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Mountain Journal

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.

A lacklustre environmental offering from the resorts for winter

Seems the wheels have fallen off the 'sustainability' bus

With winter almost in view, the resorts are announcing their highlights and new activities for 2011.

In Victoria, there are the usual snow making investment announcements and continued diversification of activities. At Falls Creek, the final stage of the Slalom Plaza redevelopment has been opened. Apparently Falls also has new aerial walkways, which take pedestrians through the village via a network of elevated stairways. At Hotham, in contrast, the main new announcement is some extra investment in snow making.

Mt Buller has put another $1 million into new snow guns and the snow grooming fleet.

However, on the environment front, I doubt I have ever seen such an un-inspiring effort.

In a rather bizarre move, some reports say that Buller now has a heated walkway from the Village Square up to the Ski and Snowboard School and the Buller Kids Centre. This would be great if Buller was pitching itself as a nudist colony, but most of us wear boots in the snow, and it seems like they must have money (and carbon) to burn if they think using energy to heat an outdoor pathway is a good idea.

Hotham is pushing air travel to get to the snow. Falls and Hotham continue to push the gas guzzling obscenity that is the 6 minute heli link ride so you can ski two mountains. Great for people with no values but a healthy credit card limit. Hotham runs kids snowmobile operations.  Mention of environmental initiatives seems to have disappeared almost completely from resort promotional material in 2011 (for instance, there is a one paragraph mention of environmental practise in this years 50 page booklet from Hotham).

Meanwhile, Falls has announced that 10 ‘brand new luxury Snowmobiles’ have been added to the tours fleet, allowing guests to ride or pillion on their own snowmobile into the ‘pristine backcountry’ of Falls Creek.

Not content with imposing their operations on ‘pristine’ areas within the resort boundary with last years tours run by Steve Lee, they appear to be wanting to increase their noise and carbon footprint with these new skidoos.

On the positive side, Falls has made access to their many groomed cross country trails free. Perhaps encouraging more people to get away from the resort will balance out some of the increased carbon footprint that comes with putting a bunch of new snowmobiles into the backcountry.

Lake Mountain has substantial new building infrastructure and snow making and needs support as it recovers from the devastating fires of 2009. Baw Baw stands out amongst the Victorian resorts because it continues to focus on its ‘green’ image.

Just a few years ago, environmental initiatives were reasonably prominent in a number of the main resorts. From actively spruiking the Keep Winter Cool behaviour change program to buying green power to run some of their tows, resorts seemed serious about reducing their ecological footprint. Sadly, that all seems to have evaporated this year. Rather than acting decisively to reduce their greenhouse footprint, most have gone all out to re-badge themselves as ‘year round’ resorts. That’s where the money has gone, into mountain bike trails and many out of season festivals and events. All of that is great, and a common sense way of stretching use of existing infrastructure. But the loss of responsible activity and leadership by resort management on the environmental front is deeply disappointing.

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‘Environment minister keen to see chalet plans’

The following comes from the Bright Observer.

Journalist: EBONY D’ARCY

A BID to breathe new life into the Mt Buffalo Chalet continued last week with members of the Mt Buffalo Community Enterprise group meeting with the state environment minister.

Bill Sykes (MLA, Benalla) led a deputation made up of enterprise chair John Brown and directors Mark McKenzie-McHarg and Cameron McKern to visit Environment Minister Ryan Smith at Parliament House on Thursday.

The visit was part of the group’s bid to rejuvenate the 100-year-old building, which has been lying idle for more than three years.

The meeting was an opportunity for the group members to meet Mr Smith and familiarise him with their case.

Mr Sykes said the minister agreed that “something needs to be done”.

“The minister requested that once the group has their presentation ready for Parks Victoria, they also present it to him and Minister for Tourism Louise Asher,” he said.

“He was keen to see what the group comes up with.”

The group has until the end of May to develop a comprehensive project plan for presentation to Parks Victoria, which will include solutions for issues with energy and power supply on the mountain.

The aim is to have the go-ahead by September, which will allow detailed architectural planning, applications and governmental negotiations to begin.

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Vic minister vows to continue alpine grazing trial

Ryan Smith says the trial will continue but they are still working on the details.

Snow gums, Mt Stirling

The Victorian Government has decided to return cattle grazing to the Alpine National Park next season, despite telling the Federal Government that they had no definite timetable for grazing trials to continue.

In January, 400 cattle were released into the park as part of a trial by the Victorian Government, to determine if grazing reduces the risk of bushfire.

However the trial did not have Commonwealth approval.

The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, has ordered the cattle out of the park.

However today, the Victorian Environment Minister, Ryan Smith, told ABC Local Radio the trial will continue.

“We just haven’t put together the details of how it will go forward. We’re taking a careful approach, we’re using the data collected over the last few months to inform the next stage,” he said.

“We also want to be very open and transparent so that when the plan is put together, when Professor [Mark] Adams is advising us on it, there will be a panel overseeing that, who can ask the questions that perhaps need to be asked.”

This article comes from the ABC.

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More rare possums found in Snowies

The following report comes from the ABC.

Mountain Pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus). Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage

The surprise discovery of a rare possum colony in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains has been hailed as a major step forward in the study of the species.

An Ecologist, Doctor Linda Broome, has surveyed the animals for 25 years, and has found 59 Mountain Pygmy Possums at Cabramurra, north of Thredbo.

Dr Broome says they are 30km north of existing colonies, at an altitude 450m lower than previously thought possible.

She says the find was possible through advanced technology.

“The beauty of what we have now, compared to 20 years ago, is we’ve got a good geographic information system with all the aerial satellite photos,” Dr Broome said.

“We can look at the aerial photos and scan in.

“I did that, and low and behold, there was a huge boulder field outside Cabramurra.

“I thought ‘wow, that’s where we should be looking’.”

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Victorian Government told to get cattle out of National Park

Today’s statement by Tony Burke MP, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

Victorian Government told to get cattle out of National Park

Environment Minister Tony Burke today demanded the reintroduction of cattle in the Alpine National Park undergo a full and public assessment under national environmental law.

Mr Burke said after considering advice from his department, he had determined cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park satisfied the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act requirement that it “may be” a controlled action.

Mr Burke said as outlined under federal law, the Victorian Government now had 15 business days –   until April 8 – to refer its current cattle grazing actions for Commonwealth decision or he would force a referral.

Under the EPBC Act, a referral by the Victorian Government following this request or a forced referral by the Minister means cattle will need to be removed from the Alpine National Park until a decision is made by the Minister.

“The Victorian Government was wrong to reintroduce cattle to the Alpine National Park and I have now determined that it needs to be fully scrutinised under national environmental law,” Mr Burke said.

“It is extraordinary how little information the Victorian Government has provided.

“The referral will allow me to determine whether the impacts of cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park have a significant impact on matters protected under national environmental law.

“The Victorian Government has 15 business days to refer the actions to the Commonwealth for decision or I will force the referral.

“Until I have made a decision on the referral, the cattle grazing actions must stop and cattle will need to be removed from the Alpine National Park.

“Cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park is setting a dangerous precedent for the management of national parks across Australia. Victoria can’t expect us to wait around while cattle are stomping over endangered wetlands.”

When the Victorian Government reintroduced cattle to the Alpine National Park, it did not refer the action for consideration under national environmental law.

Since that time, the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) has been meeting with the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment and requesting the information on which the decision to not refer the action was based.

On March 1 the Commonwealth set Victoria a two week deadline to provide all relevant information about the reintroduction of cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park by March 15, 2011.

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Stop alpine grazing – it’s a park not a paddock!

Image: VNPA

PUBLIC FORUM, April 6

The Baillieu Government has reintroduced grazing to Victoria’s Alpine National Park under the guise of a flawed science project.

Cattle were banned from the park in 2005, now they are back – damaging threatened species, trampling wetlands and spreading weeds.

While this may benefit a few cattlemen it comes at great cost to Victoria’s natural heritage. National parks are for nature, not cattle.

There will be speakers from Environment groups, scientists, politicians and others.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Doors open 6.30pm, for a 7pm start.

WHERE: Box Hill Town Hall.

Full details here.

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Tourism facilities in national parks could kill the ‘golden goose’

A release from the Victorian National Parks Association on a recent proposal to open up national parks for private tourism facilities.

MEDIA RELEASE – Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Tourism facilities in national parks could kill the ‘golden goose’

Mount Hotham

The Victorian National Parks Association says a recommendation by the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission, to open up national parks for private tourism facilities, is simplistic and would be a dangerous new direction for park management.

“National Parks are becoming a victim of their own success. They are popular and much loved, but now private companies want a piece of the action in a public asset designed to protect nature for the future”.

“There is a danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. People visit national parks for an experience they can’t get elsewhere – they want the opportunity to experience the natural world.    There is ample opportunity for tourism infrastructure adjacent to parks, where financially viable developments can take place without the more onerous conditions necessarily imposed on infrastructure inside parks.

The VCEC recommendations contradict Victoria’s current, and widely respected, Nature Based Tourism Strategy, which states that “Private investment into any new large scale facility, particularly accommodation other than adaptive re-use of existing infrastructure, should be sited outside the park”.

“There is a lot of tourism potential on private land adjacent to our national parks which allows for certainty of investment, particularly in and around regional towns,” said Mr Ruchel.

“The VCEC draft report fails to appreciate the public land tenure system and its landscape context. Over 60% of Victorian land is privately owned and 80-90% of that has already been cleared. National parks and conservation reserves make up only approx about 18% of the land in Victoria, and are a refuge for plants and animals in a state with relatively little intact native habitat left.”

“The State Government must rule out new major infrastructure in national parks and re-commit to the principles outlined in Victoria’s existing Nature Based Tourism Strategy.”

“The change we need in national park management is a solid commitment to managing our unique natural heritage for all Victoria’s and future generations” he concluded.

For further comment contact:
Matt Ruchel: 0418-357-813
Phil Ingamells: 0427 705 133

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Mountain journal turns one

Well, time really does race when you’re having fun. It’s hard to believe that Mountain Journal is a year old, emerging as it did from my late summer doldrums in March 2010, when winter seemed like it was still lifetimes away.

And what a winter it was – big storms, flooding rains, and enormous dumps of dry powder. Roads closed, communities snowed in, land slips.

stream at Telephone Box Junction, Mt Stirling, VIC

From the original idea of having a mountain-orientated on line journal, influenced by such luminous paper versions of the idea as the Colorado-based Mountain Gazette, it has evolved in various directions: as a forum for various environmental concerns, like alpine grazing and snow mobiles in the back country. As a place to comment on what’s happening across the Alps, and appreciate fun things, festivals, and human-powered activity. Judging by the response (most folks are shy and email me rather than posting comments on the site) it seems that I am not alone in appreciating the various aspects of mountain culture that the Australian Alps offer.

I really enjoyed doing a series of interviews with a range of people connected to the mountains – they shed some light on good work, good ideas and incredible commitment. It has also been a forum to educate and mobilise people, such as with the case of logging near Glen Wills. It became a place to advertise the Australian launch of Protect Our Winters (POW), another side project of mine that will hopefully gather some momentum in 2011.

The most visited sections over the past year have been:

·    the Alpine grazing alert
·    the ‘side country’ skiing guide to the Hotham area
·    the logging alerts
·    the proposal to put a ‘skyway’ up onto the Buffalo Plateau
·    the launch of POW
·    the interviews
·    the story on traditional owners of the Alps

But primarily, it has been my way of writing a love story for the mountains that give so much meaning and joy to my life, building on an earlier site on the Alps and broader ‘Bogong bioregion’.

My original vision had been to expand the journal into a ‘real world’ paper version, but the beauty of this project is that it is overtly not commercial in focus, and so the effort of chasing advertising to cover printing costs was all a bit much. So for at least the foreseeable future, this will remain in (green energy powered) cyberspace.

Thanks again for your encouragement and support on the journey so far.

Please feel free to contribute to this project, with news, links, stories, photos, reviews, poetry or any thing else that’s mountain-related.

Here’s to an early winter and deep snow! Regards, Cam

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small scale, on site wind energy greening up ski resorts in North America

A Leitwind turbine at Grouse Mountain, British Columbia. Image: New West snow blog.

This article, by Kristen Lummis writing on the New West snow blog, has a number of salient points for people interested in local renewable energy. Unlike in Australia, a growing number of resorts in North America and elsewhere are moving down the path of producing their own energy to run their operations. Many of them are using turbines. And the turbines are proving to be tourist draw cards.

Maybe we could start thinking outside the box when it comes to reducing the environmental footprint of our resorts while also driving greater decentralisation of energy supply? Having a turbine in the background is a good reminder that the energy running the lifts and buildings (and possibly making snow) has to come from somewhere, so it’s better if its environmentally benign.

You can find the article here.

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Backcountry film festival

UPDATE: 2012 shows – Melbourne in April

For details on the 2012 season please check here.

We will also be showing the festival at Dinner Plain in August. Stay tuned for details.

Showing in Melbourne, April 2011

Many thanks to everyone who showed up. We will need a bigger venue next time ...

The Winter Wildlands Alliance created the Backcountry Film Festival in 2005 to help grassroots and professional filmmakers to show audiences their love of the winter outdoors. Since then, the annual festival has been shown in more than 30 towns and cities, and raised thousands of dollars to help efforts to preserve our winter environment.

The 2011 film festival is showing in Australia.

This tuesday, April 12

Films start at 8 pm. Please feel free to arrive earlier to grab a drink.

At 303 (303 High street, Northcote, Melbourne), tram stop #32 on the #86 tram. Its just next door to the Northcote Social Club.

303 is a licensed bar.

Entry by donation. All funds raised will support Protect Our Winters.

You can watch the trailer here.

Protect Our Winters is the environmental centre point of the winter sports community, united towards a common goal of reducing climate change’s effects on our sport and local mountain communities.

We believe that to really effect things, consumer behaviour needs to change and that the power of an actively participating and united community can have a direct influence on climate change, now and for generations behind us.

This year’s festival features:

Best of the Festival: Teton Gravity Research’s festival cut of “Deeper” follows legendary snowboarder Jeremy Jones and other top riders as they forsake helicopters, snowmobiles and lifts to venture deep into untouched terrain under their own power.

Best Short Film: “Desert River” from Sweetgrass Productions, is a beautiful ski adventure into Alaska.

Best Environmental Film: “Whitebark Warrior” from TreeFight and Snaz Media, chronicles the decline of thousand-year old whitebark pines due to climate change and efforts underway to save these iconic high alpine trees.

Other Films Include:

  • Australis, an Antarctic ski odyssey
  • TELEvision (check here for a TELEvision trailer to give you a sense of whats on offer) and
  • Cross Country Snowboarding

For extra information, please check the festival website.

For details on POW Australia, please contact Cam: cam.walker@foe.org.au

There will be other Australian screenings of the festival:

  • at Mt Buller on 16th July.
  • Jindabyne, dates TBC.

Snow Monkey has offered a 10% discount card to each person that attends the night.

They have shops in Collingwood and Mt Hotham.

Josh Dirkson, Alaska, from the film Deeper. Image: Teton Gravity Research.
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news from the Strathbogie Ranges

The following are two great community sites from the Strathbogie Ranges, an outlier to the Vic Alps. The more regional sites the better!

Strathbogie Ranges – Nature View

Flora, fauna & natural history of the Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria

This blog is about observations & issues concerning the natural history of the Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria, Australia.
The Strathbogie Ranges are located in north-east Victoria, Australia. The Ranges include several districts (e.g. Strathbogie, Ruffy, Highlands), but support no towns (Strathbogie does have a General Store and Ruffy has the Pantry) and no major through-roads. Towns on the plains surrounding the Ranges include:

* Seymour to the south-west
* Euroa, Violet Town & Benalla to the north
* Yea & Alexandra to the south, and
* Mansfield to the south-east

The Ranges are separated from the main Great Dividing Range by the valleys and floodplains created by the Goulburn and Broken Rivers. Being separate from nearby areas of similar elevation and high rainfall has resulted in some interesting and unique biogeographic and ecological patterns.

If you’d like to add your own observations just leave a comment under the relevant post. If you’d like to contribute your own posts, email me and I’ll sign you up (bertram.lobert@activ8.net.au). You don’t need a photo to contribute, all your nature observations are welcome. This blog is part of a larger project to record biodiversity and natural history information from across the Strathbogies.

You can find their site here.

Images: Strathbogie Ranges – Nature View

Strathbogie community website

It’s a new way for residents and landholders to stay in touch and communicate with each other.  We may be a small and scattered community but, with increasing use of computers and email, this site offers the opportunity to keep informed about events, to comment about Tableland issues, to contribute ideas, to catch up with each other, to buy and sell, and to show off our creativity.

FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW THE AREA, the small community of the Strathbogie Tableland is located on an elevated plateau in the Strathbogie Ranges. Two hundred kilometres northeast of Melbourne, it is surrounded by forests, farmland and granite hills.

The environment is beautiful with its native bush, birds and animals. While many people have spent their entire lives on the tableland, others are increasingly choosing to leave city life and move up to live here permanently.
You can find their site here.

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Endangered mountain frog thriving again

The following article comes from the ABC, and seemed worth a re-run given its a nice bit of good news about an endangered species.

Photo: David Hunter

There has been a major breakthrough in efforts to save an endangered frog in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains.

In 1998, the Spotted Tree Frog population in Kosciuszko National Park was down to one male.

Nicknamed “Dirk”, he was taken from a stream and became part of a captive breeding program in Victoria.

Frog expert, Dr David Hunter, says it took about seven years for tadpoles to appear, but the offspring are now thriving back in a High Country stream.

“Through the monitoring program, we were able to show that post-release survivalship has been quite good,” he said.

“Not only that, they’ve now reached sexual maturity, and they’ve actually bred in the wild which was fantastic.

“What we’re doing with the Spotted Tree Frog is something we’d also like to be able to achieve with many other threatened frogs.”

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