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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.

“Something changed about 2000″. TAS forests threatened by ‘catastrophic’ bushfires

Widespread wildfires in early 2016 caused devastating damage across large areas of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, including significant sections of vegetation which is not fire adapted, such as Pencil Pine forests.

At the time, and in follow up investigations, it became clear that increased fire risk due to climate change posed an existential threat to these vegetation types. Now additional research has confirmed the trend towards more extreme fire seasons. It suggests that we reached a ‘tipping point’ sometime around the year 2000 and that, since then, there has been an increase in the number of lightning-caused fires and an increase in the average size of the fires, “resulting in a marked increase in the area burnt”.

Continue reading ““Something changed about 2000″. TAS forests threatened by ‘catastrophic’ bushfires” →

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‘Save Kosci’ walkers to start their 560 km journey

On the 3rd November, a group of bushwalkers will start a 35 day walk from Sydney to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, to highlight the damage being caused by feral horses.

If you live in Sydney, please consider attending the ‘send off’ as they leave for Kosci.

Saturday Nov 3 at 9am.

Continue reading “‘Save Kosci’ walkers to start their 560 km journey” →

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VIC Backcountry festival 2019 – dates and venue announcement

We’re delighted to announce that the second Victorian Backcountry Festival will be held over the weekend of September 7 and 8, 2019, at Mt Hotham.

Celebrating all things backcountry – splitboarding, cross country, alpine touring, snow shoeing, telemark, and mountain culture.

Mt Hotham, Sept 7 – 8

Continue reading “VIC Backcountry festival 2019 – dates and venue announcement” →

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‘Ode To Muir’ – a film by Teton Gravity Research – screening in Melbourne

`Teton Gravity’s newest film Ode To Muir “pairs professional snowboarder, adventurer and founder of Protect Our Winters Jeremy Jones with two-time Olympian Elena Hight as they embark on a 60 km human-powered expedition deep into California’s John Muir Wilderness.

Their journey balances the challenges of winter camping, gruelling climbs up the Sierra’s biggest mountains, and aesthetic first descents with personal reflections on the importance of the natural world, and sharing perspectives gleaned from what it truly means to explore a great wilderness”.

Continue reading “‘Ode To Muir’ – a film by Teton Gravity Research – screening in Melbourne” →

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Taungurung sign Native Title deal with VIC government

Victoria has signed the largest native title claim in the state’s history, recognising the Taungurung as traditional owners in across large sections of northern and north eastern Victoria and awarding a settlement of more than $33m. The agreement covers sections of the high country and Alpine National Park, including Mt Buller, Mt Cobbler and the Buffalo Plateau.

Continue reading “Taungurung sign Native Title deal with VIC government” →

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Aspen resort steps up its activism

Colorado-based ski resort Aspen recently launched a new activist campaign, called Give A Flake, which invites skiers and non-skiers alike to speak out against climate change inaction. It has a number of online tools that help people to easily contact their elected officials and pressure them to act on climate change.

Under the banner of ‘Protect Your Passion. Join the Movement’, Aspen says ‘Sometimes caring about an issue isn’t enough. You have to do something. It’s time to turn our concern about climate change — and yours — into action’.

USA residents can use the Give A Flake website to find out where the elected officials in their area stand on climate change. Then, via Twitter, users can tweet at their local leaders with images and statements that Aspen Skiing Co. has already curated.

Now they’ve taken another step, by inserting campaign postcards into outdoor magazines. The idea is that people will then send these to key politicians, urging them to act decisively on climate change issues. As the mid term elections in the USA get closer, more and more people, organisations and businesses are encouraging people to get out and vote (Patagonia have even taken the unusual position of endorsing two candidates).

Continue reading “Aspen resort steps up its activism” →

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The Great Tasmanian Traverse

This guided trip, which will happen over 39 days, is an epic journey that seeks to ‘traverse’ Tasmania on foot and raft from north to south. While sections are covered by road and light plane, it does include a long walk from the north coast all the way to Lake St Clair. It then heads into Frenchmans Cap, does 8 days on the mid and lower Franklin River, before flying to Melaleuca on the west coast and one final, extended walk along the South Coast Track.

Continue reading “The Great Tasmanian Traverse” →

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Backcountry film festival – call out for local films

The Backcountry Film Festival is produced each year by the Winter Wildlands Alliance as a celebration of the human-powered experience and a gathering place for the backcountry snowsports community. The 2018-19 Backcountry Film Festival will tour over 100 cities around the world, including Melbourne.

The Melbourne show of the backcountry film festival (the BCFF) will happen in April or May 2019. Location will be in the inner city (to be announced soon).

Check the trailer for the season here.

Do you have a film we could screen?

The BCFF package is put together by the USA-based Winter Wildlands Alliance and has 10 films in the 2018/19 season.

We normally introduce the festival with a locally made backcountry film.

Last year we screened Mount Townsend 2209 – an Australian Freeride Story. (available here).

If you would like to offer a film for a screening, and its suitable to show an all age crowd of backcountry enthusiasts (and its under 7 minutes long) please get in touch.

Get in touch

If you would like to go on the announce list for the 2019 screenings or want to offer a film for the screening, please email Cam: cam.walker@foe.org.au

Full details on the 2019 screening will be announced here soon.

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Ignition Mountain Bike Festival

From the organisers:

‘You like to ride bikes? You like to party? Well this is the biggest and best bike riding party around!
Blue Dirt Mountain Biking presents Ignition, a mountain bike event hinged on the core social elements of the rider lifestyle.

Join us at Falls Creek 17-18 November 2018 to celebrate all things MTB’.

Full details here.

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#VoteTheOutdoors

The outdoor recreation community is huge. The outdoor recreation industry is equally large, employing many thousands of people and generating billions of dollars of economic activity each year (the Australian ski industry alone generates more than $1.8 billion a year and employs more than 18,000 people).

Yet the outdoor industry, taken as a whole, remains curiously silent on key issues like park protection, threats to wild areas and climate change. There are a few standouts, like Patagonia, but generally they’re missing in action on the key issues of our time.

Not so in the USA, where the election of the anti environment Trump administration has radically heightened the already active outdoor sector. With the mid term elections happening soon, which will have enormous implications for the balance of power in both houses of federal government (and hence Trump’s ability to implement his negative agenda), the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) has launched an impressive  #VoteTheOutdoors campaign to mobilise people concerned about climate and protecting wild nature.

Continue reading “#VoteTheOutdoors” →

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TAS and federal govs ‘ignored expert advice’ in approving wilderness development

The attempt by some in government and business to open up World Heritage and other protected areas to commercial development has seen a long running campaign by those who fear that individual developments could be the ‘thin end of the wedge’ and open the door to much greater incursion.

Recently there has been substantial concern about plans to build a fly-in, fly-out luxury camp at Lake Malbena in Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) on the Central Plateau. It is a remote location, to the south east of the famed Walls of Jerusalem area. The plan includes a helipad, accommodation, kitchen and toilet facilities.

Now, leaked documents show that Tasmania’s national parks advisory body argued against the controversial development which has been supported by both the State and Federal Governments.

Continue reading “TAS and federal govs ‘ignored expert advice’ in approving wilderness development” →

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Citizen Science Survey Camp – Spring 2018

The Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO), based in far east Gippsland is hosting a citizen science survey over the Melbourne Cup long weekend in November (November 3 – 6, 2018).

“You will learn from the dedicated and passionate ecologists and activists at GECO whose citizen science campaign is saving forests from logging. We’ll be based in and around Goongerah, including surrounding high conservation value and old growth forests, and the iconic Kuark forest”.

Continue reading “Citizen Science Survey Camp – Spring 2018” →

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