscapes.

Taking attendees to the Great South West Edge – a National Landscape and biodiversity ‘hotspot’, with some of the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life on the planet, the field trip will focus on the complexities and opportunities created by managing biodiversity in these mosaic landscapes including farming, mining and growing urbanisation, where the biodiversity values are irreplaceable and faced by threats including a changing (drying) climate, invasive pest species and wildfire. 

Aboriginal heritage, native title and joint management arrangements are pivotal concerns for the future and will be explored.

Set to run from 20th to 25th November, immediately after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress (being held in Sydney from 12th to 19th November) and aimed at delegates attending this world first conference, the Park Management in Ancient Landscape study tour aims to help attendees develop knowledge and share ideas about recognising and developing strategies to manage for biodiversity in complex situations when facing multiple demands. Attendees will visit breathtaking landscapes from the pristine beaches of the south west capes, to tall Karri and Tingle forests, the magic of the Walpole Nornalup inlet and the massive coastal cliffs near Albany.

Those attending the Park Management in Ancient Landscapes field trip will develop:

• Networks in fields relating to joint management, fire management, predator control and park infrastructure development.
• Knowledge around operational management techniques for:
fire and plant diseases; management planning for terrestrial and marine protected areas; 
the use of science to inform policy and planning of protected areas; joint management of protected areas; and 
exposure to the implementation of education programs and new marketing strategies to encourage the public to use and support parks.
• An understanding of the operational aspects of the management of fire (prescribed burning and wildfire management) in a highly fragmented landscape will be achieved through identifying environmental factors, legislative requirements and competing community uses.
• An understanding of the role of science and the application of operational skills to manage invasive species and forest disease in highly endemic and diverse ecosystems
• An understanding of the impact of a drying climate, the management of visitors and threatened species on decisions about threats to protected areas.
• The capacity to identify and develop mechanisms to respect Indigenous knowledge and culture in the management of protected areas will be strengthened.
• A better understanding of the processes for developing policy, legislation and management of marine protected areas in developed nations. 
• Knowledge of issues around threatened species management, the impact of a drying climate and visitors’ recreational expectations will be explored.

For more information contact Field Trip Leader Colin Ingram on email: colin.ingram@dpaw.wa.gov.au

Click here to view the itinerary and for booking details.

Image courtesy of Out of Sight tours.

19th July 2014 - SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA FACES WATER CRISIS BY END OF CENTURY DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

5th December 2013 - SYDNEY TO HOST IUCN WORLD PARKS CONGRESS IN 2014