Major Notes on Purnululu National Park

 Purnululu national park is located in a transition area between central Australia’s desert settings to the south and northern Australia’s monsoon savannah ecosystems to the north.  Purnululu national park, situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, encompasses about 240,000.0 hectares of wildness. It comprises the Bungle Bungle Range, a magnificently sculpted landscape of karst sandstone that rises 250.1 metres above adjacent semi-arid savannah grasses. These towers’ unique black and orange striped look are due to unique sedimentological mechanisms and weathering, which are generated by the biological activities of cyanobacteria that help maintain and maintain the ancient sandstone structures. These superb instances of conical karst, which have dissolved over Twenty million years, are beautiful and geologically fascinating.

Geology of Purnululu National Park

• The Bungle Bungle range has the world’s most exceptional example of sandstone cone formation and attributes its survival and distinctiveness to several related geological, ecological, erosional, and environmental events.
• The Bungle Bungle collection is well-known for its eye-catching banded arches. They are composed of sandstone that was deposited around 360.0 million years ago. In the last 20.0 million years, erosion by creeks, rivers, and weathering has sculpted these spires, along with magnificent chasms and canyons, producing a strange scene.
• The orange and grey bands on the domes are produced by the existence of cyanobacteria, which develops on sandstone strata where moisture collects. The orange streaks are caused by corroded iron oxides that have dried up too rapidly for the microorganisms to grow.

Wildlife of Purnululu National Park

• Purnululu National Reserve World Heritage Region has around 600 flora species, many of which are exclusive to the park. Bloodwoods and snap gums are common tree species, and Spinifex species are found in more significant numbers in Australia than anyplace else. The park’s sheltered gorges protect the most southerly sections of rainforest in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
• The park is home to around 148 birds, 86 reptiles, 32 native mammals, and 12 frog species. Birds abound, including honeyeaters, doves, wood swallows, and finches. The white stone pigeons and the Australian bustard are two of the most elusive species. Lerista bungle, an uncommon tiny skink, is one of the endemic lizards.

Management and Protection Needs of Purnululu National Park

Purnululu Nature Reserve World Heritage site is a common property with secured constitutional protection administered by the West Australian administration. Rangers live in the park while on duty, and the park is shut off during the wet season. Due to the general isolation of the region and the park’s location at the border of Australia’s monsoonal zone, land-based travel can be challenging. The funds were utilised to improve the park’s walking trails, airstrip, and related helipads. 

Even though visitor numbers have gradually increased, management systems are adequate to handle any repercussions. With the Park’s World Heritage designation, infrastructure financing has grown. However, keeping appropriate personnel for the park in this distant region can be problematic. Eating grass by cattle and wild donkeys has historically been a concern. At the installation time, straying livestock and other insects was an issue, necessitating coordination from surrounding landowners. They must also manage invasive foreign animals such as stray cats and, more recently, the impending invasion of cane toads. Wildfires are also a fundamental management problem, especially now that there is more plant cover as the area recovers from earlier overgrazing. Measures like controlled fires during the monsoon season are in effect to address this.

After the declaration, climate change has arisen as an additional possible hazard to World Heritage assets. Australia has implemented several actions at both the federal and real estate levels to mitigate such concerns. Australia has regularly reported to the World Heritage Convention on various management concerns in Purnululu national park. These include a reserved area managed as wilderness that will further protect the park. It also guarantees that any mines outside the park are appropriately worked to minimise adverse consequences on World Heritage assets, control unwanted alien creatures, and finance Park human resources and infrastructure.

Conclusion

 Purnululu national park encompasses the whole Bungle Bungle Mountains, the Heritage Site’s defining feature. The Range is surrounded by protected territory, containing spinifex- and mulga-dominated sandy plains inside the park to the south, north, and east. The Osmond mountains, which are part of the neighbouring Purnululu conservation park, are the main feature in the west. These areas were deemed sufficient to conserve the Range’s World Heritage assets. The proposal that the Purnululu conservation area managed as wilderness be included in the park and adjoining pastoral territory to offer more significant buffering and border delimitation. We noticed that the present park borders, mostly stream channels rather than watershed limits, are not optimal.