![]() ![]() Perhaps the Coalition intends to follow ex-Senator Ian Campbell’s hare-brained plan. And those fragile, ancient, moss-covered peat beds and their associated alpine wetlands have been listed as threatened under that same law.Īny attempt by the Coalition to reintroduce grazing as a management practice would be blocked by the federal government. National heritage listing gives the park added protection under federal law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. And since grazing ended, all Australian mainland alpine national parks (including Kosciuszko, Namadgi and Mount Buffalo) have been given national heritage listing. It seems that shrubs are the main agent for carrying fire in the alps, and cattle don’t eat them.Įven the exhaustive Bushfires Royal Commission made no recommendation to reintroduce grazing. A comprehensive study after the 2003 fire showed that cattle grazing didn’t have any significant impact on either the extent or severity of fire. Instead, they plan to introduce alpine grazing as a fire-retarding management practice.īut science is against them. The Coalition, however, seems to be playing with the cattlemen, promising to bring them back to the high country, even though they must know it won’t happen.įirst, the Coalition, should it win office, is unlikely to gain control of the upper house so it won’t be able to change the law to reintroduce the privileged cattlemen’s licences. ![]() Some 60 years of impeccable science helped demonstrate why alpine grazing should end, and it was a courageous, evidence-based decision by the Bracks government to stop the practice in 2005. ![]() These remarkable natural systems for distributing water through the seasons have, since grazing stopped, been helped towards recovery by alpine ecologists and thousands of hours of volunteer labour. One of the reasons for ending licensed alpine grazing was the damage cattle were causing to the hundreds of mossy peat beds scattered throughout the high country. Unfenced, untended cattle will be a danger to the much-increased traffic on that road: the many kilometres of fencing that once constrained cattle in the park have been removed. What had become a cow-trampled farmscape is regaining its alpine grandeur, and the newly sealed Bogong High Plains road winds its way through swaths of wildflowers, bringing summer tourism to the Victorian alps. The recovery of the high plains since 2005, when grazing licences ended, has been remarkable. There are abundant reasons why cattle shouldn’t, indeed can’t, return to Victoria’s Alpine National Park. THE Coalition’s promise to return cattle grazing to Victoria’s high country is a backward move. Phil Ingamells Summer storm over Mt Nelse, Bogong High Plains VALHALLA HILLS COWS FREEWhy cattle will never again roam free in the Victorian high country ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |