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NSW Government to remove independent Snowy Scientific Committee?

The Snowy River, in Kosciusko National Park looking downstream from Island Bend Dam
The Snowy River, in Kosciusko National Park looking downstream from Island Bend Dam

The NSW Government’s Bill to amend the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act and replace the independent Snowy Scientific Committee with an advisory committee under the control and direction of Katrina Hodgkinson (NSW Minister for Primary Industries) passed the Lower House last week.

Check here for some background.

One of the key benefits of the current Committee is that it was “firmly independent of government” as Ms Hodgkinson puts it (ie, doesn’t tow a government line).

According to a report in the SMH:

Scientists, including former members of the six-member scientific committee, said the separation from powerful interests such as the giant Snowy Hydro Ltd gave the panel a critical watchdog role that is likely to be lost. Irrigators, Snowy Hydro and government officials from NSW and Victoria are likely to hold sway, they say.

Independence is “the way scientists give you the best advice”, said Sam Lake, an aquatic expert from Monash University, who served on the committee.

It is set to pass the Upper House Tuesday 25th March unless the Shooters and Christian Democrats change their mind and vote against it.

An independent Snowy Scientific Committee is vital for the restoration of the Snowy River and all other rivers affected by the Snowy scheme.

take action

If you value the Snowy, please write to the Christian Democrats and Shooters and Fishers policy managers, urging them to oppose the government’s Bill.

A quick email is sufficient.

Possible text:

(cut and paste, make any changes you want, add your name and address and email to the two emails below).

Dear Paul and Robert

Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act

I write to you to express my concerns about the NSW Government’s Bill which will amend the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act and replace the independent Snowy Scientific Committee with an advisory committee under the control and direction of Katrina Hodgkinson.

I believe it is essential that the panel continue to be composed of independent, appropriately skilled people. If the proposed changes in the Bill are passed, a critical watchdog role is likely to be lost. Irrigators, Snowy Hydro and government officials from NSW and Victoria are likely to hold sway, rather than scientists.

Having the ability to get independent advice is the best way for government to make sound, long term decisions about the Snowy River. An independent Snowy Scientific Committee is vital for the restoration of the Snowy River and all other rivers affected by the Snowy scheme.

I urge you to vote against the proposed amendments to the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act.

Yours sincerely,

Send to:

Paul.Green@parliament.nsw.gov.au  for the Christian Democrats

robert.despotoski@parliament.nsw.gov.au for the Shooters and Fishers Party

or alternatively contact the Minister directly:

Katrina Hodgkinson: office@hodgkinson.minister.nsw.gov.au or call her office on (02) 9228 5210.

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Adventure on the western faces

Mt Sentinel with Watson Crags in the background
Mt Sentinel with Watson Crags in the background

“The mountain environment in Australia is unique and unlike anywhere else in the world. The people you meet and the friendships you forge are meaningful and rewarding. The mountain environment can teach us a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a collective. In today’s world of  cellular phones, games and other distractions the mountains provide me with a sanctuary were silence is promoted and the human senses come alive”.

John Blankenstein and his family reside on the Far south Coast of NSW. John has been exploring the mountains since the age of 15 were he fell in love with the sport of snowboarding. Being based on the coast so close to the snowy mountains provides ample opportunity for adventure. Over the last five years john has begun exploring the back country and the mountain environment that is on offer in the Snowy Mountains, NSW. Each year the Snowy Mountains provide a range of winter and summer based objectives that require a full suite of mountain skills.

In his first installment for mountain journal, John describes a big day out on the western slopes of the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains.

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Point zero zero one

East Face of Mt Feathertop, VIC. Image from the film by Stephen Curtain.
East Face of Mt Feathertop, VIC. Image from the film by Stephen Curtain.

As Tony Abbott threatens to de-list significant areas of the Tasmanian World heritage area (WHA) so the loggers can get to the old growth forests that are currently protected, it’s worth remembering that all our WH Areas are special and most of them are already under pressure from climate change.

No area has as many climate pressures as the Australian Alps. This film from Stephen Curtain offers some great telemark skiing images from the Western slopes of the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains. It also reminds us how unique and vulnerable this landscape already is. There have been several attempts to get World Heritage listing for the Australian Alps over the years. In an era of climate change and ever more demands on wild places, we need more world heritage areas, not less.

Check the film here.

Stephen says:

Point zero zero one (0.001) is the approximate percentage of the Australian continent occupied by the Australian Alps.

Bordering one Territory and two States, this biogeographical island supplies invaluable fresh water to much of south east Australia and provides outstanding natural, spiritual and cultural values.

Although the Australian Alps are recognised as a national iconic landscape by federal national park agencies and Tourism Australia in recognition of such values (see australia.com/campaigns/nationallandscapes/AustralianAlps.htm), World Heritage Listing still eludes the Australian Alps.

Point zero zero one celebrates the fleeting beauty of these Alps.

This short film was an entrant to Bristol’s 2012 Wildscreen Festival in the UK. Visit wildscreenfestival.org/

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‘Flow Nation in Thredbo’.

Image: Damian Breach / Flow
Image: Damian Breach / Flow

This is a nice 5 minute video from Flow magazine about riding in the Thredbo area which is available here.

Flow is a great, homegrown Australian MTB magazine, available in newsagents. More info here.

Flow says:

“Thredbo has held a very special place in Australian mountain bike folklore for over two decades now. Lord knows how many of our most famous downhillers cut their teeth on the legendary Cannonball Run downhill, or how many National Round after-parties have run wild in the village…

But despite its strong history, over the past ten years it had started to become clear that Thredbo’s lustre was fading a little; other alpine resorts were investing heavily in mountain biking and Thredbo was losing ground. Simply having ‘the hill’ was no longer enough. Thankfully, rather than allowing the mountain biking program to slip metaphorically downhill, Thredbo too have launched a program of rejuvenating the mountain bike side of their operations. Since our first trip to Thredbo over 15 years ago, we’ve held this place in high esteem, and so we had to come see for ourselves just what changes were underway at Thredders”.

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mountain goodness – your daily pic from the hills

april 2009 147Mountain Journal is on Facebook and has a daily photo from the mountains of TAS, NSW and VIC.

Please feel free to add your own.

You can never have enough mountain goodness, especially at the start of what is likely to be a long, hot, and fire-prone summer.

Daily photos available here.

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Skiing the Western Faces Kosciusko

mapAnyone with an interest in skiing or boarding steeper lines on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains will love this book. I can’t believe that it took 20 years from its publication before I heard of this wonderful book.

I was skiing with my friend Peter this winter and as we talked of the backcountry trips we had done and wanted to do, the western slopes of the Snowies came up. He mentioned Alan Andrews ‘classic’ Skiing the Western Faces Kosciusko, describing it as the Bible of skiing in the area, and providing the ‘tick list’ for anyone interested in  the many lines that come off the western side of the highest peaks of the Main Range.

Two weeks later I was the proud owner of a copy, a publication of Canberra based Tabletop Press, which has an impressive collection of mountain themed books in its stable.

As Alan describes in the introduction, the book is not so much a guide to skiing the western slopes as ‘a companion volume that might instil in you or remind you of its joys’.

Check here for a review and details on buying the book.

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Backcountry Demo Day in Thredbo

revGWilderness Sports presents first ever Backcountry Demo Day in Thredbo10th of July 2013

From Mountainwatch

This coming weekend Wilderness Sports will host the First EVER Backcountry Demo Day to be held in Australia @ Thredbo on Sunday July 14 from 9.00am. (Further details shortly and part of a series)

In partnership with Thredbo we will offer an opportunity to try out the latest equipment for free and talk with experienced industry people as well as Wilderness Sports Backcountry guides about enjoying the mountains safely and how to explore more of the rugged and unique Snowy Mountains.

This is a part of a series of Backcountry Events to be hosted by Wilderness Sports and partnering companies such as First Light Snowboards and Protect Our Winters in order to encourage and educate safe and responsibly travel in the backcountry.

The Event will feature Split Boards; Alpine Touring gear; Snowshoe and Telemark Equipment. Clinics as well as backcountry gear for safety and education.

Split Board Brands – Voile; Venture; Volkl;
Alpine Touring Brands – Kastle; Liberty; Black Diamond; PLUM; Scott;
Telemark Brands – 22 Designs; Rottefella; 75mm and NTN;
Snowshoe Brands – Crescent Moon; MSR;
Backcountry Accessories – Black Diamond; One Planet; Osprey

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Splitboard festival 2013

8238024_origFirstLight Boards have organised the second Australian splitboard festival for this winter. This year it will happen in both Victoria and NSW.

A splitboard is a snowboard that can be separated into two ski-like parts, which are used with climbing skins to ascend slopes the same way alpine touring or telemark skis are. The two halves can then be connected to form a regular snowboard for descent. This set up enables snow boarders to get into the backcountry.

NSW

The NSW Splitfest DownUnder will be held on weekend of the 23rd of August in the NSW main range.

We will be holding the Friday night entertainment at the Banjo Paterson Inn Starting @ 6pm
1 Kosciuszko Road Jindabyne Snowy Mountains New South Wales 2627

Please register here.

These are free events, there are no guides, so you must be able to make your own terrain decisions.

VIC

The VIC Splitfest DownUnder will be held on the weekend of the 6th of September at Mt Hotham.

We will be holding the Friday night entertainment will be at “The General” starting @ 6pm
Lot 1 Great Alpine Rd Mt Hotham

Register here.

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The gnarliest runs in Oz

Mt Carruthers. From Huck & Dyno.
Mt Carruthers. From Huck & Dyno.

This is a great resource: the ‘gnarliest runs in Oz’, from the Huck & Dyno website (in two parts – Victoria and the Main Range in NSW).

The NSW feature has all the obvious things, and Victoria includes excellent coverage of places like Mt Buller, Feathertop and Bogong, and also some gems which are off the beaten track, like Mt Howitt.

A few years ago I put a lot of effort into expanding the ski wiki posts on backcountry skiing in Australia (mostly the VIC and TAS sections) but a big failure with this is the lack of images. In contrast to my effort, James and Sam, who are behind Huck & Dyno, have some gorgeous pictures of the mountains and general terrain, plus many of the actual runs. Visually beautiful.

I like their intro:

When you get down to it, Australia is the flattest driest continent on Earth. By definition, the skiing here is the worst in the world. … So it’s easy to write the place off as a land of sunburnt sweeping plains. Or, if you’re a skier, patchy cover, ice and crud, short shallow runs and snowmaking.

Even the highest mountain, good old Kosciuszko, is a hill with a road to the top… The very first time I ever went XC skiing, we made it to the top! Snowboarders were drinking beer up there! Fun for the whole family!

The enthusiastic might even bother to look over at the ‘Main Range’, hoping to see a craggier peak. But nope, Mount Townsend and Northcote and Lee all look pretty tame over there.

But then one day you’ll bother to climb the second highest peak, Mount Townsend, and have a look from the top of there and, HOLY CRAP, there it is…

So begins our investigation into the gnarliest lines in Oz.

With winter finally bearing down on us, I hope this inspires you. Get out there and enjoy!

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rainforest species in the Alps

The following story comes from the Summit Sun. Its good to know that pockets of Sassafras are hanging on at higher altitudes in  the Snowies.

7457055298_e2b9d0a59d_zEnvironment specialists took to the skies recently to successfully confirm the presence of Southern Sassafras in the Bogong Peaks Wilderness in Kosciuszko National Park. The rugged mountainous country required a survey by helicopter to locate plants in forested gullies that flow towards the Goobragandra River.

Southern Sassafras or Atherosperma moschatum is a fire-sensitive tree. It has long been clouded in mystery regarding its existence in high altitude and cool temperate rainforest pockets like those found in the Bogong Peaks.

The survey was made possible thanks to a generous bequest by Kenneth Milburn to Landcare Australia, who have partnered with Greening Australia and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to identify and map the distribution of the Southern Sassafras rainforest tree.

Shane Norrish, Farming and Major Projects Director at Landcare Australia said, “This is an outstanding opportunity to learn more about the ecology and distribution of high country vegetation communities. It is often difficult to obtain funding for projects such as these, and the generosity of the Milburn bequest will make a significant contribution to the protection of important species such as Southern Sassafras.”

Opportunistic surveys undertaken in 2011 by Greening Australia in the Bogong Peaks Wilderness Area confirmed the presence of Southern Sassafras further north-west than previously thought, but the extent was unknown.

“Identifying and broadening the known population boundaries of Southern Sassafras will have significant benefits for the species survival, and has important implications for park management activities including prescribed burning” said Matt White, NPWS Ranger for the Bogong Ranges.

Up until the time of the 2011 surveys, only a few populations were known to occur between 700-1300m altitude, and were usually found with Alpine Ash in sheltered gullies on the western fall of the main range of Geehi and Leather Barrel Creek, and in the Pilot Wilderness.

Further examination of remote sensing imagery had revealed additional potential occurrences in the Bogong Peaks, but limited access in the rugged terrain meant confirming these locations was almost impossible.

Greening Australia Project Manager, Nicki Taws, said, “The aerial survey enabled us to confirm the presence of Southern Sassafras in many locations that we couldn’t have reached on foot. We are very grateful to Landcare Australia for supporting this critical work.

Looking to the future, Nicki said, “We look forward to continuing our work with NPWS in this area, determining the presence and extent of Southern Sassafras and progressing collaborations to include community engagement in the protection and enhancement of this stunning tree.”

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Pest trees in Kosciuszko reinvented as mulch

This news release comes from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

Image: NSW National Parks – Office of Environment & Heritage

Media release: 10 September 2012

Field staff have been converting pest trees into valuable mulch to improve native animal habitat and suppress invasive blackberry and briar weeds in parts of Kosciuszko National Park.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Senior Field Supervisor Danny Matthews said the mulched trees, mostly poplars, had been spreading at an alarming rate.

“Five field staff recently spent 26 days removing and chipping hundreds of trees over an area of six hectares at the Talbingo Landslip Quarry near Talbingo Dam wall,” Mr Matthews said.

“During the construction of the Snowy Scheme, and particularly between the 1950s and 1970s, exotic trees were planted for erosion control and this had unintended consequences for native ecosystems.”

Mr Matthews said European species including willow, broom and poplar were planted in parts of Kosciuszko National Park and in many cases they had spread and become weeds.

“Replacing exotic trees with native vegetation will not only protect soil stability, it will have broader environmental benefits.

“And chipping these trees has produced about 800 cubic metres of mulch, which we have spread to boost organic levels in the soil and help stop weed infestations in the undergrowth.”

This major woody weed eradication program in Kosciuszko National Park is tackling exotic trees on Guthega Road, reducing Scotch Broom in the Snowy River, and removing kilometres of willows in the Tumut River.

More work is planned this year, including the removal of thousands of willow stems in the Eucumbene River and helicopter-based work in the upper reaches of the Tumut River between the T2 power station and the Elliott Way.

Weed eradication programs like the one underway in Kosciuszko are one way the Office of Environment and Heritage enhances the care and management of National Parks for a healthy environment.

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Australia’s first Splitboard festival

The inaugural OZ Splitfest DownUnder will be held in late August and September in the NSW Main Range.

There will be all the usual trimmings, T-Shirts, give a ways, raffles and loads of fun. Possibly some riding too.

You have the option to stay in Jindabyne, camp in the National Park or out on the peaks.

There will be demo boards and rental gear available to those who need it.

Jump on board and meet some new touring partners, the more the merrier!

We will be screening “Freerider” on the Friday night prior to the weekend. Venue to be confirmed.

This is a free event. There are no guides so you must be able to make your own terrain decisions.

T-shirts will be avalabile Pre-order only, designs will be released soon. $22.00 (All proceeds go to POW, Splitboard.com and Kosciuszko National Park)

Hosted by First Light Boards.

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