Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Strategic Plan

Comprising over a million hectares of spectacular eucalypt and mountain landscapes, the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA) was inscribed on the World Heritage List in November 2000. The area supports outstanding biodiversity values, with over 100 eucalypt species occurring in sclerophyll ecosystems in an extraordinarily diverse area rich in natural and cultural values that extends to within 60 kilometres of the centre of Sydney, the largest city in Australia.

The GBMWHA incorporates the largest integrated system of protected areas in New South Wales and provides outstanding opportunities for the conservation of natural communities and processes. It includes the most extensive aggregations of temperate eucalypt wilderness in south-eastern mainland Australia.

This strategic plan has been prepared to help meet Australia’s international responsibilities under the World Heritage Convention. It will ensure that appropriate consideration is given to the GBMWHA’s World Heritage values by managers when developing management prescriptions for the GBMWHA reserves, and that they are developed and implemented in a consistent and coordinated way.

The document also serves as a public statement of the commitment of the management agencies to the long-term survival of the GBMWHA. The strategic plan is part of the overall planning framework for the GBMWHA and does not attempt to provide detailed management prescriptions for the individual reserves in the GBMWHA, which are provided for in reserve plans of management.

This strategic plan covers the following national parks and reserves and should be read in conjunction with their plans of management:

• Blue Mountains National Park
• Kanangra-Boyd National Park
• Gardens of Stone National Park
• Wollemi National Park
• Nattai Reserves
• Yengo National Park, Parr State Conservation Area and Finchley Aboriginal Area
• Thirlmere Lakes National Park
• Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve.

Mid-term review and addendum

The GBMWHA Strategic Plan was launched in June 2009 and undergoes a mid-term review about 5 years after its adoption. The mid-term review makes required readjustments and updates to relevant government policy or legislation. The results of the review are contained in the GBMWHA Strategic Plan Addendum 2016 (PDF 330KB).