Plan for our Parks was announced by the WA government in February 2019

• Helena and Aurora Range, Bungalbin has been included in the Plan for Our Parks - "an opportunity for a Helena Aurora National Park".
• The announcement for Plan for Our Parks was made a year and three months following the December 2017 decision not to mine Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin), rather to investigate protecting it within a Class A reserve.

Plan for Our Parks includes at least seven new national parks, a new marine park, nature reserves, a conservation reserve, plus coastal reserves. There are also additions to three natiuonal parks, a terrestrial reserve and a regional park. In all, the focus of this plan includes 18 different areas. The intention of Plan for Our Parks is to add 5 million hectares to the conservation estate of Western Australia.

Plan for Our Parks (DBCA website)

Progress with Plan for Our Parks from February 2018 to June 2020

adapted from

'Update from the Director General - June 2020'

(source: DBCA website)

Created national parks                  Houtman Abrolhos Islands National Park

Added to national parks                site L to Murujuga National Park

Created class A reserve                  Over Beeliar Wetlands

ILUA Negotiations currently underway

Buccaneer Archipelago Marine Park

Fitzroy River National Park

Matuwa Kurrarra Kurrarra National Park

Lake Mason National Park

Kaluwiri National Park

Expansions of national parks and regional parks currently progressing

                        Wellington National Park

                        Preston River to Ocean and Leschenault RPs = Greater Bunbury RP

Draft joint management plan being prepared

                        Nyinggulu (Ningaloo) coastal reserves

Update of - Other Proposals to be progressed for Plan for Our Parks

New proposed national parks     

Fortescue Marsh National Park

Giralia National Park (nr Kennedy Range NP)

Helena Aurora National Park

New proposed nature reserves          Wanjarri Nature Reserve

New conservation reserves                  Badimia conservation reserve

Additions to national parks         

Mount Augustus National Park

Kennedy Range National Park

Shark Bay Terrestrial Reserve

Additions to the Plan for Our Parks (June 2020)

Following the consultation process during 2019, a further nine proposals have been added to the Plan for Our Parks initiative - primarily to help insure that the WA government will meet its target of adding 5 million hectares to the conservation estate of Western Australia by 2024.

potential new national parks      

Meentheena National Park

Thundelarra National Park

Die Hardy Range National Park

Waldburp National Park

Cockburn Range National Park

potential new conservation reserve       Wanna Conservation Reserve

potential additions to                                    Karijini NP, Peak Charles NP, Frank Hann NP

potential to add                                                Quannup to D'Entrecasteaux NP

potential to reinstate                                     Lake Jasper to D'Entrecasteaux NP

Plan for Our Parks is visionary and long overdue.

Class A conservation reserves provide the highest level of protection to our Natural Heritage. They occur primarily in the form of Class A national parks, natures reserves and marine parks, though sometimes as other types of reserves or parks. A brief summary of the vesting of Class A conservation estate in WA, prior to the Plan for our Parks, is provided below.

Creation of CLASS A conservation estate, 1980-2018 in WA

- Please note that the information below is as accurate as is currently available (2018), though may not be entirely accurate in regard to the year vested (in some instances may be within a year or two of year indicated).

National Parks₁ created and vested in Western Australia (WA) during the last 39 years, 1980-2018 have included:

• a total of 46 new national parks,
• 30 of these new national parks were vested in 2004 (or close to), with
• only one national park created since 2005 (Dirk Hartog Island National Park in 2009).

Class A Nature Reserves created and vested in WA during the last 39 years, 1980-2018, have included:

• a total of 249 new Class A nature reserves,
• a number of these were originally vested as Class C reserves than later reclassified as Class A reserves, particulalry in the 1980s.
• only four Class a nature reserves were vested from 2010-2018 (only one since 2015).
• 63 were vested from 2000-2009
• 76 were vested from 1990-1999
• 106 were vested from 1980-1989.

(₁ marine national parks have not been included in these figures.)

These figures indicate that very little Class A conservation estate has been vested in the last decade. The Plan for Our Parks WA government initiative can be seen as long overdue and timely.

While Class A conservation estate provides the highest level of protection in Western Australia, there are other levels of conservation estate that allow other landuses. Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin) is currently within a Conservation Park (vested in 2005) that allows mining. The proposed Helena Aurora Range National Park within the Plan for Our Parks initiative will protect Helena and Aurora Range (Bungalbin) from mining.