'It is not easy': how science and courage saved the stunning 6 August 2020, by Philip Gibbons

is the traditional home of three Aboriginal groups: the , and Djilamatang people. It is home to Australia's highest peak, .

The book describes how squatters with cattle occupied the region from the 1820s. By 1840, the Snowy region had been stocked with 200,000 sheep, 75,000 cattle and 3,000 horses which grazed in the mountains each summer.

Credit: National Library of Australia

Most people probably associate the Australian Alps with skiing and snow. Others might think of the Man from legend or the engineering feats of the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme.

But few people know the region's history of exploitation and overuse, nor the courage of those who fought to save this precious wilderness area. A new book, Kosciuszko: A Great National Park,

tells that important story. The result, by authors Deirdre Slattery and Graeme L. Worboys, is a A ranger-guided tour leaving for the Kosciuszko summit positive yet cautionary tale. in 1964. Credit: Gare collection in Kosciuszko: A Great National Park Today, the park is largely protected—yet threats such as ski tourism, feral horses and the Snowy 2.0 scheme still loom. And climate change has left the region highly vulnerable, as shown by declining The discovery of gold in 1860 brought another snow depths and a massive bushfire that tore 10,000 people to the Snowy Mountains. By the turn through the Snowy Mountains last summer. of the 20th century, the mountains were also a playground for recreation. Hotel Kosciusko, with 93 The book shows how is bedrooms, a ballroom, museum, skating rink and the product of robust science and hard-fought tennis courts, catered for an upmarket clientele. battles by dedicated individuals—battles that continue to this day. In 1949 the mountains became the site for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme: 16 A long history of occupation dams, 80 kilometres of aqueducts and more than 140 kilometres of tunnels. The Australian Alps in southeast

1 / 4

By then, the signs of overuse were evident. Soils It took almost 50 years before this advice was were eroding, streams became silted and unique heeded. Kosciuszko State Park—later Kosciuszko alpine flora was diminishing. National Park—was proclaimed in 1944. A decade of further scientific research led to the end of summer The long conservation fight grazing leases above 1,350 metres in 1958.

Tannat William Edgeworth David, a professor at the One of the first park managers was Neville Gare. University of Sydney, was one of the first to As the book notes, Gare quickly learned that document the unique values of the Snowy feelings over management of the mountains ran Mountains and call for their protection. deep. Soon after rangers started impounding stock found illegally in the park, an effigy of a park ranger In the 1800s, the notion that an ice age once swinging from a hangman's noose was installed on gripped Australia was considered preposterous. the veranda of the Jindabyne Hotel. The book tells how David and colleagues put the matter "absolutely beyond dispute" when they In 1950, Gare resisted a plan by head of the Ski mapped, on Kosciuszko's main range, the Tourers Association, Charles Anton, to build a undeniable signature left by glaciers. network of ski lodges. The book recounts how the tensions culminated at a public function when Anton snipped Gare's tie in half to "indicate his indifference to Gare's authority". Some lodges were later built.

In his unpublished memoir, Gare wrote "it is not easy to conserve something and use it too". In future years, this observation would prove all too true.

Cattle grazing at Club Lake believed to be during the Federation Drought (1897-1903). Credit: Kerry Studio/Costin collection in Kosciuszko: A Great National Park.

In the early 1900s, David urged that the alpine area be preserved: Stock illegally moved into the park after grazing leases ended in 1958. Credit: Alec Costin in Kosciuszko: A Great National Park "t would be wise policy, in the interest of people and of science, to reserve from occupation and even from the depasturing of stock, all the highest points of our alpine plateau, so that this floral wonderland Ongoing battles may be preserved intact for posterity…"

2 / 4

Gare and the Kosciusko State Park Trust And the lethal chytrid fungus, introduced to developed the first formal plan of management for Australia, has pushed the park's southern the park in 1965. The park was divided into zones frog to the brink of extinction. for different uses: wilderness, conservation of exceptional natural and historic features, In 2018, the NSW government declared feral development, hydro-electricity and tourism. horses in the park a protected species. The population has quickly grown to about 19,000, This zoning was radical thinking at the time but has representing a considerable threat to several since been widely adopted in park management species. across Australia. The book reminds us that today, as throughout The plan of management for Kosciuszko National history, Kosciuszko National Park needs protecting. Park has been frequently amended to And key to that are courageous, committed accommodate more tourism facilities, and the individuals—and robust science. threat of further development is ever-present. As the authors note, further pressure is also coming This article is republished from The Conversation via Snowy 2.0, a A$5 billion proposal to expand the under a Creative Commons license. Read the current hydroelectric scheme. original article.

Climate change is also a threat. Rising temperatures have triggered a 15% decline in the Provided by The Conversation annual maximum snow depth, relative to the 1961-90 average.

Climate change is also making the threat of bushfires worse. In January, the massive Adaminaby Complex fire burned through more than 93,000 hectares in the Snowy region, affecting swathes of bush. It also devastated populations of several threatened species, including the corroboree frog and the stocky galaxias fish.

The Snowy Mountains are protected, but threats remain. Credit: Schopier/Wikimedia

3 / 4

APA citation: 'It is not easy': how science and courage saved the stunning Australian Alps (2020, August 6) retrieved 25 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2020-08-easy-science-courage-stunning- australian.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

4 / 4

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)