The Premier’s Sustainability Awards are billed as “Victoria’s most prestigious environmental awards ceremony”.
The awards are intended to “recognise and reward Victorian businesses, institutions, communities and individuals that are forging a sustainable Victoria now and for the future”.
At the awards ceremony on October 2, Alpine Shire Council – Dinner Plain Alpine Village, Falls Creek Resort Management, Mt Hotham Resort Management, Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management, North East Victorian Regional Waste Management Group (NevRwaste) and 4SITE Australia Pty Ltd were recognised through being awarded the State government award.
This was for the ‘Living Bin’, a joint initiative between three alpine resorts which is administered by State Government Boards. This program captures organic waste from Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Mount Buller and Dinner Plain Alpine village, to convert it into commercial fertiliser. A successful trial of organic collection was conducted in 2010, and in 2011 the program was extended into commercial food outlets, club lodges, and private accommodation.
In 2011 this program had several hundred participants and diverted over 70 tonnes of organic waste from landfill. This program empowers resort residents and guests to make a difference in their daily lives.
As an observation about the awards, it does seem rather strange that Hepburn Wind won the overall award last year (Hepburn is within a ‘no go’ zone created by Ted Baillieu, and would not be allowed under his wind energy rules). And at the 2012 awards, a TAFE college won the Tertiary category. Given the slash and burn cutbacks occurring through the TAFE sector, this is a rather ironic decision.
‘Mitch Smith on his favourite ridge’. Image: Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown is based at Falls Creek in the Victorian Alps. His photography gets a good run in a lot of snow and ski related media, and his new website Mountainside has some gorgeous images, especially from around the Falls Creek/ High Plains area.
His ‘human’ related work includes portraits, some really lively and dynamic sports images – including snow sports and MTB, plus a focus on architecture, food and weddings. His obvious love of the High Country really shines through his work: and the site is well worth checking.
The following opinion piece comes from the Weekly Times.
Snowy River in Kosciusko National Park
GOVERNMENTS have failed the mighty river, writes LOUISE CRISP
The big spring releases from Jindabyne Dam into the Snowy River will capture the media’s attention this week.
Snowy Hydro Ltd will allow up to 84 gigalitres to flow down the Snowy River during the next two weeks.
Although they are much reduced, the spring releases are intended to mimic the huge spring snowmelt flows the Snowy was named for.
Most people now believe the Snowy has been saved.
When Jindabyne Dam was completed in 1967, the Snowy River had 99 per cent of its headwaters captured and diverted west to the Murray-Darling Basin for electricity generation and irrigation, resulting in severe degradation of the Snowy and considerable economic loss to the downstream communities.
In 1996, an expert panel scientific report identified that a healthy river needed the equivalent of 28 per cent annual natural flow below Jindabyne.
Ten years ago, the Victorian, NSW and Commonwealth governments signed agreements and legislation to fund a 10-year plan to return environmental flows to the Snowy.
The three shareholder governments of Snowy Hydro Ltd were committed to providing $375 million to Water for Rivers for savings in the Murray and Murrumbidgee systems to off-set increased flows by 2012 to:
THE Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam – up to 21 per cent of annual natural flow.
SNOWY montane rivers – up to 118 gigalitres a year.
SEVENTY gigalitres a year to the Murray.
The three governments also agreed to return up to 28 per cent to the Snowy below Jindabyne Dam post-2012.
The legislation also required the NSW Government to establish an independent Snowy Scientific Committee to provide advice on the best environmental flow release regime and produce annual state-of-environment reports on the rivers affected by the Snowy scheme.
So where are we 10 years later?
In November 2010 and October last year, large spring flows were released into the Snowy River below Jindabyne from water savings obtained by Water for Rivers.
While the Snowy has seen some good flows this year, it is far from saved.
The annual allocation to the Snowy below Jindabyne this water year (beginning May 1) is only about 15 per cent of the annual natural flow, and half the required minimum environmental flow identified by scientists in 1996. Releases below Jindabyne are unlikely to be much more than 15 per cent, as half the water acquired by Water for Rivers is general security or low reliability.
These entitlements would only deliver much real water to the river in exceptionally wet years.
The upper Snowy River in Kosciuszko National Park was scheduled to receive increased flows from 2007-08 (below Guthega Dam) and from 2009-10 (below Island Bend Dam). However, these sections of the Snowy have not received environmental flows.
For months the Snowy River in Kosciuszko National Park remains a dry stony riverbed.
In addition, the main eastern tributary, the Eucumbene River, and many other tributaries were not included in the original Snowy legislation and will not receive environmental flows.
Snowy Hydro Ltd has made one release to the Murray in 2005-06 of 38 gigalitres.
There is now 230 gigalitres of taxpayer-funded water savings owed the Murray River held by Snowy Hydro Ltd in Snowy Scheme storages. Nevertheless, the Murray Darling Basin Authority has included it in baseline modelling for the proposed Basin plan.
The 2002 legislation also required NSW to establish the independent Snowy Scientific Committee but it was delayed until 2008.
The committee produced a series of invaluable public reports on the adequacy of flows to the Snowy and the upper Murrumbidgee.
The committee’s term expired on May 15 last year and despite commitments from the three relevant NSW ministers, it has still not been re-established.
The 10-year plan to restore the Snowy is a simpler and smaller version of the proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The failure of governments therefore, to deliver the environmental outcomes for the Snowy, does not bode well for the future of the Murray.
2012/13 Bogong High Plains Hawkweed Surveillance Volunteer Program
Help needed to protect Australia’s biodiversity from Hawkweeds on the Bogong High Plains
Native to Europe, Hawkweeds have recently become established on mainland Australia. Posing a serious threat to Australian biodiversity and the structure of natural communities, it is imperative that the incursion is eradicated before it’s too late.
Hawkweeds spread quickly via runners and roots forming dense mats, inhibiting and out-competing native vegetation. In grassy ecosystems like the High Plains, dense patches of the weeds dominate the spaces between grass tussocks that are vital for the survival and recruitment of native flora and fauna.
Survey sessions will be conducted during the active flowering period. Most sessions will be five days long, the session between Christmas and New Year will be four days. Attendance for a full session is preferred but is not essential.
Accommodation will be provided at Falls Creek. Transport will be provided to survey areas each day.
The surveys for 2012/2013 season will be held over the following dates:
Session 1: Monday the 10th – Friday the 14th of December
Session 2: Monday the 17th – Friday the 21st of December
Session 3: Thursday the 27th – Sunday the 30th of December
Session 4: Monday the 7th – Friday the 11th of January
Session 5: Monday the 14th – Friday the 18th of January
For more information or to express your interest in the program, please contact:
Keith Primrose
hawkweed@parks.vic.gov.au
Mobile: 0428 508 299
Mt. Beauty Parks Victoria Office: (03) 5754 4693
Benambra from McMillans Lookout. Image: en.wikipedia.org
The Stockman Project is located in the Victorian Alps, 470km by road north-east of Melbourne and 60km by road north east of Omeo. The project contains two copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold rich deposits, called Wilga and Currawong. Wilga was discovered in 1978 and Currawong in 1979. Denehurst mined the copper rich core of Wilga deposit from 1992 to 1996. In 2006, following rehabilitation of the plant site and tailings dam by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, the project was put out for public tender as part of an exploration incentive program. Jabiru Metals Limited (Jabiru) was awarded the project in March 2007.
The Independence Group has now bought up Jabiru, and is proposing to recommission the Wilga mine and establish a new mine four kilometres to the north (the Currawong deposit).
Check here for a summary of the project, and some of the issues concerning locals.
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.
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.
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.
“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”.
“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.
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.”
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!
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.
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.
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