Ian Foletta's blog

Victoria's alpine country and eastern highlands provide a wide range of visitor experiences – from remote wilderness to developed visitor sites. A Visitor Experience Discussion Paper has now been added to the Knowledge Gallery to invite discussion on the future directions for providing a range of visitor experiences in the Greater Alpine National Parks.

The Greater Alpine National Parks provide for a wide variety of activities, from short walks to ski touring and hiking, from camping to scenic driving and 4WD touring. Parks Victoria is seeking your thoughts about your experiences, the types of recreation the parks provide, what are the trends in outdoor activities, and how these can managed to ensure the parks are protected to can continue to be enjoyed by all visitors.

Horse riding in the high country has a strong tradition and remains a popular way to explore the mountains, rivers and high plains, whether as a recreational or club rider or as part of a tour group. This discussion paper looks at existing management and considers future directions. Follow this link to view the Discussion Paper.

Have you logged your favourite places in the Public Participatory Geographic Information System? The PPGIS is an interactive web-based program where you can identify and map the places you value and any impacts you may have seen. Your experiences and observations will be used by Parks Victoria in the development of the management plan . This is the first time web-based PPGIS for protected area planning has been used in Australia and Parks Victoria is collaborating on this project with Central Washington University and the University of South Australia. Visit www.parksvictoria.net to participate.

Remember that every time you interact with wePlan Alpine - loading an image, commenting on a blog, rating photos or comments or inviting other interested people to join wePlan Alpine - you earn points. You can see how many points you currently have above the search box on the right.
The community member with the most points by 1 June 2009 will receive a 2009 All Resorts Season Pass. This generous offer is courtesy of Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort.

A forum on Heritage and the High Country will be held in Omeo on Friday May 15. Speakers include founding member of the cultural heritage working group of the Australian Alps Liaison Committee, Dr Jane Lennon, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies in Outdoor and Environmental Education at La Trobe University, Dr Ruth Lawrence and Russell Mullett; a descendent of the Gunai/Kurnai of Gippsland, Russell has been surveying, recording, managing and protecting aboriginal cultural heritage for the last 20 years.

The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) published an article in their March 2009 edition of ParkWatch titled Alps plan going off track? (For information on the VNPA's views, visit their website at www.vnpa.org.au). We welcome the review by the VNPA and seek your comments on the process to deliver the best possible management plan for the community and the park. 
A number of topics raised by the VNPA included
• The large planning area
• The use of a Wiki (web 2)

An Environment and Scientific Reference Group will soon be appointed to provide advice during the preparation of the plan. The group will include five scientists with expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• alpine ecology and the techniques for managing or researching that environment
• responses to ecological change, including climate change
• fire ecology

What do you think are the significant issues that science needs to address in the future?