Recreation in the Australian Alps

For some people recreation is the thrill of skiing down a steep run, the challenge of climbing a new rockface or kayaking a section of white water. For others it's restful days in a beautiful place, tranquil walks and picnics in the sun...or the satisfying struggle to climb a peak with a heavy pack, or an exhilarating ten mile run. Whatever the activity, the common element is enjoyment. A useful definition of recreation is 'the pleasurable and constructive use of leisure time'.

From another point of view, 'recreation in the Australian Alps' is in fact a series of land uses whose nature and extent has changed over time, reflecting the values and structure of society.

Enduring qualities

The enduring qualities of the Australian Alps - their magnificent rugged scenery and dramatic weather changes, and the challenging nature of the mountains - have long attracted people, and continue to do so. The steep slopes and open plateaus lend themselves to many recreation activities, and the alpine environment is the only one in mainland Australia that can provide the substantial amounts of snow essential for snow-based activities.

The remote qualities of the Alps too will become increasingly important in an overcrowded world, and their interest for scientific studies - the natural systems, geology and geomorphology, plants and animals, first documented by explorers, miners and scientists - continues to attract another sort of recreationist, the field naturalist and observer of nature.

It is unclear whether Aboriginal communities perceived leisure in the same way as western societies do today. However, there are similarities between the social gatherings of Aborigines (as part of their seasonal treks to collect Bogong Moths) and the social aspects of camping and skiing for today's visitors to the Australian Alps. The tribes that went up to the Alps from the surrounding lowlands each year enjoyed meetings, ceremonies, celebrations and other activities as well as feasting.

Europeans first went to the Alps to explore, and find new areas for grazing, mining and settlement. Nevertheless explorers, stockmen, geologists and botanists often found their own special recreational pleasure in the rugged magnificence of the mountains. Many historical accounts illustrate the appreciation and wonder that these men felt for the Alps. Strzelecki, who claimed the first ascent of Mount Kosciuszko, wrote about his experience later 'Mt Kosciusko is seen cresting the Australian Alps, in all the sublimity of mountain scenery ...(it) is one of those few elevations...(which) present the traveller with all that can remunerate fatigue.'

People have continued to value the Alps as a recreational setting, especially in winter. In 1891, the poet Barcroft Boake captured some of the excitement of skiing in 'The Demon Snow Shoes - a Legend of Kiandra'.

The Eucumbene itself lies dead
Fast frozen in its narrow bed;
While to and fro the people go
In silent swiftness o'er the snow...
His long, lithe snow shoes sped along
In easy rhythm to his song:
Now slowly circling round the hill,
Now speeding downward with a will.

Today's visitors might use different words to describe their experiences, but the feeling is much the same.

From incidental beginnings to organised industry

Recreation in these early days was low key, a pastime secondary to making a living in the Alps. In the 1860s, miners at Kiandra (NSW) experimented with rough-hewn timber skis on nearby small slopes during the winter, when snow made work impossible. These haphazard skiiers were unwittingly introducing skiing to Australia, but this activity was incidental to their main reason for being in the Alps.

Since then, recreation has developed into a major land use of the area. The activities that come under the broad category of 'recreation' are really a series of land uses, with varying social, economic and environmental impacts.

Recreation has become very important in people's lives, and most now visit the Alps specifically for recreation, rather than enjoying it while there for some other purpose. Many people earn money largely to support their recreation activities, and others earn their living from recreation.

There has also been a growing tendency towards more organised recreational use. In the early days, recreation was sporadic, individual and ad hoc: stockmen occasionally riding to a summit to admire the view; a local pastoralist heading off, perhaps with a group of friends, for a day of walking in the mountains; miners skiing. In 1907 eminent geologist Edgeworth David described a serious field trip thus: 'Before leaving the Blue Lake the party enjoyed some exellent tobogganing on the snow drifts. Enamelled dinner plates served as toboggans'. Very different from the extensive chairlifts, pomas and T-bars of ski resorts today!

Increasing use of the Alps by pastoralists, miners and loggers last century saw the beginnings of organised recreation. In 1856 miners working the Buckland River goldfield led the first tourist parties of miners up to the plateau to view the striking granite cliffs and tors of Mt Buffalo (Vic). In 1887 the Bright Alpine Club was formed to help develop tourist facilities. A few years later the club published the first tourist guidebook to the area.

In 1894 the Melbourne Amateur Walking and Touring Club was formed, and a little later the Mountain Trails Club in Sydney. These early walking clubs were for men only, dedicated to character-building through a life of strenuous outdoor activity and comradeship. The beauty, splendour and solitude of the Australian Alps attracted a steadily increasing group of ramblers who became the region's first bushwalkers.

The pioneer long-distance 'tourer' of 100 years ago was very different from todays's well-equipped bushwalker. 'The tourer of those days carried potatoes, onions, flour, corned beef in a roll, mutton, bacon, tea, oatmeal, sugar and the like. Having no rucksack, all the gear was carried in a bundle (swag)...required items were arranged within a blanket, or bedroll, which after being folded was usually wrapped in a canvas sheet. Rope or leather straps lashed the whole load together ....Apart from serving as a general cover for the swag, the canvas sheet doubled as a shelter from precipitation, and was also handy as a ground sheet....It was also a widespread practice to pack newpapers in layers next to the body under the shirt, to keep the wearer warm.' (Graeme Wheeler in The Scroggin Eaters, 1991, p. 21-22).

In the 1920s there was an explosion of activity in the two main forms of recreation in the Alps, skiing and walking. Skiing became an organised sport in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Organisations such as the Ski Club of Victoria, the Ski Club of Australia, the Millions Ski Club and the Canberra Alpine Club were formed. Previously-established walking clubs flourished, and in line with a worldwide hiking boom, large numbers of people visited the Alps to explore the mountains on foot.

Today, recreation in the Alps tends to be even more organised. Many recreational facilities are available - walking tracks, ski runs, visitor centres. A service industry has developed, providing ski villages complete with flats, restaurants, hotels and discos. Commercial operators organise sightseeing, walking, horseriding and camping tours for ever- increasing numbers of people. Over three million people visit Koscusko National Park each year. City-based walking groups, ski clubs and four- wheel-drive clubs set trends, lobby for development of facilities or areas set aside for their activity, and influence the government on decisions about the use of public land.

Horse tracks to carparks

Until relatively recent times, movement around the Alps was slow and limited. There were few roads and tracks. People went to towns near the Alps by railway, and consequently were restricted to certain routes and particular destinations. Once they got there, the main means of getting around were walking and horseriding. Today, a large range of vehicles, from skis and skidoos to four-wheel-drives and even helicopters, is available.

Growth of car ownership and the development of roads have brought about the greatest change in access to and mobility in the Australian Alps. Cleve Cole, who died on Mt Bogong in 1936, took four or five days to approach the mountain via the Dargo High Plains and Mt Hotham. Now he could catch a bus from Melbourne to Falls Creek in six hours.

An infrastructure for recreation originated from other land uses. The network of walking tracks is partly a legacy from the gold rush days, roads were first constructed for logging operations, and many of the huts in the Alps were initially built by stockmen tending cattle and sheep. These huts are now used by trailriders, bushwalkers and skiiers (and are still being used by stockmen in Victoria).

The development of facilities specifically for recreation probably began with the construction of government accommodation chalets in popular areas. In 1909, the NSW Government built the Kosciuszko Hotel at Diggers Creek and the Government Chalet at Yarrangobilly Caves. Later, in 1930, a chalet was built at Charlotte's Pass. The Government Chalet at Mount Buffalo in Victoria was built in 1910. These chalets provided their visitors with an opulent lifestyle, restful days, reading, walking, extensive organised entertainment and formal meals - a marked contrast to the quick visits and takeaway food more common today.

The number of beds and style of accommodation remained limited until after World War II, when a growth in tourism led to an expansion in the amount and range of accommodation. In 1952, The Australian Snow Pictorial described accommodation at Kosciuszko as consisting of 'a large hotel, the wooden chalet at Charlotte's Pass, Best's Camp and several small huts.' The publication Ski 2000 now proposes to limit accommodation to 10 566 beds in resorts in the Snowy Mountains!

In NSW, the growing interest in skiing became the basis for a tourist industry in the Snowy Mountains. This, and the establishment of a State Tourist Committee in Victoria, spurred on recreational development in the alpine region.

Today, most of the development and construction in the Australian Alps is driven by the need for facilities for recreation, usually for brief visits. There are ski resorts and ski runs on several of the high peaks, roads are maintained and cleared of snow to provide access for sightseers to remote areas, and picnic and camping areas with accompanying facilities are dotted throughout the Alps. The tourist accommodation and service industry is now the major growth industry in the towns in and around the Alps.

Nature conservation or recreation?

Early recreationists were among those who fought for the protection of large areas of the Australian Alps, through the establishment of parks for nature conservation and public recreation. Today, these are two of the major land uses of the Australian Alps. As Australia's population is growing, so is the demand for outdoor recreation. Statistics of visitor numbers and visitor surveys for individual parks in the Alps show increases both in visitor numbers and in the range of activities. Increasing numbers of visitors place increasing demands on the Alps for access and services. A balance needs to be achieved so that these recreational pressures do not threaten the natural values which are often the very reason for visiting the Alps in the first place.

In the last few years there has been a move towards ecotourism - ecologically sustainable tourism, in which the focus is on learning and caring about the natural world. This will perhaps go some way to protecting the integrity of the Alps while still allowing people to enjoy this natural area both now and in the future.

Changing socio-economic factors have had a major effect on the recreational use of the Australian Alps. These factors include more leisure time and money to spend on recreation, a growth in tourism, and increasingly sophisticated equipment which has increased and diversified leisure opportunities.

Technology has allowed the ski industry in particular to burgeon, with the development of equipment such as tows for ski slopes, snow-making machines and snow vehicles, and construction of ski runs and residential facilities that enable people to stay comfortably for long periods in alpine environments.

Changing perceptions of the economic value of the Alps have in turn affected recreational use. Formerly, the economic value of the Alps was in the use of natural resources through grazing, mining and forestry. Now it is increasingly seen to be in recreational use through commercial activities such as the skiing industry, horse trail rides, accommodation and so on.

Much of the public land in the Alps is administered under the appropriate Acts of Parliament for the national parks of each State and the ACT. In each Act, the promotion of use and enjoyment of national parks is an objective. In managing public land, the relevant land management agencies aim to provide a wide range of recreational opportunities, but at the same time preserve and protect the natural environment.

Recreation activities in the Alps today range from those like downhill skiing that require highly developed facilities to those such as walking, kayaking and ski touring that are usually enjoyed in a natural setting without intensive development.

The effects of recreation

Demands by growing numbers of visitors for recreation opportunities, as well as the demands of other land uses in the alpine area, have created conflicts and problems that public land management agencies have to address. The various recreation activities differ in their requirements for types of land, size of area, and site location. They also differ in their impact on the land or on other recreation activities.

Generally, any one activity pursued at a low level of intensity poses little threat to the environment, and seldom conflicts with other activities. With increasing intensity of use, conflicts and problems begin to arise.

There is a general recreation pattern which outdoor enthusiasts follow and which leads to potential conflict. After an introduction to an activity in relatively civilised or developed settings, the recreationist begins to specialise and seek out increasingly remote settings. For four-wheel- drivers, these are tracks further away from popular roads; for walkers, they are areas remote from vehicle or horse access and from other walkers.

As numbers of recreationists grow, increasing pressures are being placed on the more remote parts of the Alps. More people seek experiences in a setting free of the obvious intrusions of past and present land uses. They want to feel a part of nature, and to be in an environment essentially unaltered by human intervention or presence.

Land management agencies have met this range of needs through zoning for a range of needs from intensive to very remote. At the 'very remote' end of this spectrum, in all three alpine parks, there are Wilderness Areas. The main objective of wilderness is to conserve part of the natural environment in as pristine condition as possible.

Part of the value of such areas is that they can provide high-quality self- reliant recreational experiences. Wilderness recreation is compatible with wilderness zoning as it requires land that retains its primeval character and is without improvements or management presence. Wilderness areas in the Alps include several large cross-border zones, such as Bimberi Wilderness which links Namadgi and Kosciuszko national parks, and the Pilot and Byadbo wildernesses which are now linked with the Indi, Cobberas and Tingaringy wilderness zones in Victoria.

An issue often debated in decision-making about wilderness is just how much of a park can be designated as wilderness as opposed to being available for other uses, including other recreation activities. Another discussion point is that of acceptable uses. For example, are activities which involve the presence of an introduced animal, such as horse riding, or the use of firearms, such as deer stalking, acceptable?

The major objective of wilderness is the provision of an undisturbed natural area for the protection of all its values (water catchment, scientific study, intrinsic value). The increasing use of wilderness for recreation, and the resulting impact of possible overuse, may threaten both the integrity of natural ecosystems and the very wilderness experience that recreationists are seeking.

Management - by whom, for whom?

More people are now aware of all these issues. Land managers have to accommodate and control different uses and expectations in such a way as to protect valuable natural resources but still provide for quality recreation.

Most of the alpine area is public land. Management of recreation as a land use is therefore the responsibility of State Government and Territory government land management agencies.

Within the public land of the Alps there are areas of different land category such as national parks, state forests and alpine resorts. These public lands have different management objectives as directed by their relevant Acts, and in some cases are managed by different agencies.

For example, in Victoria recreation in the Alpine National Park is managed by Parks Victoria, but the adjoining alpine resorts are managed by the Commission. The objectives of both Parks Victoria and the Alpine Resorts Commission are to protect the natural environment and provide for public recreation, enjoyment and use of the land. Parks Victoria has to manage the park for a very broad range of purposes; the Alpine Resorts Commission's main focus is provision for intensive use associated with winter sports. This means that it is particularly concerned with issues such as providing ski slopes, and infrastructure needs to cater for large numbers of visitors to the resorts (e.g. car parking, effluent disposal etc).

Recreation planning and monitoring in national parks.

Acts of Parliament for national parks require the appropriate land mangement agencies to prepare a management plan for each park. The aim is to identify, understand, balance and control land uses to ensure the protection of the natural environment into the future. The plans set out ways to use the park for recreation activities without impairing the natural environment.

The protection and preservation of the natural environment is of primary concern in a national park, and so the effects of recreation activities are of major concern for the managers.These effects can be environmental - including effects on soils, vegetation, water quality and wildlife - or social: encounters with other visitors, incompatible activities, presence of facilities and evidence of management practices.

Various indicators can be used to measure these effects.

Carrying capacity
Inappropriate levels of recreational use can lead to environmental damage. Damage can be minimized by measuring the capacity of an area for recreational activities and either restricting its use to that capacity or providing facilities which will minimise damage. An example is the metal walkway which covers the last part of the track to Mt. Kosciuszko. It was put in to stop erosion on the track but still allow many people to climb our highest mountain. 'Recreational carrying capacity' is the type and level of use that can be supported without causing excessive damage to the physical environment or diminishing the quality of the user's recreation experience.

Monitoring and evaluation programs
Monitoring programs can help determine the environmental and social impacts of recreation activities. Quantitative monitoring includes collecting visitor statistics and measuring impacts on vegetation and soils. Qualitative monitoring involves site inspections, observations, and surveys seeking opinions on the needs and expectations of visitors.

Management strategies
A range of management strategies can be used when visitor impacts on the environment are potentially unacceptable.

Through management plans, recreation planning aims to implement these strategies in an effort to prevent unacceptable impacts from visitor activity. The following extract illustrates recreation planning at work.

'... the new ski run (Blue Cow Mountain) was carefully planned to avoid sensitive wet heath communities which provide habitat for the Broad-toothed Rat. The ski run has been put in an area of high snow retention which will protect the wet heath communities from mechanical damage from snow groomers as well as skiers.' (Snowy Life, May 1992).

This is evidence of a balanced management approach in the Snowy Mountains. Can we satisfactorily accommodate the needs of all involved - including skiers, native rats and the rest of the wet heath community?

Resources

Hancock, W.K. (1972) Discovering Monaro, Cambridge Uni Press.

Johnson, D. (1974) The Alps at the Crossroads, Victorian National Parks Association.

David. G. (1990) Alpine Resorts: the management challenges. In Trees and Natural Resources 32(2):6-8.

Department of Conservation and Environment, (1992) Alpine National Park Management Plan, Dartmouth Unit, Cobberas-Tingaringy Unit, Wonnangatta-Moroka Unit, Bogong Unit.

National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW (1988) Kosciusko National Park Plan of Management.

ACT Parks and Conservation Service (1986) Namadgi National Park Management Plan.

Department of Conservation and Environment and Alpine Resorts Commission (1989) Lake Mountain Management Plan.

National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW (1990) Ski 2000 Discussion Paper.

Land Conservation Council Victoria (1990) Wilderness, Special Investigation Descriptive Report.

Study Directions

'The scenery, in the main, remains little scarred by the ravages of fire, the voracious appetites of the timber getters, and the organised vandalism that accompanies the creation of ski-villages above the snow- line.' (Harry Stephenson in Cattlemen and Huts of the High Plains, 1980).

Stephenson calls some impacts of recreation and tourism 'organised vandalism'. Will current recreational land use have more impact on the Alps than past land uses?

Strzelecki wrote about his ascent of Mt Kosciuszko in 1840, 'Mt Kosciusko is seen cresting the Australian Alps, in all the sublimity of mountain scenery ...(it) is one of those few elevations...(which) present the traveller with all that can remunerate fatigue.'

'Although speeds of up to 150 km/h were achieved at Perisher Valley during last year's Australian speed skiing championships, the team knew that speeds would be much higher on the long, fast courses of Europe and the United States.' Extract from Snowy Life magazine, 1992.

Discuss different people's interpretations of recreation and what recreation has meant for different people in the Alps over time.

Look at the impacts that one recreation activity has on an area, eg. picnickers to a scenic lookout . What are the objectives for management? How are they best achieved?

The Australian Alps Education Kit

For more information please refer to the Australian Alps national parks list of references