Cultural Landscape Management - Australian Alps National Parks

6.5 Providing access to Alps cultural landscapes6.5.1 BackgroundThe management of access to cultural landscapes and landscape features is an important part of maintaining the culturaland other values of parks landscapes.6.5.2 Types of accessAccess includes provision of information about sites (eg through pamphlets, maps, guides; information boards); signageand markers directing people to places; and the construction and maintenance of walking tracks, roads and car parks etc.6.5.3 Management considerationsPositive implications of providing access to cultural landscapes:• Facilitates visitor use of parks features for interpretive, educational and recreational purposes.• By facilitating visitor use of cultural landscapes, access helps raise the public profile of these areas and their features. Thishelps build a strong support base for their continued conservation and management.• Good access facilitates maintenance and management.• Provision of access can be used to control visitor impacts and use of places.• Providing planned and properly constructed access can reduce impacts by taking pressure off uncontrolled and degradedaccess points and paths etc.Negative implications of providing access to cultural landscapes:• May contribute to overuse of the landscape.• May degrade or threaten vulnerable or unsecured landscapes and features, eg through increased vandalism or removal ofobjects.• The provision of access may intrude on or degrade cultural landscape values, such as the sense of isolation andabandonment.Negative implications for other parks values of providing access• Facilitates weed invasion following road or path construction as a result of:- contaminated machinery or materials entering the landscape;- the introduction of seed carried in by people, animals or vehicles,65