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Bogong High Plains

Join the 2013/2014 Falls Creek Hawkweed Volunteer Program

The 2013/2014 summer season of the Falls Creek Volunteer Hawkweed Survey, is now open for volunteer recruitment.

orange_hawkweedNative to Europe, Hawkweeds have recently become naturalised on mainland Australia. It is highly invasive and spreads quickly via runners and root, forming dense mats inhibiting and outcompeting native vegetation. Hawkweeds can cause major environmental damage in alpine & sub alpine areas and are considered a significant threat to the Victorian Alps.

Participating in the volunteer surveys are a great way to help save the Victorian Alps from this dangerous weed, as well as a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the magnificent alpine environment during the green summer months.

Accommodation has kindly been provided by Falls Creek Resort Management.  Breakfast, morning & afternoon tea will be provided each day.

Session 1: Monday 16th – Friday 20th December 2013 (Full, but you can be added to the waitlist)
Session 2: Friday 27th – Monday 30th December 2013 (Full, but you can be added to the waitlist)
Session 3: Monday 6th – Friday 10th January 2014 (Places available)
Session 4: Monday 13th – Friday 17th of January 2014 (Places available)
Session 5: Monday 20th – Friday 24th of January 2014 (Places available)

If you, your friends, family or colleagues would like to attend, please contact me to book a place and provide the number of participants attending with you, their names and emails as soon as possible.

To express your interest in the program please contact:
The Hawkweed Team, Parks Victoria
Mt Beauty Parks Victoria Office
P: (03) 5754 4693 E: hawkweed@parks.vic.gov.au

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National park boundary redrawn for resort

The following comes from The Age newspaper, Feb 20, 2013.

alpine2The Baillieu government has redrawn the boundaries of the Alpine National Park to allow the Falls Creek resort to expand.

On Thursday morning Environment Minister Ryan Smith announced the government would excise almost 10 hectares of land from the national park and add it to the adjoining Falls Creek Alpine Resort area.

The boundary change follows numerous requests from the Falls Creek resort to expand its operations. The resort wants to develop non-winter tourism activities and a high-altitude training camp for athletes.

The changes mean the resort will now be allowed to expand down to the shore of the Rock Valley Storage lake.
In exchange, the government will add almost 12 hectares of land on the slopes of Mount McKay to the park, which Mr Smith said contained snow gum woodland.

“Victoria’s alpine resorts make significant contributions to their local economies and to tourism in the state,’’ Mr Smith said.

‘‘This amendment is part of a long-term strategy to increase visitation, including in the non-winter months and ensure all Victorians can access and enjoy their natural environment,’’ he said.

“We want to encourage more altitude training, lake events, road cycling and mountain biking.’’

Mr Smith said the proposed amendments were part of Baillieu government’s plan to enable new ‘‘environmentally appropriate investments’’ on public land, including national parks, forests and alpine resorts.

In August the government decided to open up Victorian national parks to private tourism development following recommendations by the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission.

Guidelines to deem what development will be allowed in parks are still being finalised by Mr Smith, who will have final say over what projects would go ahead.

The decision to redraw the Alpine National Park boundaries to allow an expansion of the Falls Creek resort is separate to the August decision.

The Victorian National Parks Association’s Philip Ingamells said the process to redraw the Alpine National Park boundaries had been secretive.

“The government seems to think that if someone wants a development in a national park, they can simply excise that area from the park without any public consultation,’’ he said.

‘‘Management of our finest natural areas should be transparent, honest and based on the best scientific advice. We need to know what other developments they are planning for our magnificent national parks.”

Comment was being sought from Falls Creek Alpine Resort management.

The Alpine National Park was the site of the Baillieu government’s controversial cattle grazing trial, which was blocked by the Commonwealth under national environment law.

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Help needed to protect Australia’s biodiversity from Hawkweeds on the Bogong High Plains

Orange hawkweed flower. Photo: Mark Imhof, DPI

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

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Kangaroo Hoppet – 25 August 2012

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.

You can register here.

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volunteers needed to protect the Bogong High Plains from Hawkweed

2011/12 Victorian Alps Hawkweed Surveillance Volunteer Program

Help to protect Australia’s biodiversity from King Devil and Orange Hawkweed on the Bogong High Plains

Orange Hawkweed. Image: Parks Victoria

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 above-ground roots forming dense mats, inhibiting and out-competing native vegetation. In grassy ecosystems like the High Plains, dense patches of the weed 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. All of the sessions will be five days long. Attendance for the full sessions is preferred but is not essential.

Accommodation will be provided at Falls Creek. Breakfast and snacks will be provided as well as one dinner at a local eatery, other meals self catered. Transport will be provided from Falls Creek.

The surveys for 2011/2012 season will be held over the following dates:
Session 1: Tuesday the 27th – Saturday the 31st of December
Session 2: Monday the 16th – Friday the 20th of January

For more information or to express your interest in the program, please contact:
Keith Primrose
hawkweed@parks.vic.gov.au
Mt. Beauty Parks Victoria Office: (03) 5754 4693

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Alpine grazing action alert

A new dilemma for the government:

According to The Age newspaper, “traditional owners of Victoria’s high country have threatened the Baillieu government with legal action, accusing it of “stepping over the mark” in the controversial return of cattle to the Alpine National Park.”

The government appears to be in the bunker and not responding to a number of recent stories in The Age.

UPDATE, 12/1/11: it has just been announced that the government has secretly put a small number of cows back in the Alps Park in order to “prevent any potential Federal Government injunction”. (!!)

This secrecy flies in the face of the Ted Baillieu’s committment to transparent government.

Check this letter from the Environmental Farmers Network on the grazing decision.

Background

Cattle were removed from the Alpine National Park in 2005 by the government of Steve Bracks. This was an important step forward for good land management in our state. Since then, some of the long term damage caused by decades of grazing have started to heal.

However, the Victorian Coalition announced in the build up to the November election that it would return cattle grazing to Victoria’s alpine national parks as a tool to reduce fire risk.

It probably made sense to summer graze cows in the alps when the practise started in the 1800’s. Given what we now know – of the ecological damage they cause – it made sense to remove them from the precious alpine areas.

Putting them back into the Park – in the very headwaters of our most significant river systems in a time of climate change – would mean turning our backs on common sense land management and scientific evidence. Grazing greatly damages the alpine systems, including the peat beds, that release high quality water into our river systems across the north east of the state.

Research on alpine grazing has consistently shown that the pro grazing mantra ‘grazing reduces blazing’ simply isn’t true.

The Victorian National Parks Association has substantial information on the question of grazing and fires which is available here.

You can also see the CSIRO’s finding on grazing and fire here.

We need to send a strong message to the new government that the majority of Victorians do not support the re-introduction of grazing into the Alps and other protected areas like the Barmah forest.

TAKE ACTION

Please write to the Premier and Environment minister, explaining that you are opposed to the reintroduction of cattle grazing into Victoria’s alpine environment.

You could mention that the grazing of cattle in a national park is inconsistent with conservation management, which is the main purpose of national parks protection. It will not help reduce fire risk. Our alps are at great risk from climate change and do not need that degradation that will come with grazing.

Simply send a brief and polite email outlining your concerns, with your name and address to:

The Hon Ted Baillieu MP
Premier of Victoria
ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au

The Hon Ryan Smith MP
Minister for Environment and Climate Change
ryan.smith@parliament.vic.gov.au

It would be great if you could cc us a copy so we know how many letters have gone in: foe@foe.org.au

Please send this alert on to your friends. Thanks!

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Why cattle will never again roam free in the Victorian high country

Summer storm on the Bogong High Plains, VIC.

An opinion piece by Phil Ingamells of the Victorian National Parks Association about the Victorian Coalition’s promise to return cattle grazing to Victoria’s high country.

He suggests that the Coalition seems to be playing politics with the cattlemen, promising to bring them back to the high country, even though they must know it can’t actually happen.

The article is available here.

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Volunteers needed for weed surveys on Bogong High Plains

Orange Hawkweed. Image: DPI

Parks Victoria is looking for volunteers to help look for King Devil and Orange Hawkweed on the Bogong High Plains

Native to Europe, Hawkweeds have recently become established on mainland Australia. They pose a serious threat to Australian biodiversity and to the structure of natural communities.

Hawkweeds spread quickly via runners and above-ground roots, forming dense mats and outcompeting native vegetation. In grassy ecosystems like the High Plains, dense patches of the weed dominate the spaces between grass tussocks that are vital for the survival and recruitment of native flora and fauna.

Three survey sessions will be conducted during the flowering period and each session requires 8 volunteers. All of the sessions will be 5 days long, Monday to Friday. Attendance for the full sessions is preferred but is not essential.

Accommodation will be provided at Falls Creek.
Breakfast and snacks will also be provided.

The surveys for 2010/2011 season will be held over the following dates:
Session 1: November 29 – December 3 (Mon – Fri)
Session 2: December 27 – December 31 (Mon – Fri)
Session 3: January 17 – January 21 (Mon – Fri)

If you would like more information or to take part in a survey session please contact:
Sally Summers
hawkweed@parks.vic.gov.au
Mt. Beauty Parks Victoria Office: (03) 5754 4693

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backcountry snowmobile bonanza?

Near Mt McKay, heading to Pretty Valley, Bogong High Plains, VIC

If you’re an Australian skier or boarder, and unless you’ve been living under a log these past few months, you will know that ski legend Steve Lee has been running commercial backcountry ski tours out of Falls Creek resort this winter.

This is great. Getting people out of resorts and into the backcountry is to be supported and encouraged.

What is less great is the emphasis on the use of snowmobiles to get people out there. His tours are geared towards ‘strong’ intermediate skiers and boarders. So if people are fit enough to ski/ board hard terrain, then surely they are fit enough to get on some skis to actually get out there.

In my opinion, this ‘cheap grace’ approach to getting backcountry is a sad development in Victoria. Certainly, the tours are confined to the alpine resort area (even though this is ecologically part of the Bogong High Plains). However, they come with a high annoyance cost to people who are out there under their own steam. It is not clear what ecological assessment, if any, has been made of the tours – for instance, is there an impact on endangered species or vegetation? There is also a bigger picture here: there is the fact that these tours could be a precedent for future snowmobile based developments elsewhere in the alps.

Anyone who has skied backcountry in North America will know the many problems that come with rampant and often uncontrolled snowmobile use. While here in Australia recreational use of snowmobiles is supposedly controlled or banned (for instance in national parks), how often is this actually enforced? As one example, there is growing use within the Alpine national park in the area between Dinner Plain and Mt Hotham and around Dinner Plain village with apparently no intervention from land managers.

Snowmobiles are essential tools in resort management and search and rescue operations. However, the blanket endorsement of commercial use of snowmobiles in the backcountry in almost all Falls Creek promotional materials this winter shows that resorts ‘commitment’ to the environment as being shallow at best and probably a form of green wash.

We should be very cautious about the further introduction of a potentially destructive development in our alpine areas, which appears to have jumped all the approvals ‘hoops’ simply because the proponent of the development is an alpine ‘personality’.
Falls Creek Resort says that it is deeply concerned about good environmental management:
“We are extremely proud of Falls Creek’s reputation as an industry leader in the field of sustainable alpine tourism and development. Our environmental programs reduce our impact on the local environment and acknowledge the importance of maintaining a healthy world beyond our boundary”.

Further information on their approach to the environment is here.

If you have an opinion about the expansion of snowmobiles into the backcountry you may wish to let the resort management know about them.
fcrm@fallscreek.com.au

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