A new national park is being created in Sydney, Australia, government officials have confirmed.
The Gulguer National Park in western Sydney will eventually expand to over 1,100 hectares in size and protect habitat for at least 28 threatened species, including Cumberland and Dural land snails, southern greater gliders, powerful owls, giant burrowing frogs and eastern coastal free-tailed bats.
Located 5km south of Silverdale and 10km west of Bringelly in the city’s western suburbs, the park will eventually be home to walking and cycling trails, camping, picnic spots and other recreational activities.
Situated on what was once the home of the Dharug, Dharawal and Gundungurra peoples, the newly designated Gulguer National Park will include original Aboriginal rock art, stone artefacts and shelters, and is designed to preserve indigenous culture and heritage.
The park will also enable greater access to Country for Aboriginal people, a term used by First Nations people to describe a living entity comprising the land, water, plants, animals and skies to which they are connected through ancestral ties.
Gulguer will also offer protection to areas of critically endangered Shale Sandstone Transition Forest – including eucalyptus woodland – and Sydney Turpentine–lronbark Forest ecological communities, which are relied upon by white-bellied sea eagles and the native powerful owl, Australia’s largest species of owl.
Its creation marks the first stage of a protected landscape that will eventually connect Gulguer Nature Reserve and Bents Basin State Conservation Area with Burragorang State Conservation Area.
While an official timeline has not been shared, it is expected to open within the next six months following initial works in the area.
The Independent has contacted New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service for further comment.
The news follows the announcement of a huge new national park encompassing forests, glaciers, coastline and spanning 150,000 hectares at the tip of South America.
Plans for Cape Froward National Park in Patagonia, Chile, were confirmed at the start of the year, with the site providing habitat for the endangered huemul deer.
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