Care for your national parks
When visiting a national park you need to ensure that you don't disturb plants, animals, special sites, or the enjoyment of other visitors.
Here are some of the rules for visiting a national park:
| Rule | Reason why |
|---|---|
| Keep pets at home. | Pets can scare or kill native animals. |
| Take all your rubbish home. | Rubbish causes damage to the environment. |
| Leave plants, animals, rocks, shells and soil as you find them. | Disturbing these things puts the lives of animals and plants at risk and ruins their habitats. |
| Vehicles must stay on roads. | Vehicles cause damage to plants and animals and increase erosion. |
| Ride your mountain bike on roads but not on tracks. | Riding on walking tracks can injure walkers and damage the track. |
| Tread lightly - keep on the track. | You won't damage plants and animals when walking on the track. |
| Do not pick flowers. | Flowers are food for insects and birds, and they make seeds from which new plants grow. |
| Use toilet facilities, not the bush. | This keeps damage to plants and the soil to a minimum. |
| Do not touch or walk on historic sites or Aboriginal sites. | These sites are easily damaged by humans. |
Staying safe in national parks
- When bushwalking, tell someone where you are going.
- Take food and water, warm clothing and a raincoat.
- Do not go alone.
- Be careful when walking on rocks at the sea edge.
- Put on sunscreen and a hat.
- Stay behind safety fences.
- Before swimming check the depth, temperature and current.
More stuff to download
Activity sheet (PDF - 127KB)
Do you know what you should and shouldn't do when you visit a national park? Test your knowledge by downloading and printing out this activity sheet.
More about caring for national parks
Get some more tips on how you can help protect your national parks.
Page last updated: 21 February 2008