Private leases plan for national parks

The following article comes from The Age, journalists are Jason Dowling and Tom Arup.

Check here for the response from the Victorian National Parks Association. Check here for the VNPA Hands off our Parks page.

The Napthine government has introduced sweeping changes to Victoria’s national parks allowing for 99-year private leases – in the same week Canberra is considering expanding its powers over the parks.

The state changes mean the historic Point Nepean Quarantine Station is in effect up for sale, according to activist Kate Baillieu.

The commercial real estate section of The Saturday Age carried an advertisement from real estate agents Jones Lang LaSalle to lease the Quarantine Station. The government has also asked for expressions of interest for private development of the 17-hectare site.

Matt Ruchel, executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association, said the new 99-year leases that will apply in all of Victoria’s national parks, including Wilsons Promontory, were deeply concerning. ”National parks are primarily for conservation, not development,” he said.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the 99-year leases would ”give investors greater certainty and a stronger incentive to develop innovative, high-quality proposals in our national parks”.

A spokesman for Mr Ryan said there would be exclusion zones where development would not be allowed in national parks.

In Canberra, the federal government is considering expanding its powers over national parks in response to plans by Coalition-led states to allow cattle grazing, shooting and logging in protected areas.

Environment Minister Tony Burke met as recently as Wednesday with conservation groups who want him to broaden his oversight over parks before the election.

The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society wants a ”trigger” to be legislated, meaning a heavy-impact project in a park would automatically need review under national environment laws, and giving the federal minister scope to block it.

The fate of national parks in Queensland, NSW and Victoria has come to the fore in recent years with cattle grazing, recreational shooting, and possibly logging, among state government proposals for parks. Currently, the federal government can only intervene in a national park if it is heritage-listed, or a protected plant or animal is threatened.

Mr Burke said the community was right to be concerned that places they have been enjoying are under threat. ”I share that concern and I’ll be looking into the ways I can stop these state governments from trashing national parks forever,” he said.

In 2011, Mr Burke proposed listing most of Australia’s 500-odd national parks – the domain of state governments – under federal environment law, which would have given him the power to reject new logging, grazing and mining projects. He later withdrew the proposed regulations after stopping a controversial cattle grazing trial in Victoria’s Alpine National Park using heritage law.

”Since then [the listing withdrawal] state Liberal governments are launching new attacks on national parks every few months. My view is clear, national parks are for families and nature. They are not farms, rifle ranges, mine sites or logging coupes,” Mr Burke said.

Central Plateau Tasmania

superb country. In the saddle below Forty Lake Peaks, looking towards Mt Ironstone

The north western end of the Central Plateau offers spectacular walking. Easy access to Lake McKenzie gets you into some of the most extensive alpine and sub alpine terrain in the state.

This heavily glaciated country is bounded on the north and west by big escarpments and deep valleys, and stretches off into more forested landscapes to the east and south. Two rough tracks get you into the Plateau proper, and there are endless possibilities for travel through this open and exposed mountain country.

This is a 4 day walk, which takes in the higher ridges of Turrana Heights and Turrana Bluff, through to the Long Tarns and back out via the Higgs Track.

Check here for the notes.

Buffalo Chalet gets $7m for refurbishment

The following news item comes from The Age newspaper, journalist Darren Gray.

Image: SMH

The grand old dame of Victoria’s alpine country, the Mount Buffalo Chalet, will reopen its doors once a $7 million project to refurbish the historic building and establish a day visitor centre and, hopefully, a cafe is complete.

The first clean-up works inside the 103-year-old chalet, closed since January 2007, are expected to start within weeks. But the project is more than a facelift, because outbuildings as well as some rooms that were not part of the original structure are likely to be demolished. Building assessments and recommendations will be carried out soon.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith will announce the project today and say the government is committed to preserving the building for future generations and ensuring ”the site is primed and ready for appropriate future investment.”

In an interview with Fairfax Media on Friday, he said the chalet was ”an icon in the area. It’s a state asset. We need to make sure that we can get people up there. I’m passionate about getting as many people into our parks as possible.”
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”We want to make sure it’s useful, rather than just spending taxpayers’ money on maintaining something that’s not actually being used. So I think it’s important that we do get it back to some useable state.”

Mr Smith said the project, expected to take about a year, would pave the way for development, subject to national parks guidelines. Recent research found no private operator was interested in the site in its current state.

In about a year the government would call for expressions of interest for the site. ”Everything’s on the table, as long as it conforms to our guidelines around tourism development in these national parks,” he said.

Asked if the chalet could once again offer accommodation, he said: ”I’d leave it to commercial forces … But I’d look at anything. What I hope is that we get something that’s sustainable. I don’t want to look back in three years or five years or whatever and say ‘That didn’t work’.”

The works will be funded by a $4.7 million insurance payout for bushfire damage on Mount Buffalo and a contribution from the state’s Regional Growth Fund.

Mayor of the Alpine Shire, Peter Roper, said the project was ”absolutely fantastic news” that would be welcomed by locals.

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.

Environment 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.”

Backcountry film festival 2013 season

from the film Further

The Winter Wildlands Alliance created the Backcountry Film Festival in 2005 to help grassroots and professional filmmakers to show audiences their love of the winter outdoors. Since then, the annual festival has become something of an institution amongst many outdoor communities.

The festival is now a pre winter event here in Australia.
Melbourne show

Wednesday May 15

At The South Melbourne Commons
corner of Bank & Montague St in South Melbourne

Suggested donation: $8 conc/ $12 waged

7pm. Come and grab a drink and catch up
7.30. Films start, the show runs til 10pm (with a 20 minute break in the middle).

Check here for details on how to get to the Commons. Trams and the Light Rail are a few minutes walk away. Lots of parking at night.

Facebook event page here, feel free to invite your friends.

Full details on the films here.

National park boundary redrawn for resort

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

The 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.

Splitboard festival on in 2013

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

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

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