Continue reading “‘Save the Trees. March with us in the Autumn Festival Parade’”
Many regional areas are in danger of being ‘developed to death’ as people move from major cities, seeking a Tree or Sea Change. From coastal areas like the Bellarine Peninsula to the Otways, to valley towns in north eastern Victoria, people are flocking to regional centres close to attractive places. The covid lockdowns allowed many people to transition to online work, which has further driven the trend towards relocating in regional areas. This is, of course, causing many problems as farmland and remnant vegetation is swallowed up (usually by low density sprawl), with growing demands for water supplies and waste treatment, and growing impacts on local community services like healthcare and schools.
This is playing out in many areas, including Bright in north eastern Victoria.
Continue reading “Housing development in Bright facing strong community opposition”
In March, Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigners visited north eastern Victoria as part of a longer trip highlighting threats to the landscapes of the high country. While we were focused on the threat posed to native forests by logging, locals in the Upper Ovens wanted to show us some of the current harvesting of pine plantations in the area.
While pine (Pinus radiata) plantations have been located across the north east for decades, and provide valuable timber and local employment, the logging practices in many instances are appalling. This led to FoE making a series of recommendations to the land manager, Hancocks Plantations Victoria (HVP), about how to reduce the environmental impacts of future harvesting.
Would you like to hear about great environmental and sustainability initiatives happening in the Upper Ovens valley? Then please join us for a free event on the evening of tuesday March 14 at Bright Brewery.
This forum will feature local speakers showcasing some great conservation initiatives, and be a good chance to catch up with like minded people.
The North East Catchment Management Authority (NECMA) manages the integrated planning framework for land, water and biodiversity management in North East Victoria.
North east Victoria is gorgeous and contains some of our most beautiful mountains. While it comprises only 2% of the geographic area of the Murray-Darling Basin it contributes 38% of the total water in the Murray-Darling system. This high-quality water resource supports users across south-eastern Australia and needs to be protected.
NECMA has just released its annual report for 2020/21 (available here) and it has some interesting updates on projects happening across the mountains.
With the price of gold rising rapidly, much of regional Victoria is seeing renewed interest from mining companies, who are seeking exploration licences. In the Upper Ovens and Kiewa Valleys, there is strong local opposition to mining. A survey of local attitudes to mining highlights that gold mining does not have social license to operate in these areas.
The group No Gold Drilling (and no more gold mining) in Our Shire Valleys has released the results from their survey:
Continue reading “Alpine Shire residents oppose gold mining”
The Facebook group objecting to gold mining in the Ovens Valley has launched a survey to get Alpine Shire people’s views towards the future of gold-mining in the Alpine Shire.
It comes as a gold exploration company has been drilling in the Havilah Valley in recent weeks.
There are many exploratory licences applicable to the upper Ovens Valley. And there are 2 applications for gold exploratory drilling waiting for approval covering areas south of Yackandandah, Wandiligong, all the upper Ovens Valley to Harrietville and a strip down the western side of Kiewa Valley near Mt Beauty.
“We were getting clear indications many people in the Alpine Shire were not happy with the exploratory drilling and the prospect of new gold mines in the area” said Col Finnie, administrator of the group. “But we thought it was time to find out what ratepayers and residents of the Shire think, hence launching a Survey Monkey survey.”
Continue reading “Please express your views about gold-mining in the Alpine Shire”
Ten projects in Indi (north eastern Victoria) have received funding through the federal governments Local Economic Recovery (LER) program for bushfire recovery.
Local Member for Indi, Helen Haines, says: ‘They will bring new jobs and attract tourism, and I’m so proud to see the hard work and initiative of our region recognised by this investment.
‘It is fantastic that the Alpine resorts have received $7 million for three transformational projects. The resorts were hit hard by the fires and then COVID-19, and yet inexplicably, the Government had initially excluded them from the bushfire recovery funding.
‘There is also great news for tourism in our region here. $5 million for the Great River Road, upgrades to the Alpine Hotel and Bright Velo will help position our region for a strong economic recovery, creating sustainable jobs by bringing tourists to our wonderful region’.
Continue reading “Bushfire recovery funds for alpine and valley communities”
An Exploratory Licence application for gold is with the Victorian government’s Earth Resources department for the upper Ovens Valley. The deadline for objections is 23 December. The best time to stop a destructive project is before it gets going. Please add your voice to the strong community campaign against this proposal.
Governments and companies often dismiss opposition to exploration, saying that ‘any environmental issues will be considered’ if the proposal moves toward a mining application. But the more money the miner puts into the project, the more they will push through with the proposal to commercialise. The best time to stop it is before exploration starts. And if a project has no social license to operate, why approve exploration? There is strong local opposition to gold exploration in the Upper Ovens. In a time of climate change, where water flows are expected to decline over time, the river systems that rise in the Victorian Alps will become even more important for downstream communities and environments. Why would we risk such a significant river system for short term gain for a mining company?
Continue reading “No Gold Drilling for the Upper Ovens Valley”
The Victorian Government has announced it is ‘investing in the future of Mount Buffalo as a 12-months-a-year tourism destination through support for new “eco pod” accommodation’ at a cost of $1.5 million. The government is also seeking private investment for a cafe within the Mount Buffalo Chalet.
The following is from a media release from the Victorian premier.
Continue reading “‘Eco Pod’ development funded for Buffalo Plateau”
Interested in renewable energy and how to make it happen?
There will be information sessions across north eastern Victoria soon, including mountain and valley towns like:
Cheshunt: 11 March
Mt Beauty: 20 March
Mansfield: 23 March
Bright: 26 March
Finally, after affecting more than 1.5 million hectares of Victoria, all the fires are out. It’s the same story in NSW and the ACT and towns are fully ‘open for business’. Of course all mountain areas have suffered economically over summer, with lost business and less work. While some areas remain closed (for instance, significant sections of the Australian Alps Walking Track remain closed) the vast majority of mountains areas are getting on with life.
Now is the time to get out and visit mountain areas and spend up big, to help communities get back on their feet.
Continue reading “#RollOnBack to mountain towns this autumn”
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