Morton National Park, Budawang National Park Plan of Management

Morton and Budawang National Parks are located on the rugged eastern escarpment of the Southern Tablelands between Bundanoon and Braidwood. They have a combined area of 194,193 hectares.

The two parks cover a varied and spectacular landscape including plateaus, mesas, scarps, deep gorges and high ranges. In particular the Northern Budawang Range, with its mesa-like peaks, terraced slopes and sculptured rock faces is unique in NSW.

The parks are geologically complex and important for research. They protect a number of significant features including the southern edge of the Sydney Basin, the Hawkesbury Sandstone/Permian plateau scarp, the only proven occurrence of upper Devonian limestone in NSW and an important fossil site.

Because of the varied geology and landform, altitude range and climatic location, the parks contain a very large range of vegetation types and native animal species. The vegetation includes a number of forest and woodland associations, extensive areas of heathland/sedgeland and several types of rainforest. The parks provide important habitats for a large number of threatened plant and animal species including several endemic plants.

The parks are rich in Aboriginal sites including several major complexes. Many of the sites are of considerable age and have high research value. A considerable proportion are paintings and drawings in rock shelters, often with occupation deposits.

The parks are close to major population centres and the northern part of Morton National Park is within day trip distance of Sydney. Morton National Park provides a range of easily accessible day use and camping areas on its perimeter including popular tourist facilities. Both parks provide outstanding opportunities for wilderness recreation. The Ettrema and Budawang Wilderness areas cover a large proportion of the central and southern parts of Morton National Park and most of Budawang National Park.

The plan of management provides for protection of the diverse values of the two parks, with emphasis on maintenance of biodiversity, protection of populations of threatened plant and animal species, protection of significant Aboriginal sites and protection of wilderness values.

Popular bushwalking areas, particularly the ‘Budawangs’, are suffering environmental damage caused by high visitor numbers. The plan includes a number of measures to address this.

This plan of management was originally adopted by the Minister for the Environment on 20 September 2000. It was amended in accordance with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 on 11 October 2001. These amendments are incorporated into this plan.