Is your ski holiday damaging the environment?

It is important to remember that people value the outdoors more if they are able to experience it personally. It is however perhaps even more important that we manage the ‘experience’ appropriately to best manage possible detrimental effects to the environment, flora and fauna, and scenic beauty. QORF supports appropriate activities, managed well in appropriate places (QORF)

Home to Australia’s highest mountain peak, a bevy of rare plants and animals and ski resorts; it’s not hard to see why more and more tourists are flocking to the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales.

But for every new development that’s built to accommodate the visitors, a part of the park is sacrificed.

With the snow all but gone for the season and the summer tourists starting to arrive, the ABC travelled to the park to look at just how much of an impact humans are having on the unique alpine environment.

It’ll be about six months before the next snow dump lures the masses to the ski resorts at Perisher in the NSW ski fields, but in summer it’s also a sight to behold.

As the warmer months roll in Perisher becomes an eerie hollow; the shops are closed and its chalets are only inhabited by a few construction workers doing maintenance.

The white runs have given way to lush green flowery meadows and the snow has melted to form flowing creeks and streams.

But it’s now, in the off-season, it’s also possible to get a glimpse of the stark asphalt of Perisher’s carpark.

But environmentalists are gathering, rallying the troops for a possible legal challenge.

It comes as the future of Perisher hangs on two reviews; the carrying capacity review will look at whether to have an approved figure for bed numbers in the National Park.

The other is looking at whether there should be a head lease for Perisher with a commercial landlord overseeing day to day operations, similar to the nearby Thredbo resort.

There’s also talk of making better use of the park as a summer destination.

And while the resorts occupy less than one per cent of Kosciuszko National Park their presence is an ongoing thorn in the side of environmentalists.

Source
ABC News