Planning for the reopening of the park and facilities began before the Cathedral Bushfire, started by lightning on Sunday 8 February, was declared under control 36 days later.

The national park reopened on Saturday 21 March; after areas of the park were inspected and deemed safe for visitors.

"To date, close to 90 kilometres of walking tracks remain open within Wilsons Promontory, including the southern hiking circuit and shorter day walks close to Tidal River," said Brett Mitchell, ranger in charge at the Prom. "Some fire affected sites such as Picnic Bay have also been reopened.

"Closed fire affected sites still require works to replace facilities like bridges and boardwalks, identify and undertake work to ensure these locations are safe for visitors including hazardous trees and walking track erosion and to protect natural and cultural features.

"Locations expected to be re-opened by the start of August include the popular lower Lilly Pilly track to the rainforest boardwalk and Cotters Lake track.

"Nearly all locations will be opened by the end of spring in time for the busy summer visitor season. This includes the Lilly Pilly circuit, Tongue Point track (both to Sparkes Lookout and Fairy Cove), Whisky Bay, Millers Landing and Vereker Outlook.

"The locations that may remain closed after spring are: Picnic Point, a small headland between Picnic Bay and Whisky Bay. This area will remain closed as the walking track previously crossed an Aboriginal shell midden and therefore needs to be re-aligned to protect the site; the north-east wilderness area including Tin Mine Cove and Johnny Souey Cove where some walking track realignment may also be required to protect Aboriginal cultural values.

"We remind visitors to obey signs and stay out of closed areas within the park. Work continues to reopen all sites affected by fire as soon as it is safe to do so."

Find out more about the recent fire at the Prom and see photos showing how the park looks now and how the bush recovers.