Blackwood River National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It extends along the middle reach of the

Blackwood River The Blackwood River is a major river and catchment in the South West of Western Australia. Course The river begins at the junction of Arthur River and Balgarup River near Quelarup and travels in a south westerly direction through the tow ...

, the largest river in South West Australia.Blackwood River National Park
Parks and Wildlife Service, Government of Australia. Accessed 2 May 2022. It is located in the shires of Augusta–Margaret River and Nannup in the South West region. It was designated in 2004, and covers an area of 204.75 km².

Geography

The park extends along the middle stretch of the Blackwood River, which rises on the plateau and flows westwards through the park, turning south at the park's western end to empty into the Southern Ocean. It mostly surrounded by state forest lands, including Blackwood State Forest, South Blackwood State Forest, and Milyeannup State Forest.Reserves (National Parks, Conservation Parks, and Nature Reserves) Bill 2004". Parliament of Western Australia. Accessed 2 May 2022

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Wiltshire-Butler National Park Wiltshire-Butler National Park is a national park in the South West region of Western Australia, south of Perth. It is located in the Shire of Nannup, bordering the Blackwood River National Park. The park is located in the Jarrah Forest biore ...

adjoins the middle section of the park on the north. An unnamed national park (WA46400) adjoins the park to the west.

Flora and fauna

The park straddles two bioregions – the

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

bioregion, also known as the Southwest Australia woodlands, in the north, and the

Warren bioregion Warren, also known as Karri Forest Region and the Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands ecoregion, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia. Located in the southwest corner of Western Australia between Cape Naturaliste and Albany, i ...

, also known as the Jarra-Karri forest and shrublands, to the south."Blackwood River". DOPA Explorer. Accessed 2 May 2022
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Recreation

There are two campgrounds in the park – Warner Glen at the western end of the park, at Sues Bridge in the central portion of the park. There is river access at both campgrounds for campers and day visitors, with swimming and a launch for canoes and kayaks.

Conservation

The park was proposed in the ''Regional Forest Agreement for the South-West Forest Region of Western Australia'' (May 1999), and Western Australia's ''Forest Management Plan 2004-2013'' as part of its strategy to better protect old-growth forests. It was created by the Reserves (National Parks, Conservation Parks, and Nature Reserves) Bill 2004, which redesignated lands from four state forests to create the new national park.

References

{{National Parks of Western Australia National parks of Western Australia South West (Western Australia) Protected areas established in 2004 2004 establishments in Australia Jarrah Forest