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Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

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Cam Walker

I work with Friends of the Earth, and live in Castlemaine in Central Victoria, Australia. Activist, mountain enthusiast, telemark skier, volunteer firefighter.

Pest trees in Kosciuszko reinvented as mulch

This news release comes from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

Image: NSW National Parks – Office of Environment & Heritage

Media release: 10 September 2012

Field staff have been converting pest trees into valuable mulch to improve native animal habitat and suppress invasive blackberry and briar weeds in parts of Kosciuszko National Park.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Senior Field Supervisor Danny Matthews said the mulched trees, mostly poplars, had been spreading at an alarming rate.

“Five field staff recently spent 26 days removing and chipping hundreds of trees over an area of six hectares at the Talbingo Landslip Quarry near Talbingo Dam wall,” Mr Matthews said.

“During the construction of the Snowy Scheme, and particularly between the 1950s and 1970s, exotic trees were planted for erosion control and this had unintended consequences for native ecosystems.”

Mr Matthews said European species including willow, broom and poplar were planted in parts of Kosciuszko National Park and in many cases they had spread and become weeds.

“Replacing exotic trees with native vegetation will not only protect soil stability, it will have broader environmental benefits.

“And chipping these trees has produced about 800 cubic metres of mulch, which we have spread to boost organic levels in the soil and help stop weed infestations in the undergrowth.”

This major woody weed eradication program in Kosciuszko National Park is tackling exotic trees on Guthega Road, reducing Scotch Broom in the Snowy River, and removing kilometres of willows in the Tumut River.

More work is planned this year, including the removal of thousands of willow stems in the Eucumbene River and helicopter-based work in the upper reaches of the Tumut River between the T2 power station and the Elliott Way.

Weed eradication programs like the one underway in Kosciuszko are one way the Office of Environment and Heritage enhances the care and management of National Parks for a healthy environment.

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Kangaroo Hoppet – 25 August 2012

The 22nd Kangaroo Hoppet will  be held at Falls Creek in north east Victoria on 25 August 2012.

The 42km Kangaroo Hoppet is the opening event of the 2012 / 2013 Worldloppet series of long distance cross country ski races.  Also held on the same day are the shorter 21km Australian Birkebeiner and 7km Joey Hoppet events.

The Hoppet is an iconic alpine event, a great celebration of human-powered recreation, and attracts a huge crowd of skiers. With an excellent snow base, the race this year should be a great one.

You can register here.

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geothermal technology in the Victorian Alps

Following on from a recent post on this site about a number of ski lodges at Mt Hotham installing solar panels to provide power, this is an update about a club at Hotham which has also started to use geothermal power for heating.

Image: Brush Ski Club

According to Wikipedia,

“A geothermal heat pump, ground source heat pump (GSHP), or ground heat pump is a central heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to or from the ground.

It uses the earth as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer). This design takes advantage of the moderate temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of heating and cooling systems”.

According to the Brush Ski Club,

“Victoria’s Alpine Resorts are facing the challenging hurdles of rapidly escalating energy costs, climate change and the national target to cut greenhouse emissions. We fully endorse Australia’s Keep Winter Cool initiative and are proactively committed to sustainability outcomes.

In an effort to jump these hurdles Mount Hotham’s B’Rush Ski Club has searched for many years to find an energy efficient and environmentally friendly solution to our energy requirements. In a location where winter temperatures dip to below minus 10 degrees keeping a large building at a comfortable room temperature has a high energy demand. In the past, B’Rush Ski Club has employed a combination of electric and gas fired boilers to provide hot water and heating for our guests. With energy prices on the rise and the desire to reduce our carbon footprint the club began a search for an alternate energy source.

After looking to the USA and Europe, where similar alpine environments exist, the Club decided on ‘GeoExchange’ or Ground Sourced Heat Pump (GSHP) technology. GeoExchange technology is commonly used in Europe and North America to provide low cost, low emission heating and cooling of buildings. Ground Source Heat Pumps or GSHPs are recognised as the most efficient and environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems available today, using as little as 25 % of the energy of conventional systems. This translates directly to lower costs and lower emissions.

A GHSP system is much like a reverse cycle air conditioner. The major difference is that instead of using the outside air to provide the energy the GSHPs extract renewable heat from the ground via a system of bores drilled into the earth. These bores carry a refrigerant loop that extracts ground heat, transporting it into the building. This solution will provide both heating for the building, via floor heating and radiator panels, as well as hot water for 40 guests.

The GeoExchange project has been facilitated by the Victorian Government’s ‘Four Seasons Energy Pilot Program’. The Victorian Government has provided 50% funding for the bore drilling as well as expertise and guidance in design and implementation. The assistance of the Government has turned a possibility into a reality.

The installation of this technology, in combination with a substantial upgrade to building insulation and an efficient floor system has cut our energy consumption by 75 % and our fossil fuel usage by more than 80 %. The payback period of 6 years is considered by the club to be completely acceptable given the expected 30 to 50 year life of our building. Since commissioning, forecasted savings have been exceeded with several spin-off benefits. The new system is spectacularly comfortable, has been universally acclaimed by our guests, the resort and wider communities and has been featured in several publications and forums, inc the 2009 Alpine Resorts Sustainability Forum at Thredbo on the 1st May.

This project is currently the highest GSHP installation in Australia and the first (of we hope, many) in an alpine environment”.

Congratulations to Brush Ski Club for their leadership on this. A number of other lodges and businesses in the Hotham – Dinner Plain area are also investigating using this energy source.

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Ski resorts go renewable

 

The following comes from the ESPN Action Sports website and shows what is possible with a bit of effort and vision.

Panels at McMillan Lodge, Mt Hotham, VIC

As the environmental agenda continues to slip from the concerns of most resort management bodies in Australia, it has been the snow sports community who have stepped into a leadership position, with a large number of lodges and businesses signing up for solar PV panels over the past year, especially at Mt Hotham.

The following is the introduction to the article, please check the website for the full piece.

The author is Jesse Huffman.

U.S. ski resorts tap renewable energy sources to combat climate change

As the volatility of the 2011-12 season made clear, the stake ski resort’s have in resolving climate change is a big one. Over the past three years, resorts like Bolton, Burke, Jiminy Peak and Grouse Mountain have installed wind turbines, while others have pursued efficiency updates, in an effort to responsibly produce, and reduce, the power and heat involved in swinging chairs and heating lodges all winter long. Now, four more areas, from local ski hills in the Northeast to major resorts in the Rockies, have installed or invested in renewable power sources ranging from solar to biomass to coalmine methane.

Smuggler’s Notch closed early this winter after a spring meltdown saw the highest March temperatures in Vermont’s history. The same solar energy that drove skiers and riders batty as it took away their snow is now being put to use by an array of 35 solar trackers, which collectively produce 205,000 kWh per year — around five percent of Smuggler’s total electrical use. The array provides enough juice for most of the resort’s Village Lodge.

Dan Maxon, Smuggler’s Notch Solar Installation Project Manager, toured me through the installation on a recent morning, when the GPS-enabled trackers, manufactured by a Vermont company called ALLEarth Renewables, were tilted east to catch the a.m. sun.

“We believe it is important not only for ski resorts, but for all energy users to take some responsibility for their energy consumption,” Maxon told me. “There was a good confluence of energy and desire that made this project come together — we’d been looking at various renewable projects for six-seven years, but couldn’t pull them off. This one we could.”

Aspen is often seen as being one of the greenest of the global resorts, so I have included the section of the essay that relates to them. Coal bed methane is a fiercely contested issue across many parts of the world, so Aspen’s choice of energy source is interesting:

In Colorado, Aspen Ski Company is taking a leading role in developing an innovative form of clean energy from coalmine methane. The practice of venting methane from coalmines to prevent underground explosions has turned into a climate change bottleneck with 20 times more warming potential than CO2, coalmine methane contributed ten percent of the all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2010, according to the EPA.

Aspen is the capital investor in a new project at Elk Creek Mine that uses waste methane to power a dynamo and generate electricity, downgrading the methane to CO2 and at the same time. The project is a first of its scale in the United States, and helped net the resort a National Ski Area Association Golden Eagle Award for Environmental Excellence this year.

“We’ve been looking for a large scale clean energy project for over a decade and we finally found one,” says Auden Schendler, Aspen Vice President of Sustainability.

Schendler expects the 3 megawatt project to go online around September, and says that in a matter of month it will make approximately the same amount of electricity that Aspen uses annually, around 25 million kilowatt hours. “Because we’re destroying methane in the process,” adds Schendler, “this is equivalent to triple offsetting our carbon footprint each year.”

 

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side country stash – Falls Creek

Spion Kopje from Falls CReek

One of the most visited sections on this site – especially in winter – is the ‘side country’ skiing and boarding guide to Mt Hotham.

Sidecountry is that terrain which is close to, and easily accessible from, a ski resort, as opposed to backcountry which requires more effort to get into.

Quite a lot of people have been asking about a guide for the area around Falls Creek. Thought I would try and get onto it in the next week or so.

If you would like to contribute text and images for a section on Falls Creek sidecountry, please send them through. cam.walker@foe.org.au Thanks!

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winter 2012

Full moon

Winter 2012 has got off to a fantastic start: cold weather, deep snow falls, and great cover in the back country. More falls are expected early next week.

These are a few pictures from around the Hotham/ Mt Loch area from last week.

Check Mountain Watch for updates and forecasts.

Derrick Hut
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Hiker rescued on Mt Bogong

The following comes from the Herald Sun.

Mt Bogong summit

A hiker has had to be rescued from a hut at the peak of Mt Bogong after becoming stranded over the weekend.

The 43-year-old man took refuge in Cleve Cole hut on Saturday night after hiking to the top of Mt Bogong.

But falling snow prevented him from navigating his way down the mountain and he called police for help.

Search and rescue officers reached the hut late last night after a long climb.

The man was guided down this morning.

Police Acting Sergeant Scott Dower said winter hikers should be careful.

“If you are going hiking, be sure to prepare yourself and check the weather forecast and snow conditions before you head out,” he said.

“If you get lost, stop, seek shelter and wait for help.

“Keep your mobile phone charged, don’t travel alone and always let someone know where you are going.”

The search and rescue squad rescued seven people during the 2011 snow season, including a man who suffered hypothermia after he became lost in Alpine National Park without appropriate clothing.

Police said hikers should read the Snowsafe guide at http://www.snowsafe.org.au before setting off.

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If snow making is the future, lets get it right

As winter gets into full swing and forecasts tell us there will be good falls in coming days its time to get out there.

I normally do a quick pre season assessment of developments around the resorts when it comes to environmental initatives, but given the lack of new initatives, it hardly seemed worthwhile this year.

One pleasing note is that a growing number of resorts are upgrading their snow making equipment to more energy efficient machines.

In autumn, Falls Creek got a bit of media coverage about the new fleet of snow guns they had brought in from Italy.

Falls Creek Maintenance Manager Geoff Sorensen said: “our ongoing quest to make snow using less energy is coming to fruition. This winter we’ll replace energy-hungry guns with more efficient, low-energy snow guns and we will be trialling Techno Alpin’s TF 10 from Europe”.

“This is the first time it will be used in the southern hemisphere by a company renowned for its snowmaking expertise. Our weather can be more marginal (for snowmaking) down under and harsher than what is experienced in the northern hemisphere alpine resorts.

The TF10 snow gun is a fully automatic, low-pressure type fan gun.

There are also more than 130 TechnoAlpin snow guns at Perisher and 70 at Hotham.

Given that climate science tells us we will have more erratic winters, and it is reasonable to assume we will rely more on human-made snow in coming years, moving to lower impact snow guns is a good move.

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logging and Melbourne’s water catchments

The following comes from Central Highlands Action Group and highlights the logging issue within Melbourne’s drinking water catchments.

Starvation Creek – Yarra Catchment. Image: CHAG.

Melbourne Water and Premier Baillieu overcharge us for a desalination plant while they plunder our free water from Melbourne’s catchments subject to logging.

Logging in Toolangi, tributary to the Upper Goulburn, is already ripping 3,807 billion litres of water from ‘paying’ downstream users and irrigators worsening over the next century. VicForests, the governments logging company, don’t pay for this water cost nor do Australian Paper (makers of Reflex copy paper) who receive 50% of VicForests wood supply. The owners of Australian Paper are the Japanese multi-national pulp conglomerate Nippon Paper, whose office is in Tokyo. VicForests have only paid a legitimate rent for this forest ‘use’ once since their inception in 2004.

VicForest have yet to break even since 2005 without the aid of grants. They are insolvent but are exempt from Part IV of the Trade Practices Act that would see these matters investigated by a third party like the ACCC. VicForests have avoided audits by the Auditor General after 8 years of operating.

In 2008 the Victorian ALP government received the results of the Wood and Water study committed to in the Regional Forest Agreement process (RFA) in 1998. The results of the hydrological study recommended ending logging in 2009/10 in order to improve water yields to Melbourne (DSE/Mein 2008). This was flatly rejected by government and as a result environment and local government stakeholders abandoned participation in the study.

As temperatures broke state records, angry at the state governments response to dismissing the option to end catchment logging, fifteen local governments independently carried a motion to stop catchment logging by 2010, including the Melbourne City Council. The government ignored this concern and proposed a very expensive buffer.

In 2008 the state ALP government commissioned a desalination plant and maintained clearfell logging the catchments, which in effect, firmly privatised the otherwise historically free water resource. Melbourne has enjoyed a clean, heathy water supply as a result of government in the late 1800‘s kicking timber-getters and miners out of the catchments. As Melbourne’s population grew, new water sources were channeled and created like the Thomson dam at a considerable cost to Victorians. The Thomson provides up to 60% of Melbourne’s water and is now the most heavily logged catchment in the network.

In the 2010 election the Coalition Minister for Water and Forestry, Peter Walsh, committed to hastening logging rotations down from 80 years to 50 years in the Timber Industry Action Plan (TIAP) in order to create more resource from the dwindling forests. This ultimately means that regenerating forests, after logging, growing in the band of highest rainfall, will be kept in perpetual thirst. Regrowing ash species forests lose up to 50% of water run off at 50 years of age due to their enormous growth capacity. It’s not HOW MUCH you log its where and what species you log that’s costing Melbourne critical free water!

In the TIAP, Minister Walsh made a commitment to log parks and strengthened commitments to log water catchments as an electoral promise to his National party colleagues (many of whom are loggers). So under current policy and its effects, our catchments will never yield water at their maximum delivery and we have to pay for the forfeiture via a desalination plant no-one can afford. Minister Walsh runs VicForests and Melbourne Water so he sets any checks and balances, should any exist.

In this Melbourne By-Election voters should demand that candidates openly declare their policy on Melbourne’s Water! It maybe the single greatest issue for the sustainability and survival of Melbourne.

Check here for details on protests held earlier in 2012.

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recreational hunting in NSW National Parks?

The NSW Premier has announced plans to open up almost 80 national parks and reserves to hunting, covering close to 3 million hectares or 40% of all NSW parks and reserves.

This announcement, part of a deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party to ensure passage of the government’s electricity privatisation bill – will allow shooting of feral animals in ”a limited number of areas under strict conditions”.

It has been widely condemned.

The following, from someone living near one of the Parks to be affected, sums up the issues nicely. Check the link at the end for further background. If you live in NSW please sign the letter.

My wife and I live across the water from Kosciuszko National Park and our house is within easy gunshot range of the park. The wife and I spend at least two days a week hiking in the park and the decision by the O’Farrell government to allow amateur shooters to roam our national parks is an absolute disgrace and should be opposed by every environmental group in Australia. Not just in NSW because as the Shooters Party gains more members and more clout, they will surely do deals with other present and future state and federal governments that will impact adversely on our treasured state and national parks and wildlife areas.

National parks were formed not just as quiet natural places to shuck off the stresses of modern living and a place to get away from it all, but to protect Australia’s wild places. Their ecological integrity must remain intact – meaning that the structure and function of the ecosystems with their various wildlife habitats are minimally unimpaired by human activity. Allowing bands of amateur hunters with bows and arrows and high powered rifles and pig dogs to roam the parks is hardly in the spirit that the parks were formed.

Park rangers have slammed a decision to allow hunting in NSW national parks, saying they shouldn’t have to work in fear of their safety – Sure and let’s no forget about the publics safety either !

The NSW government has now said that there will be no shooting allowed in world heritage or wilderness areas – Should we believe them?

Barry O’Farrell has broken a pre election promise not to allow hunting in the parks, and doing so has trashed the government’s environmental credentials. He has lied to the public once and so he will surely allow even more concessions in his dealings with the Shooters and Fishers Party when he needs their support.

I realize (reluctantly) that culling of feral animals in the park is necessary from time to time, but this should only be done by trained National Park personnel, and or professional shooters.

I would bet that over 90% of Australians do not want people with guns and pig dogs roaming their favourite park, and so I believe that all environmental groups in the country should protest immediately.

“Say no to recreational hunting in NSW National Parks”

Ken

Please sign the petition here.

For a map of affected Parks, please check here.

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Vic Govt told to reveal cattle grazing documents

This story comes from the ABC. Journalist is Gus Goswell.

Image: VNPA

The Victorian Government has been ordered to hand over internal documents relating to its alpine cattle grazing trial.

The controversial trial in the Alpine National Park was blocked by the Federal Government but the State Government has launched an appeal.

It says the trial was designed to reduce the bushfire risk, based on scientific evidence.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has ordered that Department of Sustainability and Environment emails and scientific documents be made public.

The Environment Defenders Office applied for the documents on behalf of the Victorian National Parks Association.

Lawyer Felicity Milner from the Environment Defenders Office says the VCAT order is significant.

“We’re concerned about the scientific basis for the alpine cattle grazing trial,” she said.

“Certainly we want to see the documents to apply scrutiny to that decision and see whether or not it could be said to be backed up by proper science.

“If it is not backed up by proper science then we will be attacking the Government’s decision.

“The cattle grazing trial, as I understand it, has not gone ahead because the Federal Government has said it is unacceptable but the State Government is challenging that decision in the Federal Court.

“Based on public statements from the Government and the department we are of the understanding at this stage that they intend to continue with the alpine grazing trial if they are legally allowed to.”

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has defended spending taxpayer dollars to try to stop the documents being released.

“The Government has taken a view about what material ought to be made public,” he said.

“You would expect the Government to reinforce the view it has about information and our understanding of the legislation.”

Mr Baillieu has not ruled out challenging the VCAT order.

“The Government will have a look at that judgment and we’ll make an assessment of it,” he said.

However, Mr Baillieu has confirmed the Government still wants to push ahead with the cattle grazing trial.

“We certainly maintain the view that the Commonwealth when it made its decisions didn’t do it on a basis that was thorough and comprehensive,” he said.

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Concerns over financial viability of alpine resorts

This report comes from the ABC. May 23, 2012

Concerns over viability of alpine resorts

A report into the sustainability of Victoria’s alpine resorts has found Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw need continued government assistance to support their long-term viability.

A report by the auditor-general found the resorts have recorded financial losses and asset depreciation over the past five years, despite funding from the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

It identifies workforce and contractor costs as contributing to their poor performance, demonstrating the need for structural change.

The auditor-general’s office says the findings raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of the alpine resorts.

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