National Parks and Wildlife Service head Atticus Fleming said the new park would be bigger than many iconic parks around the world,including Yosemite National Park in the US.
He added that,while Australia had one of the worst global extinction rates,the new park would help protect about 50 threatened species,including the hopping mouse and countless birds. The area also contains ecosystems not found in any other national parks,including a complex network of rivers,salt lakes and floodplains,long parallel sand dunes and waterholes.
The park is located in the traditional country of the Karenggapa and Parundji people,and artefacts have been discovered on the property,including hearth remains,flakes and grinding plates. NPWS will work closely with traditional owners to ensure the cultural heritage is protected.
“We want people to reconnect with nature,we want them to come out as visitors and be as excited about this property as our ecologists were when they first visited,” Fleming said.
NSW Environment Minister James Griffin said the park would open to the public in 2025 and the next two years would be focused on ecosystem analysis,feral animal management,collaboration with traditional owners and building infrastructure.
“[We are] conserving not only for our generation but future generations,” he said. “What’s even more extraordinary,is that when combined with the adjacent Narrieara-Caryapundy National Park and the nearby Sturt National Park,our national parks now protect an almost completely connected area of about 1 million hectares west to the South Australia border.”