Australian Alps socio-economic profile

• Main Authors: Gadsby, S., Lockwood, M., Moore, S., Curtis, A., Joyce, S.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: University of Hobart 2013
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: http://www.nerplandscapes.edu.au/publication/australian-alps-socio-economic-report; https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/report/Australian-Alps-socio-economic-profile/991005541999007891; https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/view/delivery/61MUN_INST/12135659140007891/13136951530007891

Environmental Research Program (NERP), is one of five multi-institutional research hubs established to ‘provide robust science that is essential for managing the sustainability of Australia’s environment’ (DSEWPaC 2011). The hub comprises a team of researchers from the University of Tasmania, the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Australian National University, Murdoch University, Griffith University and Charles Sturt University. The aim of the hub is to develop tools, techniques and policy options that enable biodiversity to be considered at landscape scale. The Hub is focussing on two study areas: the Tasmanian Midlands and the Australian Alps. The Australian Alps extend over 500 kilometres from the Brindabella Ranges in New South Wales (NSW), through the Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory to the Snowy Mountains (NSW) and the Victorian Alps. The Australian Alps are known for their rich biodiversity, geodiversity, heritage and scenic values. These values have been acknowledged through National Heritage listing and recognition as a National Landscape (AALC 2011). The region also contains two internationally significant wetland sites and many endemic and threatened fauna and flora and associated ecological communities. Much of the alps region is public land, the bulk of which is managed as protected area under state and territory legislation. The eleven major protected areas in the alps are: in the ACT, Namadgi National Park and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve; in NSW, Kosciuszko and Brindabella National Parks, and Bimberi and Scabby Range Nature Reserves; and in Victoria, Mt Buffalo, Alpine, Snowy River and Baw Baw National Parks, and the Avon Wilderness Park. Adjacent to these reserves are state forests and private lands, the latter being primarily located in lower elevation valleys surrounding the high country. This report contributes to the Landscapes and Policy Hub by providing a socio-economic profile for areas encompassing the Australian Alps. The hub’s ...