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New owner for Stockman mine announced

The Stockman Project is located in the Victorian Alps, 60 km 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. The mine operated by Dehnurst left behind a dangerous mess. In 2006, following $6.9 million worth of rehabilitation of the plant site and tailings dam at the taxpayers expense, 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.

After a number of attempts to re-open the mine, the Victorian treasurer has announced a ‘new multi-million dollar investment’ in the Stockman project and a new owner.

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What’s happening with the Buffalo Chalet?

The Chalet at Mt Buffalo is a much loved Victorian icon. Originally owned and operated by the Victorian Railways, it provided on mountain accommodation from the early 1900s until a decade ago.

It was closed in 2007 and has been falling into an ever more run down state each year.

There have been several attempts to restore it to some of its former glory. However none of the government money allocated to this purpose has ever delivered much.

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Myrtle Rust – an emerging threat to plant communities

People who have walked in Tasmania are probably familiar with the threat posed by Phytophthora, a fungus that attacks the roots of susceptible plants, in many cases killing the plants. In some native plant communities, epidemic disease can develop causing the death of large numbers of plants.

The fungus is now well established in many areas of moorland, heathland and dry eucalypt forest in Tasmania.

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VIC gov calls for expressions of interest in Alpine Resort Management Boards

Following the recent announcement by the Victorian government that it would restructure ski resort management boards at four resorts, there has now been a call for expressions of interest for 13 positions across the boards responsible for managing Falls Creek, Mt Buller/ Mt Stirling and Mt Hotham.

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You’re invited to a Wildlife Tour of the Central Highlands

You probably have heard about the campaign to create the Great Forest National Park. You may be aware that logging in the Central Highlands, to the east of Melbourne, threatens precious forests and endangered wildlife.

This is a great chance to get into these forests to see for yourself what’s going on.

Sunday December 10.

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Announcing the Buller huts trail

The high range of mountains that stretch from the western end of The Bluff to Mt Howitt then north to Mt Cobbler contain some of the best alpine country in Victoria.

Long a popular hiking destination, its always tempting to want to walk from one end to the other. But the logistics of doing a car shuffle are complex – it’s a long drive between the Howqua and Lake Cobbler. There is an obvious circuit you can walk, with Mt Stirling being a good start and end point. But the Howqua and King valleys are deep and the scrub along the Stanley Name Spur can be brutal. While there are many variations that are possible, any way you do it will be a serious undertaking, requiring good stamina and navigation skills, experience in backcountry travel, and at least five or six days.

Now the ‘Buller huts trail’, which links these mountains into a seven day circuit, has been launched.

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Have you made an Australian backcountry film?

The Backcountry Film Festival (BCFF) is produced each year as a celebration of the human-powered experience and a gathering place for the backcountry snowsports community. The 2018 Melbourne showing for the Backcountry film festival will be held in March or April 2018.

Most years we also show a short Australian film. These have included:

  • The Hunt for White October, about a late season mission to Mt Loch
  • No Lift Lines Here, about a mid winter trip to The Bluff
  • Find Your Line, about snow boarding on the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains
  • OFF GRID, focusing on a backcountry trip to Mt Bogong

If you have a film you would like to be included with the BCFF this year, please get in touch.

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Mountain Ash forests in VIC face ‘almost certain collapse in the next 50 years’

Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) is the ‘signature’ tree of the damp montane forests of south eastern Australia. Generally growing in temperate areas receiving over 1,200 millimetres rainfall a year on deep loam soils, this species is the tallest flowering plant on earth.

They have been heavily logged for well over a century, and massive areas have been burnt in wildfire. Now climate change and extreme fragmentation of habitat is driving Mountain ash forest in south-eastern Australia towards ‘almost certain collapse in the next 50 years’, according to an assessment by researchers from the ANU.

The key message in this research is:

Researchers “modelled 39 different scenarios and found there was a 92 to 99.99% chance of collapse of the mountain ash forest in Victoria’s Central Highlands by 2067”.

It is also important to understand that there is still a “critical window where we can act to prevent the loss of the mountain ash forest ecosystem”.

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Winter 2018!

As another wave of hot weather beats down on us, of course its time to think about winter. I don’t know about you, but I find that life is crazily busy, so if I don’t lock trips in they don’t happen.

Here are early details on two planned events for winter 2018.

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The Geeves Effect – another attack on wilderness

A group of investors are proposing a track to a remote wilderness lake at the base of Federation Peak in Tasmania’s South-West (Check here for our previous report).

They have developed a consortium called the Geeves Effect, and are pushing for a 2.5 km track extension to ‘provide walkers with views of Lake Geeves’. They say that ‘the bushwalk could rival Cradle Mountain and Three Capes Tracks as a tourism magnet’.

Since our last report on this proposal, more information has come to light. This comes from the Tasmanian National Parks Association.

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VIC government announces restructure of alpine resorts

At present, the Victorian alpine resorts are managed by separate boards (Mt Stirling and Mt Buller are managed by a single board).  This structure of governance has been described as “complex and ineffective” and the government has been looking into other alternatives. These are outlined in the report Alpine Resorts Governance Reform.

After a long wait, the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio has today announced that the government would implement a new governance model and ‘refresh the three northern Alpine Resort Management Boards’ (Falls Creek, Mt Buller/ Mt Stirling and Mt Hotham).

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Tasmanian ALP pledges $30 million to Cradle Mountain cable car

In a worrying move, the ALP in Tasmania has announced that it will allocate $30 million if they win the next state election towards the cable car which is planned for the Cradle Mountain National Park in Tasmania.

The idea for a cable car was raised in a Master Plan for the Cradle Valley section of the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, which was developed by the Cradle Coast Authority.

The cable car would connect the Cradle Mountain visitor centre to Dove Lake. Construction of the cable car would require the Commonwealth Government to chip in another $30 million.

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