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‘Another year over. And a new one just begun’

Well, here we are, on the other side of Christmas and wandering towards new years. As the grinding horror of war continues in places like Gaza and Ukraine, I am reminded yet again of how lucky we are to find ourselves in this peaceful corner of the planet.

While ‘new years’ for me is the end of the winter snow, the public holiday and all the hype attached to it is a good excuse to reflect on life and plan some adventures as we get to the end of the calendar year.

Continue reading “‘Another year over. And a new one just begun’” →

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California acquires 7 large firefighting planes – could Australia use this model?

We know that there is growing pressure to increase our fleet of large firebombers. There are Large Air Tankers (LATs) and ‘Type 1’ helicopters which can carry large loads of water/ retardant and which can have a big impact in terms of slowing fires so ground crews can then fight them.

Australia generally needs 6 or 7 LATs in an average summer, and only two of these are located here year round (and only one is actually owned locally, by the NSW Rural Fire Service). The others are leased in from the northern hemisphere for the fire season. As climate change causes fire seasons to become longer in both hemispheres, relying on leasing them becomes a riskier and more expensive proposition.

That has led to proposals to buy our own national fleet of LATs. This was recommended by the Bushfire Royal Commission into the 2019/20 Black Summer. The Commission recommended ‘The development of a modest Australian-based and registered national fleet of VLAT/LAT [Very large Airtanker/Large Air Tanker] aircraft and Type-1 helicopters, jointly funded by the Australian, state and territory governments, will enhance Australia’s bushfire resilience’.

It has also prompted conversations about whether we can repurpose aircraft that are already owned by the Australian Defence Force that are nearing the end of their military working life which could be re-purposed to become firebombers (there are some notes here about converting Lockheed Orion planes from the RAAF into firefighting aircraft, with a variety of views about the viability of this proposal).

Even in North America (where we lease our LATs from) there is increasing competition between agencies and states to access large firefighting aircraft. In an announcement (published by Hotshot Wake Up, a podcast that covers all things fire based in the USA) it has been noted that California has acquired 7 publicly owned C-130 planes, which are being transferred from the Coast Guard and which will be retrofitted to be able to be used to fight fires. The announcement states that they will also be used for ‘search and rescue, and emergency operations related to wildfires’.

Surely this is an indicator of options the Australian government could be pursuing here to build the number of publicly owned large air tankers.

Continue reading “California acquires 7 large firefighting planes – could Australia use this model?” →

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Walker registration in remote TAS World Heritage Areas – how is the system going?

There has long been a permitting system for people wishing to walk the Overland Track in lutruwita/ Tasmania. Since 2021, there has also been a registration system for the Western and Eastern Arthurs and Mt Anne area, Lake Rhona and the Walls of Jerusalem. Many of these areas experienced visits from a record numbers of walkers during the 2022-23 season.

How is the system going? The general feedback from walkers visiting these areas is that the system is needed to manage environmental impact and crowding, but that the system itself needs to be reviewed and improved.

Continue reading “Walker registration in remote TAS World Heritage Areas – how is the system going?” →

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2024 Backcountry film festival lineup announced

The 19th Annual Backcountry Film Festival is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA). It will be screening a collage of short documentaries and ski movies about the pursuit of objectives and ideals in the mountains, artistic vision, friendship, and how the snowsports community is adapting to a changing environment.

We are yet to set the date for the 2024 festival: it will happen in Melbourne in late April or early May.

We normally start with some speakers from local backcountry groups and feature a couple of short locally made backcountry films, then get into the WWA program.

Continue reading “2024 Backcountry film festival lineup announced” →

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Killer trees of the high country

A year or so ago I was on a fireground, ‘mopping up’ a fire that had run up a hill through a scrubby forest of Box and Stringybark. There were a surprising number of nasty looking trees with hanging branches or burnt out crowns, so we were working slowly and carefully, to stay out of danger. One of the others, an older guy with decades of firefighting experience told me of a day years ago when he was fighting a fire in Ash country up in the Central Highlands. He turned around at one point to find his mate dead on the ground. A branch from an Ash tree (not sure if it was Alpine or Mountain Ash) had hit the man in his neck at the top of his spine and killed him instantly.

We all know that Alpine Ash love to throw small branches that fall almost as spears and end up stuck in the ground. I was thinking of this story as I wandered through an Alpine Ash forest the other day after a big stormy front had come through. All around there were ‘spears’ sticking up from the ground. I was glad I was safely camped in a clearing when that wind was blowing.

Continue reading “Killer trees of the high country” →

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‘Giles’, Mt Bogong, and Cleve Cole Memorial Hut

We love receiving feedback on the magazine. Lately there have been quite a few emails come in from people who have spotted copies of the magazine in places as scattered in Derrick Hut and a cafe in Thredbo. But this is the first time the feedback was a mountain poem.

Stephen Whiteside has provided this one as part of his efforts to help create a body of bush verse that relates to the snow country.

Continue reading “‘Giles’, Mt Bogong, and Cleve Cole Memorial Hut” →

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Save our snow climate data – we won!

The following information come from Protect Our Winters (POW) Australia.

After POW alerted the winter snowsports community to the fact that that the frequency of snow data collection at Spencers Creek in the Snowy Mountains has decreased in recent years, Jeremy Kinley, Acting Manager of water for Snowy Hydro, has confirmed that “we have agreed that we will commit to more regular measurements at Spencers Creek from next year onward.”

The data on snowpack collected by Snowy Hydro provides our best snapshot of snow pack over time. Earlier in the year, POW reported that:

‘Data collected in 2022 was sparse in comparison to previous years, with only four records collected from 1st of May to 31st of July. This is a reduction of over 60% compared to the average of the previous decade (2012-2021). 

‘Snowy Hydro explained their reduction in data collection in 2021 as a means to avoid sending staff to remote locations in poor weather conditions.

POW launched a campaign to get Snowy Hydro to continue recording their valuable data on a weekly basis from the first snowfall throughout the season. This campaign has been a success. Congratulations to everyone involved.

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FORUM: The Future of Firefighting in Victoria

It is quite a few years ago now that I stood on the high point of Mt Blowhard, near Hotham, and watched the Dargo High Plains burning (yet again). That led me on my ‘firefighting journey’ – I went back home and joined the CFA. In the years since then I have seen the reality of more frequent fires in the mountains and the fact that sometimes we don’t have enough firefighters to stop small lightning strike fires from turning into mega blazes.

One example – a couple of lightning strikes near Mt Tabletop on December 31, 2019 (during the Black Summer) were not able to be stopped. They grew into a fire of more than 40,000 ha that threatened the township of Dinner Plain twice and homes in the Cobungra valley.

That’s where this idea came from – an additional force of remote area firefighters who can be tasked with assisting the wonderful state government firefighters employed by FFMV.

The proposal will be discussed during a free online forum being hosted on Thursday December 14 at 7pm.

Continue reading “FORUM: The Future of Firefighting in Victoria” →

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Victorian State of the Environment 2023 Report released

The Victorian State of the Environment (SoE) 2023 Report has been released. These are five-yearly report cards produced by the state government which measure the health of our natural environment – our land, water, air and ecosystems. The report covers three key areas:

  • the health of Victoria’s natural environment
  • the adequacy of our science
  • areas for future focus.

The Greens labelled it ‘a damning new report (which) has found Victoria’s ecosystems and threatened species are in a far more dire situation now than they were five years ago’.

They say ‘It found that biodiversity and climate change indicators were particularly bad, with more than 75% of biodiversity indicators (32 of the 42) deteriorating or unclear, and 73% of climate change health measures (11 out of 15) also deteriorating or unclear. Only 1 out of 57 were classed as good (which related to the number of Victorians taking action to protect nature)’.

While I don’t have time to do a deep analysis of the report (which is available here), a quick look at the categories related to mountain areas are all fairly depressing. In short, there are no positive trends that are obvious.

Continue reading “Victorian State of the Environment 2023 Report released” →

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A visit to the ghost forests of the High Country

Friends of the Earth has been focusing on threats to the higher elevation forests of north east Victoria for the last three years. With the welcome announcement that native forest logging will end in the east of the state on January 1, 2024, our focus will now be largely on ensuring all ecosystems in the region are protected from the impacts of climate change.

In the case of snow gum woodlands, this means gaining a better understanding of the state of these systems, and how they are being impacted by more frequent fire and dieback caused by the Longicorn beetle. As part of this process FoE has been leading a series of guided walks and citizen science fieldtrips to a range of areas in the Victorian high country.

The next trip will be in early March 2024, to see the recovering snow gum woodlands on the north western edge of the Bogong High Plains. These forests have been negatively impacted by repeat wildfires, leading to widespread distribution of ‘ghost forests’: areas of burnt and dead woodlands with dense thick and highly flammable regrowth, and localised ecological collapse.

Continue reading “A visit to the ghost forests of the High Country” →

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Bright housing estate update

As reported previously on Mountain Journal, many regional areas are in danger of being ‘developed to death’ as people move from major cities, seeking a Tree or Sea Change. This is playing out in many areas, including Bright in north eastern Victoria, where there is a subdivision and development plan that is currently being considered by the Alpine Council. This has been opposed by many residents in Bright.

In an update to this campaign, the Alpine Shire Council is now recommending that a sub-division permit which will see the destruction of two of Bright’s heritage trees be approved at next week’s Council meeting.

Continue reading “Bright housing estate update” →

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Summer podcasts for your next roadtrip

If you’ve got a bit of spare time, or need to do a long drive, and are looking for some outdoors content to listen to, here are a few ideas.

Continue reading “Summer podcasts for your next roadtrip” →

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