Editing West Cape Howe National Park (section)

== History ==

The park began as being vested in the Shire of Albany in 1977 for the purposes of recreation. By 1985 the area was gazetted as  C Class Reserve after agreement between the shire and vested in the [[Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia)|National Parks and Nature Conservancy Authority]]. Following the addition of an extra {{convert|41|ha|acre|abbr=on}} that was a timber reserve along the northern boundary the park was given an A Class status in 1987. The park is now a single reserve (26177) and is made up of an area of {{convert|3517|ha|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/nature/management/west_cape_howe.pdf|title=West Cape Howe Management Plan 1995-2005|year=1994|access-date=12 November 2010}}</ref>
The rare and ancient [[Archaeidae|Main's assassin spider]], currently listed as [[threatened]], was found to inhabit the park during a survey conducted in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.verveenergy.com.au/documents/RARE_SPIDER_STUDY_AT_ALBANY_-_MEDIA_RELEASE.pdf|title=Verve Energy Media release - Exciting find of rare assassins spider found on WA South Coast|year=2008|access-date=12 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220003300/http://www.verveenergy.com.au/documents/RARE_SPIDER_STUDY_AT_ALBANY_-_MEDIA_RELEASE.pdf|archive-date=20 February 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>