Inside the park

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Inside the park

By: Chingshang *

We are really proud of being the home of the only floating national park in the world with the rare habitat of one of the most endangered wild animals, Sangai. Covering an area of not less than 40 sq kilometres with unique floating vegetation called locally as Phumdis, Keibul Lamjao National park is one of the most extraordinary wetland regions of the world.

Most of the park land is covered by Loktak which is considered to be the largest fresh water lake in the eastern part of India. This is one of the many national parks in the country which is well linked in most of the leading nature and environmental websites.

But this nomenclature is not sufficient for the park to survive in the long run. Yes we have valid reasons to be proud of so much as we do have immense responsibility of maintaining the upkeep of the park.

Time and again, we have several skirmishes between the public and the government with reference to the use of Loktak Lake as the source for hydroelectric power generation in the state. The utility of the generated power is always under question compared to the harmful effects it generates in the Loktak ecosystem and survival of the national park in particular and surrounding catchments area in general.

Despite government’s repeated attempts to bring the national park on par with best in the country, it has always turn out to be a mountainous task as the stake for the survival of national park is not an immediate concern for many.

It’s natural on the part of the government and public to least bother for the survival of the park as there is no direct bearing of their life on the park. It is sort of ‘also runs’ concept. Yes, it is true parks will survive on its own even if you do not own or protect.

It has the natural regeneration capacity for its survival. Best national parks in the world are the ones which are least protected and controlled. But that system is far from reality than just imagination in our context especially when the park is under constant threat for its resources.

It’s high time for us to find the pertinent answers to some of the oft asked questions.

Why do we need to protect our national park?
What are the ways and means to help save the park?
How best can we help in maintaining the park?
Why do we wait only for the government to act upon the park?
What are the economic and environmental benefits of maintaining the park and so on?

It will very easy to answer the questions in theoretical terms but not so in working practical context. It will definitely require lot of concerted efforts across organisational and public. Having said and done on many counts regarding its upkeep over the years, the deteriorating health of the park is very much visible. We need to act now than it’s too late.

Inside the park

Recently I had the chance to investigate on a small project as part of the university course regarding the habitat of the marine and coastal national parks around Melbourne using satellite imageries. We processed the images using Microimages TNT lite software. It was really interesting and finally we classified the images in both Supervised and Unsupervised formats. The results were just marvellous.

But we didn’t have the chances to go for a ground truthing during the investigation even though we use lots of photographs and Google Earth. I was having this feeling that I must go and check at least the areas around myself.

So on one fine day, I make up my mind and took the journey myself. Before the journey I used Google Earth and Maps a lot to make my visit more purposeful and carry out without any hitch. I marked out the itinerary which I have decided to follow.

Actually I planned to visit the areas around Swan Island. But I ended up at Point Cooks coastal park, Point Cooke Marine sanctuary and Cheetham wetland areas. I roamed almost the whole day in these areas and could gain some insights firsthand about their national parks. At the end of the day it was extremely useful.

The Victorian Government has created a system of 13 Marine National Parks and 11 smaller Marine Sanctuaries. These parks and sanctuaries now protect 5.3% of Victoria's coastal waters, safeguarding important marine habitats and species, significant natural features, cultural heritage and aesthetic values.

Point Cooks coastal park and Point cooks Marine sanctuary are parts of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National park. The Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park is located at the southern end of Port Phillip Bay, including the entrance to the bay at Port Phillip Heads, and is made up of six separate areas including Swan Bay.

Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park is one of eight Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries in the Victorian Embayment’s marine bioregion, as identified by the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA). This regionalisation identified 60 marine bioregions, five of which apply to Victorian waters (IMCRA Technical Group 1998).

The park protects approximately 1.2% of the Victorian Embayment’s marine bioregion. Habitat types found within the park include seagrass beds, sheltered intertidal mudflats, intertidal sandy beaches and rocky shores, sub tidal soft substrata and rocky reefs, as well as the open water environment.

The diversity and abundance of marine flora and fauna in this region are greater than many comparable habitats elsewhere in the world. Port Phillip is 1930 km2 in area and is quite shallow, with a maximum depth of 24 m (Harris et al. 1996).The expanse of sub tidal seagrass beds is a major nursery habitat for many species of fish, some of which have commercial value.

The inter tidal mudflats and surrounding fringe of salt marsh support large numbers of wader birds including many that migrate from the Northern Hemisphere during summer months.

Along the coastal Park

Point Cook Coastal park and Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary is located at about 20 km away in the southwest of Melbourne. It is a popular destination for nature lovers, picnickers, birdwatchers and family outings. Not less than 250 fauna species have been identified in the park and it is also an important place for visiting migratory birds from Siberia, Alaska and New Zealand.

Migratory birds are common due to the differences in seasons between the southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere. It is believed that Point Cook coastal park area receive low rainfall throughout the year. Hence the extensive vegetations found in the coastal area primarily include salt marsh, grassy wetlands and sedgeland.

There are so many natural water bodies inside the park that supports the existence of several aquatic species. I never thought I will be able to see so many things in their natural habitat.

First I went to the Point Cook marine sanctuary area and came down towards the Cheetham wetlands which comprises of a series of ponds. I crossed inside the Cheetham wetland and saw all those ponds. Actually my plan was to come to Williamstown along the coast from Point Cook. But, literally, I lost inside the Cheetham wetland.

One big inlet along the coast prevents me to cross further. So I was searching a way to come out from Cheetham, I drove my bicycle here and there and carried on my shoulder several times. It was a really a horrifying experience.

I had this feeling of illegal entry to the park all the time. No one was there also to enquire about being it on Sunday. The wetland area is encircled with barb wires and locked all entry and exit points except the sea facing side. I was not having any idea about that as I entered from Point Cooks main entrance gate.

Finally I could manage to get out from an illegal exit point with a sigh of relief. Originally these wetland areas consisted mainly of natural saltmarsh and grassy areas. With the construction of the Saltworks, a salt mining company, number of lagoons were constructed into which sea water was drawn.

A Dead Stingray

The salt water was allowed to circulate around the ponds by means of sluices and gates. So these wetlands are the result of the creation of the previous Saltworks. All those remnants can also be seen today. Saltmarsh is the dominant vegetation in these areas.

Today it has become one of the most important places for birdwatching. Lot of birds, not less that 200 species have been identified in several times of the year. The following link takes you to the area mentioned in the article.

There are many things which I really like about the maintenance of their parks. They promote their parks with lots of facilities and lots of meaningful restrictions which people really care about.

I think these facilities and restrictions are very important in order to make their parks sustainable and people friendly. Their Marine national parks and Marine Sanctuaries are ‘no take environments’.

That means everything inside the park is strictly protected and cannot be carried away or taken. Relevant penalties are applicable for violation.

Some of the primary restrictions includes, no fishing in the designated park areas, parking of vehicles on the marked areas only, no cats, dogs, and horses be brought inside the park, no open fire except in the given barbeque areas, no pollution of the water with sewage. Motorboats should have their own toilets onboard.

No rubbish is thrown inside the park. It should be carried away by the user. Extreme care must be taken that you do not come to block the path of wild animals. One must considerate to the movement of the wild animals.

On the other hand they also provide lot of meaningful facilities like picnic shelters, free gas barbeque area, open playground, changing room and toilets, an information centre that displays park related issues, wheel chaired accessible hard surfaced trails, watch tower and well designated parking spaces.

Display boards are erected at many appropriates areas giving relevant information about the park. So getting the right information on the spot when you visit the area helps in learning about the environment apart from the fun and frolic stuff.

If you talk about parks in general at Melbourne, I must say there are many, many and many more. This is one of the highlights of Melbourne. I think every sizeable vacant land is a park. Parks are highly well maintained and public cooperation in maintenance is very high.

Taking into consideration of fragile natural vegetation of Australia in general, Victorian Government takes extreme measures to maintain their parks in the greatest health. Their park motto is “Healthy parks, Healthy people”. I can see the same reflected here in parks and people. It is not just the good motto they like but the generic and symbiotic relationship between parks and people.

Well, we all know many of the good things that can be made and implemented in our state. But they are bound by many whys not hows which makes many willing souls to douse their creative instincts. I know people will say we do not have the resource.

We seldom ask what we have. We still face many bottlenecks just to maintain that small Indira Park. Above all how many parks do we have?

Now we should be extremely careful about Kangla, at least, from many vested interest groups. Off course Kangla is not a park.

We need many more parks to be created for a sustainable future. People will ask ‘why”. That’s the end of everything. But we can still make a difference.

Log on to the following link to check out what other people are doing. See you all in the next article.

Check out the gallery on "Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary" here.

* Chingshang, a Graduate student at University of Melbourne, contributes regularly to e-pao.net. The writer can be contacted at rockm(at)rediffmail(dot)com . This article was webcasted on December 26th 2007.

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