Every year on September 7, National Threatened Species Day is commemorated across Australia to raise awareness of plants and animals at risk of extinction.
There are currently 457 species of fauna and 1348 species of flora listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered under Australia’s Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Many of these are found nowhere else in the world.
This is a summary of some of the threats facing mountain species.
Leading scientists working across Australia and Antarctica have described 19 ecosystems that are collapsing due to the impact of humans and warned urgent action is required to prevent their complete loss.
A groundbreaking report – the result of work by 38 scientists from 29 universities and government agencies – details the degradation of coral reefs, arid outback deserts, tropical savanna, the waterways of the Murray-Darling Basin, mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and forests stretching from the rainforests of the far north to Gondwana-era conifers in Tasmania.
The scientists recommended a new framework to try to prevent ecosystems collapsing completely that they called the “3As”. It would require a greater awareness of the value of ecosystems, better planning to anticipate risks and rapid action to reduce them.
The report is titled Combating ecosystem collapse from the tropics to the Antarctic.
What does this mean for mountain environments?
There has long been discussion about the trail that once linked the south eastern coast of NSW to the Snowy Mountains. It is called the Bundian Way. Prior to the invasion, Indigenous people moved between the coast, the Monaro Tablelands and the higher mountains. Nowdays called the Bundian Way, this route is a historical pathway between Targangal (Kosciuszko) and Bilgalera (Fisheries Beach) that connects the highest part of the Australian continent and the coast.
There is a book that explores the Bundian Way, called On Track: searching out the Bundian Way written by John Blay. Now the route has been mapped and can be found online.
More than 600 people joined sections of the 36 day walk from Sydney to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko which aimed to raise awareness about the negative impacts of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park. The walk finished on December 9. The five people who did the whole walk from Sydney were joined on the final day by 178 people, walking from Jindabyne, Thredbo or with the main group from Charlotte Pass.
Continue reading “‘Save Kosci’ walk finishes at Mt Kosciuszko”
Mountain Journal has previously written about the die back of eucalypts that has been occurring on the Monaro tablelands on the eastern side of the Snowy Mountains.
The dieback has affected a massive area, leaving a sea of “dead, standing trees” across the tablelands.
No one is, as yet, certain about the causes. It has been suggested that climate change is an underlying cause because background warming may have helped the spread of the weevils and stress on the ribbon gum trees that have died.
Continue reading “Monaro dieback brings science and Aboriginal knowledge together”
Mountain Journal has previously reported on the extensive dieback of eucalypts that has happened across much of the Monaro Plains in southern NSW. Previous reports have suggested that the dieback is related to climate change.
This article is from the ABC, and the reporter is Alice Matthews
Continue reading “Decade-long effort begins to replace Eucalyptus tree “graveyard” on Monaro Plains”
There has long been discussion about the trail that once linked the south eastern coast of NSW to the Snowy Mountains. It is called the Bundian Way. Prior to the invasion, Indigenous people moved between the coast, the Monaro Tablelands and the higher mountains. There are other similar stories from elsewhere in the mountains: for instance, the fact that early Gippsland settlers followed established trails from the Gippsland Plains to what is now Dinner Plain and Mt Hotham, and gold prospectors followed tracks up the Howqua Valley towards Mt Howitt.
Sadly, so much of this story has now been lost. In some good news, a book is due to be released shortly that looks at the Bundian Way.
It is widely known that climate change has resulted in prolonged infestations of mountain pine beetle in the mountain states of North America, which has destroyed wide areas of lodgepole pine forest. Previously, cold spells had killed off bark beetles which are now attacking the forests.
The following story from the ABC suggests that climate change may be having a similar impact on the Monaro Tablelands of south eastern NSW.
Journalist: Joshua Becker.
For more than a decade it has been a mystery as to what is causing eucalypt trees to die on the Monaro in south-east, New South Wales.
The dieback is centred around Berridale near Cooma NSW and it spans more than 2000 square kilometres – an area larger than the ACT.
Continue reading “Climate change likely to be responsible for eucalypt dieback in south-east NSW”
This news report comes from the ABC.
Tourism hope for ancient Aboriginal pathway
Traditional owners from the New South Wales south east have completed a major on-ground survey of an ancient Aboriginal pathway.
The Bundian Way stretches 300km from Mt Kosciuszko to Fisheries Beach, near Eden.
A team of 20 people have walked the track this week to explore the potential for a new tourism venture.
The Project Officer with the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council, John Blay, says it has a lot to offer.
“It’s like thousands of backyards one after another,” he said.
“There are so many different places along the route.
“It was amazing to find massive yam gardens in wild country as well as along the Monaro.
“The beauty of some of those landscapes across the Monaro is awesome, just as when you come down into the coastal forests.
“It’s quite wonderful what you get to see.”
This comes from the ABC, by Julia Holman
Indigenous land management on farms in the Monaro
Past Cooma, on the edge of the Southern Highlands, an innovative project is underway.
Farmers are taking part in workshops which is teaching them Indigenous land management techniques.
It’s hoped that owners will not only gain an appreciation of the methods, but also use them on their own properties.
And as part of the lessons, we’re learning about one of the oldest form of land management: fire.
Before the tractor was king, much of Australia was controlled by fire, and it’s a technique that Indigenous elder Rob Mason believes should be used more on Australian farms.
“We’re trying to do it in a way so that local landowners can have a bit more vision on their local resources,” he said.
“A farmer will look out on his area and might say, okay, I think that might a suitable area for growing peas or it might be a suitable area to put my sheep.
“Same with Aboriginal people. We look out into the areas and we actually know by animal indications that suitable areas are where they are.
“We tend to think of ideas or management plans like that for the areas, such as burning practices. That’s quite an old technique of land management, and I believe that’s totally missing from this important area here.”
Geoff Robertson owns a 270 hectare property outside of Nimmitabel, half an hour south of Cooma, and is hosting this unique workshop as part of a cultural heritage agreement he signed with the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority.
“Some years back we signed up to a stewardship agreement for biodiversity,” he said.
“And when we did that we were contacted by their Indigenous unit, and we were very interested in that for all sorts of personal reasons.
“So we signed this agreement, and part of that was sharing of knowledge of traditional Aboriginal knowledge through Friends of Grasslands.”
Geoff, who has been involved for many years with Friends of Grasslands, says he wasn’t concerned that that signing the agreement would take away control over his property.
“But there was nervousness about opening oneself up to a different way of thinking, because I guess us White Australians have this side of our history that we’re not too proud of or don’t want to know about, so I guess confronting that, that’s scary,” he said.
“Since my early 20s, I’ve taken a lot of interest in Aboriginal communities.
“My first wife and I actually adopted a Torres Strait Islander child who’s now very much an adult, so we have personally within our family Indigenous people, so every day in some sense we deal with that issue of being Indigenous and not being Indigenous.”
Geoff’s property was formerly used for grazing, and he says that the Indigenous farming techniques wouldn’t interfere if the property were to return to that practice.
“In lots of properties in this area, they’re not too different to this one, so there’s nothing that would prevent what we’re doing here from happening in other parts of the country.”
But how feasible is this kind of management as an alternative, or even addition, to modern farming techniques? Monaro grazier Charlie Massy was excited by the workshop he attended at Nimmitabel.
“There is some really exciting holistic land management grazing going on in this country,” he said.
“Whilst we didn’t have ruminant herbivores in the past, Tim Flannery and others are talking about what the megafauna might have been doing and that new types of grazing might be starting to emulate that and stimulate landscape function.”Indigenous land management on farms in the Monaro
Andrew Stanger lives on the Monaro tablelands in south eastern NSW.
As a recent arrival to the region, he is, as he puts it “taking some time to acclimatise” because of the often harse nature of the environment. But equally, “there is something distinctive about this place and the landscape and the people” that has him captivated and intrigued.
You can find his writing on adapting to life on the Monaro here.
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