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wilderness

Letting go of the wilderness. Holding on to the Wild

As the process of a Treaty between First Peoples and the state of Victoria gets closer to agreement, I keep wondering about what it will all mean for the lands that we love. With an end to native forest logging, there has been two largely parallel processes underway. On the one hand, environmentalists have been pursuing their vision of larger national parks. On the other hand, First Nations people are asserting their rights to manage their traditional Country.

As a society, we really haven’t grappled with the changes in power that is currently underway in Victoria. These are a few of the complex thoughts and feelings that I have been sitting with in recent months.

Continue reading “Letting go of the wilderness. Holding on to the Wild” →

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The Soul of Walking

All of us are drawn to nature. For some people, that might be a pleasant view of a park from a window. For others it might be an epic paddling trip down a river through a wilderness area. It’s a deep need we all feel in some way. But as there are ever more people on the planet, and more people wanting to go walking and exploring wild areas, the impact of exploring adds up.

Informal trail networks can become degraded from over use, and the untracked zones shrink a bit every year as more people visit the wild places. It’s a dilemma for land managers and also for all of us who love to explore these places.

In this article, Josh Hamill explores the question of how recreational hiking can coexist with the preservation of wilderness areas (he describes wilderness as ‘nature as it is’).

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Mixed reactions to release of the Tourism Master Plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

The long-awaited Tourism Master Plan (TMP) for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) has now been released by the new Parks Minister for Tasmania, Jacquie Petrusma. Given the many attempts by the Tasmanian government to promote commercial tourism in Wilderness and World Heritage Areas, there is a lot resting on this plan.

Continue reading “Mixed reactions to release of the Tourism Master Plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area” →

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National poll finds overwhelming support for protecting Australia’s wilderness

As a number of state governments continue to pursue commercial tourism options  in national parks and World Heritage Areas, a recent poll shows that these moves are out of step with community opinion. A Roy Morgan poll has found 90% of Australians support the protection of Australia’s wilderness areas. Of significance is the fact that support is high across the political spectrum, with 86% of Coalition voters, 92% of Labor voters and 94% of Greens voters agreeing wilderness should be protected.

Continue reading “National poll finds overwhelming support for protecting Australia’s wilderness” →

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WINTER LIGHT: the Tasmanian mountains in winter

Well known Tasmanian landscape photographer Grant Dixon is launching a new book. Grant has been exploring the Tasmanian wilderness for some 40 years and undertaking trips to the mountains in winter for much of that time, capturing images featuring both grand vistas and intimate details of the winter landscape.

Grant says ‘I’m publishing a high quality, hard cover photographic book in the Tasmanian tradition of fine art productions and of using photography to activate awareness of the environment. The book features 89 images, captured over several decades, of the Tasmanian mountain landscape in winter’.

In his foreword, writer and photographer David Neilson states, “this exceptional collection of alpine images clearly reveals Grant’s outstanding artistic vision. ….. The human spirit desperately needs wilderness and Grant’s photos speak to us passionately of that need.“

Grant has organised a pre order crowd fund to print the book. You can buy a copy of the book, please check here for details, and collect in Hobart, or have it posted to you. There are some great images and calendar on offer for people who are able to contribute more.

Continue reading “WINTER LIGHT: the Tasmanian mountains in winter” →
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Paradise at 12,000 feet

It was the end of day four on our 160 kilometre ski tour from the resort town of Aspen to Vail, in central Colorado. We’d had a brutal day, with an early start at 11,300 feet, a long descent off the edge of the Continental Divide, endless touring through deep fresh snow, and a final punishing two hour climb to Jackal hut. But tomorrow was the big day.

Perched on the edge of a meadow with jaw dropping views to Mt Elbert, the highest of Colorado’s 14K peaks, Jackal is a solid log cabin with a big front deck that is owned by the 10th Mountain Division Huts Association. On day five we left the hut just after dawn, shuffling through a dark spruce forest onto a long ridge that climbed towards the 12,000 foot mark. The plan was to take a high route over the mountains to our next destination – Shrine Mountain – rather than a lower and more complex trail below the treeline. I’d been struggling with the downhill sections, and was dreading the descent off the other side.

Continue reading “Paradise at 12,000 feet” →

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Fast tracking development in Tasmania’s wilderness

The ongoing attempts by the Tasmanian government to encourage commercial developments in the state’s national parks and wilderness areas continues. While the high profile ‘helicopter tourism’ proposal planned for Lake Malbena on the Central Plateau has dominated the conversation in the last few months, a broader threat to the integrity of the reserve system is becoming apparent.

This relates to the draft Land Use Planning and Approvals Amendment (Major Projects) Bill 2020, which could facilitate these type of developments by ‘fast tracking’ such proposals.

The Wilderness Society condemned the Tasmanian Liberal Party’s ‘plan to strip away Tasmania’s already questionable planning safeguards, to further reduce the public’s role in planning and fast-track development proposals in national parks’.

They say there are ‘30 or so national park privatisation proposals’ (commercial tourism) in the pipeline for the World Heritage Area’. If this legislation gets through parliament, there is a fear that many of these proposals could be fast-tracked and with very little opportunity for the public to have input to the decision making process.

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Does Victoria need a new remote area volunteer firefighting force?

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2019, a front brought a smattering of rain across the Victorian mountains, barely enough to damp down the dust. But the associated lightning storm started dozens of new fires in a long belt from Mt Buller to the NSW border.

Forest Fire Management crews swung into action and many of these were quickly put out. Aerial bombing dealt with others. But there were simply too many, and some grew into massive blazes, including the fires that went on to devastate the forests and landscapes of East Gippsland in coming weeks.

This raises the question: Do we need a new remote area volunteer firefighting force in Victoria who could help suppress lightning strike fires before they take off?

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Reclaim Malbena

As the long campaign to protect World Heritage Areas from commercial development continues (and in the aftermath of the Federal Court case against the planned ‘helicopter tourism’ development proposed for Lake Malbena on Tasmania’s Central Plateau), a trip has now been planned to visit the site threatened by this proposal.

The Fishers and Walkers Against Helicopter Access Tasmania and the Wilderness Society have organised the camp, which will happen over the weekend of December 7 and 8.

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‘Ode To Muir’ – a film by Teton Gravity Research – screening in Melbourne

`Teton Gravity’s newest film Ode To Muir “pairs professional snowboarder, adventurer and founder of Protect Our Winters Jeremy Jones with two-time Olympian Elena Hight as they embark on a 60 km human-powered expedition deep into California’s John Muir Wilderness.

Their journey balances the challenges of winter camping, gruelling climbs up the Sierra’s biggest mountains, and aesthetic first descents with personal reflections on the importance of the natural world, and sharing perspectives gleaned from what it truly means to explore a great wilderness”.

Continue reading “‘Ode To Muir’ – a film by Teton Gravity Research – screening in Melbourne” →

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New film from Teton Gravity: Ode To Muir

‘Respect the exposure’ suggests Jeremy Jones as he and his buddies climb some seriously steep terrain in the Sierra Nevada.

Teton Gravity’s newest film Ode To Muir “pairs professional snowboarder, adventurer and founder of Protect Our Winters Jeremy Jones with two-time Olympian Elena Hight as they embark on a 40-mile foot-powered expedition deep into California’s John Muir Wilderness. Their journey balances the challenges of winter camping, grueling climbs up the Sierra’s biggest mountains, and aesthetic first descents with personal reflections on the importance of the natural world and those who first traveled it generations ago, and sharing perspectives gleaned from what it truly means to explore a great American Wilderness”.

Continue reading “New film from Teton Gravity: Ode To Muir” →

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In Search of Space, Journeys in Wild Places

In the introduction to In Search of Space, Journeys in Wild Places, Ross Brownscombe points out that ‘nature writing’ which ‘explores the poetry and magic of wild places’ has not developed into a strong tradition in Australia. Compared to North America and the UK this is certainly correct, and true writers in this genre are few and far between.

This book is a great addition to the library of nature writing that Australia has produced. There is a review here.

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