Since November 3, a group has been walking the 560 km from Sydney to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, to highlight the damage being caused by feral horses. The walk is nearing its end! Join the walkers on the final day – 9th December (or the 8th depending on weather forecast) – from Charlottes Pass or Thredbo to celebrate the end of the walk and add your voice to the call to reclaim Kosci from feral horses.
As we know, under the current very pro ‘development’ Liberal government in Tasmania there are no end of proposals for private developments in national parks and other parts of the conservation network.
One that has been receiving a lot of attention is the proposal to build a small ‘top end’ facility that would rely on helicopter tourism at Lake Malbena, inside the Walls of Jerusalem National Park in central Tasmania.
It has been reported that the Morrison government ‘waved through approval for a luxury tourist development and helipad in the pristine Tasmanian wilderness’ despite three official expert bodies lashing the proposal or calling for it to be rejected.
This recently released book features 150 images from across the Australian Alps. The publishers describe it as a ‘coffee table pictorial (which aims to) bring this magnificent region to a wider audience.’
Although I haven’t seen the book yet, the excerts below look gorgeous. You can find it in bookstores or online.
Continue reading “Alpine Australia – A celebration of the Australian Alps”
Mouse-ear hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella) is an invasive perennial herb in the daisy (Asteraceae) family. It is native to Europe and Asia but now occurs as a serious weed in New Zealand, Canada and USA.
A small infestation of mouse-ear hawkweed was discovered in December 2014, near Charlottes Pass in the Main Range of Kosciuszko National Park. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has an active control-and-detection program under way to eradicate this threat.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service in NSW is organising a volunteer program in the Snowy Mountains from January until March 2019. Volunteers help with identifying the location of hawkweed infestations.
Continue reading “Volunteer Hawkweed eradication programs in the Snowy Mountains”
Hawkweed is a highly invasive pest plant species which could cause major environmental damage in alpine and sub-alpine areas of Australia if not eradicated early. For several years there has been an annual volunteer program held on the Bogong High Plains. Volunteer recruitment for the 2018/2019 season of the Falls Creek Hawkweed Eradication Program Volunteer Surveys is now open.
Continue reading “Registrations for this summer’s Hawkweed survey program in VIC Alps are now open”
The North Face presents the Australian premiere of the film ‘The Sky Piercer’, with screenings happening in Sydney and Melbourne, which will include a Q&A with athletes Sam Smoothy and Fraser McDougall, alongside director Jase Hancox.
We all know that ski resorts have a large environmental footprint. As Outside magazine recently noted, ‘with sprawling mountainside villages, water-guzzling snow machines, and high-powered chairlifts, it’s no secret operating a ski resort can be a dirty business.”
Here in Australia some resorts have taken small steps to reduce their impact, but its still fairly dismal when you consider their overall operations. Outside have recently listed the best 10 US-based resorts when it comes to environmental responsibility. While the bigger resorts that come with having a much larger population have greater financial capacity to change their operations, these examples do provide some ideas for any resorts here who are serious about taking their environmental and climate responsibilities seriously.
Continue reading “10 US-based ski resorts showing the way on sustainability”
Conservation group Forest Conservation Victoria have announced that they have established a blockade of logging operations on the southern slopes of the Baw Baw Plateau. The area contains many large trees which provide critical habitat for threatened native wildlife.
NSW wants to protect its feral horses. Why Victorians should be worried?
You’re invited to this free forum hosted by the Invasive Species Council in Melbourne, on Wednesday, 28 November 2018 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Continue reading “‘Hooves off our Alps.’ Public forum in Melbourne”
Over a hundred people joined the Save Kosci full distance walkers on the morning of Saturday 3rd November as they left The Domain in central Sydney. The walk intends to highlight the negative impacts of wild horses on the alpine environment of the Snowy Mountains. The walkers have just completed their 3rd day and reached Liverpool, with a group of 14. Morale is high and the walkers are getting sympathetic reactions from people they meet along the way.
They are on schedule, so far, to reach the summit of Kosciuszko around 7 to 9 December. If you drive past them in their bright yellow safety vests, give them a friendly toot. Continue reading “Save Kosci walk underway”
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”.
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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