Situated between Bremer Day and Hopetoun on the south coast of Western Australia, the 330,000-hectare Fitzgerald River National Park is home to 1,800-plus plant species (nearly 20 per cent of the plant species found in WA) and at least 19 native mammals. Such is its importance that the park has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve—one of 529 places in the world to receive this internationally recognised conservation listing from UNESCO. Unfortunately, the park is also home to a 185-hectare infestation of Phytophthora dnnamorni, an introduced water mould that attacks plants and causes root rot and is the cause of the deadly plant disease, Phytophthora dieback. Now known as the Bell Track infestation, the pathogen was introduced in the 1970s by earth-moving equipment constructing an unauthorised track through the park.
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