Proceedings of an International Year of Mountains - Australian Alps ...

Inappropriate activities, not
in keeping with achieving
conservation of the alpine area
created and promoted by the
tourism industry. The alpine
area is not a recreational theme
park.
Endangered species
impacts
Large numbers of visitors
walking in a dispersed manner
in the confined area of the
alpine area at peak times.
Includes damage to the most
vulnerable feldmark plant
communities.
Marketing
Preferential marketing of the summit of
Mt Kosciusko and alpine area by
tourism organisations: ‘the highest
mountain on the continent’.
Tourism impacts:
Planning
considerations for
the alpine area
Growth
Steady growth in visitor
use, with excess numbers
in peak periods.
Weed impacts
Spread of weeds into
disturbance niches,
affecting the alpine area.
Soil impacts
Impacts in the alpine area
through site soil
compaction, vegetation
loss, degradation of
catchments, and soil
erosion.
Proliferation of tracks
Creation of secondary tracks:
to remnant snow patches and
lookout sites, despite requests
for visitors to remain on
primary tracks.
Figure 5. Tourism planning
considerations for the Kosciuszko
alpine area: direct and indirect
impacts.
Pollution of water and soils
Impacts at high visitor use areas, through
urine (high nitrogen values) and
introduction and spread of Giardia and
Cryptospiridium from faeces, despite toilet
facilities and educational information.
Habitat impacts
Impacts on specialised
habitats in the alpine area
and loss of endemic and
endangered flora species
through trampling and
disturbance.
Sustainable visitor use
Achieving the management of
visitor numbers within the
capacity of the official walking
track system and destinations for
any given day.
Scenery protection
Management has a special
responsibility to continue to
rehabilitate past damage to
natural scenic landscapes.
Research and adaptive
management
Management needs to
respond to issues such as
visitor use pressures.
Researchers, and
management, working
together on the
implementation of adaptive
management practices and
monitoring, will facilitate
environmentally sustainable
tourism
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation works need to
continue.
Figure 6. Management
challenges of the next 20 years
for the Kosciuszko alpine area.
Vision
Managing to conserve
and protect the
natural and cultural
heritage of the
Kosciuszko alpine area
Weeds
Weeds are a real threat to the integrity
of the Alpine Area. They are occupying
disturbed sites and have not yet
achieved their ecological potential.
Management disturbance and visitor use
disturbance are two key agents of weed
dispersal.
Soil erosion
Some 20 years after the finish
of the Soil Conservation
Works, further soil
stabilisation works are
required to fix the old works.
New erosion problems need to
be addressed.
Ski tourism
encroachments
Pressures for further
encroachment of the alpine
area by the ski industry may
arise as global warming limits
snow extent and duration.
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Celebrating Mountains – An International Year of Mountains Conference
Jindabyne, New South Wales, Australia