Lamington National Park includes a series of densely forested valleys and ranges rising to more than 1100m on the crest of the McPherson Range, which marks the New South Wales-Queensland border. The park lies on the southern edge of the Scenic Rim, a chain of mountains stretching from the Gold Coast hinterland to Mount Mistake. When you walk through Lamington’s cool, damp rainforests, you travel back in time through what remains of ancient Gondwanan forests that once covered the Australian continent. Some of Lamington’s plants and animals are survivors of prehistoric times when ferns, then pines, then flowering plants first appeared. These age-old Australians have endured events in geological time that saw dinosaurs and three-quarters of all living species disappear. Lamington National Park (gazetted in 1915) is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage site.
Conservation
Good governance
Community benefits
Lamington National Park includes a series of densely forested valleys and ranges rising to more than 1100m on the crest of the McPherson Range, which marks the New South Wales-Queensland border. The park lies on the southern edge of the Scenic Rim, a chain of mountains stretching from the Gold Coast hinterland to Mount Mistake. When you walk through Lamington’s cool, damp rainforests, you travel back in time through what remains of ancient Gondwanan forests that once covered the Australian continent. Some of Lamington’s plants and animals are survivors of prehistoric times when ferns, then pines, then flowering plants first appeared. These age-old Australians have endured events in geological time that saw dinosaurs and three-quarters of all living species disappear. Lamington National Park (gazetted in 1915) is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage site.
Component 1: Good Governance
Lamington National Park part of the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia with management arrangements involving the Australian Government and protected under both the state Nature Conservation Act and federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The park is managed as part of South East Queensland bioregion. Rangers work at 2 district sites – at Lamington and at Binna Burra. A new gazetted management plan is currently being prepared for the park under the Nature Conservation Act. The DRAFT Lamington National Park Aggregation Management Plan is being co-designed with Danggan Balun (Five Rivers) People and will follow the legislative process for preparing statutory instruments including public and targeted consultation with key stakeholder groups. The Department holds volunteer agreements (Memorandum of Understanding) with two local community associations: Lamington Natural History Association (LNHA) and Green Mountains Natural History Association (GMNHA). The LNHA and GMNHA are two volunteer organisations that provide interpretive information for visitors to Lamington National Park and take part in other volunteer activities that contribute to the park’s conservation and management. Lamington National Park participates in local government wild dog baiting programs by assisting park neighbours to place and retrieve baits on the neighbour’s side of the park boundary, as well as setting camera traps to gain better data from trapping programs. Cooperative burning with park neighbours is also a regular activity to promote positive landscape level fire management and burn outcomes. Lamington National Park is a World Heritage area and has two formal Steering Committees, the Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee (TSAC) and the Community Advisory Committee (CAC). These committees are made up of a panel of members to provide advice on both scientific and community matters. The committees meet twice a year, with QPWS and First Nation’s people and other relevant stakeholders to discuss all aspects of park management. Lamington is accepted by major constituents, and fully supported by local, national, and international agencies. The conservation of the Lamington Plateau was a lengthy and transparent consultative process of protection resulting in the gazettal of Lamington National Park in 1915. Queensland Department of Environment and Science provides publicly available information both on Lamington National Park and Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. The EAGL considers that Lamington National Park complies with the criteria of the Component 1 of the Green List Standard.
Component 2 Sound Design and Planning
Lamington National Park is extremely important for areas of representative regional ecosystems and protecting ecosystems that are unprotected elsewhere. Lamington protects 20 regional ecosystems, of which half have a threatened status. Many regional ecosystems cannot be protected elsewhere. Over 79% of Queensland’s Antarctic beech forests (Nothofagus moorei dominated rainforest) occur with Lamington National Park. The park protects one of Australia’s largest remaining forests of hoop pine, Araucaria cunninghamii, one of the world’s oldest conifers. The World Heritage listing recognises the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia one of the most significant centres of survival for araucarians. Simple notophyll vine forest with Ceratopetalum apetalum on Cainozoic igneous rocks is mainly confined in Queensland to the McPherson Range. Lowland subtropical rainforest is represented across Lamington providing species refuges and linkages across a largely agricultural and increasingly residential region. The narrow transition zone between open eucalypt forest and sub-tropical rainforest contain species of both the surrounding rainforest and open forest vegetation communities. The complex dynamics between rainforests and tall open forest particularly demonstrates the close evolutionary and ecological links between these communities. Montane heaths and shrubby woodlands in the park exhibit a high level of species endemism. The riparian corridors within the park are a nationally significant value and include the waterways and fringing ecosystems. Riparian corridors provide critical habitat for a range of conservation significant species including the spotted-tail quoll Dasyurus maculatus maculatus as well as contributing to high water quality. There are numerous rare and threatened flora and fauna species within the park. Currently, QPWS identifies and protects a number of First Nation Peoples cultural sites based on past consultation, i.e. Egg Rock (Kurraragin) is protected as a Restricted Access Area, other known sites easily accessible to the public (e.g. along major walking tracks). QPWS will be identifying key cultural values as part of the partnered planning process with Dangann Balun (Five Rivers) People. An evaluation of this site based on draft and current documents suggests that the planning and design of this Park is impressive. The natural values of Lamington National Park are very well documented, through numerous reports and published scientific papers The site has a management plan and a values assessment report was completed in 2022. The park is adaptively managed through the values-based park management framework recently introduced as policy in Queensland. The draft Lamington aggregation Management plan sets out the key value, and how these are linked to the UESCO World Heritage Criteria. There is clear evidence that the plans or the framework are being used to guide on-ground planning and management activities and priorities. The scale and size of the site is sufficient and appears to be self-sustaining. Lamington is a relatively large, protected area at 21 258 ha, and has a low boundary/area ratio. Its nonlinear shape reduces manage edge effects. The park provides important linkages with other parks and forests across the landscape, and its elevation means it sits higher in the catchment reducing impacts such as weed incursions from surrounding landscaped through waterways. Climate change is recognised in planning documents, with research focusing on a number of key indicators including changes to forest structure, and climate sensitive species. Impacts are being documented, especially with respect to values such as the Antarctic beech forests and threatened species. The EAGL considers that Lamington National Park complies with the criteria of the Component 2 of the Green List Standard.
Component 3: Effective Management
The Lamington National Park management Plan 2011 sets out the desired outcomes, actions and guidelines to protect and manage the values and threats to the park. A new management plan is being prepared with Danggan Balun (Five Rivers) People, based on the values assessment. The management actions are undertaken within the work program/operational plan and are consistent with the Lamington National Park Management Plan 2011, Lamington National Park Management Values Assessment 2022 and Regional business plan. Results of monitoring (i.e. health checks), scientific assessment/studies, expert advice, or best practice are used to up-date work programs and operational plans. Thematic strategies include specific management objectives to deliver on the strategic management objectives outlined in the Values Assessment. The SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound) objectives guide on-ground work programs. Since 2020, an annual park review is undertaken. Annual report cards show the set targets are on track to be met. Catastrophic bushfires in the Binna Burra region of the site in 2019 highlights the growing risk of wildfires and also highlights the challenges park managers are facing to burn appropriately to manage this protected area. Some of these challenges relate to working with neighbours to manage the site and the region with low density fires. QPWS has 10 positions across the two Lamington National Park management bases. These field positions are supported by a regional technical support team (31 positions) that provide additional support for management of the park in assessments and estate management, assets, compliance and firearms, emergency management, fire management, first nations engagement, interpretation, pest management, planning and evaluation, safety, and visitor communications. Improvements in ranger training have occurred over the past three years. All rangers are trained and participate in the health check program. This trains rangers in basic ecological monitoring, and ensure the staff understand the key values, their condition and the threats to those key values. This also supports their understanding of the why they undertake the work they do. Most permanent rangers are trained and authorised officers for law enforcement under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld). There are infrequent issues with compliance at Lamington. Most compliance matters are resolved through voluntary compliance and education is very effective. Lamington NP is a Queensland tourism and research hot spot. There are currently 88 commercial activity permits and 49 research permits that include Lamington National Park. All permits are assessed for suitability in line with the NCA and other legislation and the current management plan (including zoning). Access is limited with two major entry points with a well-established track system. The majority of the park inaccessible. The park is managed primarily for its natural values with provision for low-impact visitation. Site planning and design of visitor facilities ensures development is compatible with the surrounding environment and takes into account user demand, access, and adjoining land uses. It is undertaken as part of the QPWS landscape class (LCS) that is set within the Lamington Area Visitor Strategy to both protect key values and support visitor experiences. Health checks and other monitoring of areas such as bush campsite assessments are undertaken. Current health checks show the majority of overall conditions of natural and cultural values are being maintained or improved and assessment of threats in the Lamington National Park Values Assessment show visitor impacts are not significant and being managed effectively. Scientists with established relationships with the park are provided permits to work in the park (and in some cases get free access to ranger stations for accommodation and ranger staff to assist with research). Currently research results are integrated into on-park management through regional reporting of permit conditions, and working indirectly with Lamington park staff. Formalising external research into thresholds and park management is being undertaken. Areas of improvement include conducting research to answer specific park management knowledge gaps, and information from research permits in formats that feed more directly into the VBMF planning framework. Lamington National Park has a monitoring and research strategy that sets out a schedule for key and other values. For each value, it directs the desired condition/outcome to be achieved, outputs and target for monitoring, the indicator to be used and tool, who is responsible to undertake the monitoring/assessment, the frequency and timing, and priority. The Health Check tool forms the basis of monitoring key values on protected areas, with each tool using a set of 20 indicators with corresponding thresholds based on threatening processes and their impacts (e.g. pest plant infestation, overgrazing, wildfire) or features indicative of condition (e.g. ground cover, recruitment of canopy species). Each indicator has set thresholds that are used to trigger a management actions. The EAGL considers that the site comply with the criteria of the Component 3 of the Green List Standard.
Component 4: Successful Conservation Outcomes
The Lamington National Park Values Assessment 2022 and Lamington Report Cards shows the overall current condition and trend of key values. The values assessment sets out strategic management directions to manage identified threats with the desired outcome of improving condition and trend. Of the 10 natural key values, four meet desired condition, four are good with some concern, and two are of significant concern. Lowland subtropical rainforest was heavily impacted by bushfire and still in recovery mode and . Efforts are being made and condition is slowly improving with assisted recovery critical in coming years. The EAGL agrees that the site meets the thresholds for the conservation of natural values, ecosystem services and the cultural values. The EAGL considers that the sites comply with the criteria of the Component 4 of the Green List Standard.
