Resort Information

Biodiversity

Helping the Mountain Pygmy-possum at Blue Cow

Perisher Blue has contributed in excess of $450,000 to a special Environmental Monitoring Fund, which is administered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). This fund is used for activities such as monitoring and evaluating any long term trends in the Mountain Pygmy-possum population and the effects, if any, of ski area activity on the possum and its habitat.

In the early 1990's Mountain Pygmy-possum crossings were installed on Zali's and Side Saddle ski runs at Blue Cow. The tunnels are rock filled excavations that traverse the ski runs providing natural ground cover and so allowing small mammals to cross open areas, safe from the threat of feral predators. The tunnels also help to maintain a space under the snow so that the animals are able to move around as needed. Some of the tunnels that cross 'Zali's' were cleaned, improved and sections replaced during the 2004 / 2005 summer and a new crossing was installed underneath the Blue Cow road in March 2008. Press release.

The area of prime Mountain Pygmy-possum habitat at Blue Cow was closed to all ski and snowboard traffic in 2002. During the 2004 / 2005 summer Perisher Blue staff assisted the NPWS in the planting of Mountain Plum Pine seedlings in the Blue Cow Mountain Pygmy-possum habitat area. The Mountain Plum Pine at Blue Cow is a staple food source for the Mountain Pygmy-possum and it was badly impacted by the bushfires in 2003. The newly planted seedlings are progressing well and more have been planted over the 2006 / 2007 summer.

Planting of native trees and shrubs in Guthega and Blue Cow

Over the last four years a total of 6800 native shrubs, trees and grasses have been planted throughout the resort. The plantings have been predominately in the vicinity of the Ridge Quad chairlift area and the Tube Town snow-tubing park on Mt Piper’s Ridge. 1000 snow gums were also planted near the Blue Cow T-bar in Guthega after the 2003 bushfires. The monitoring of these plantings over the last four summers has shown a very good survival rate. This can be attributed to the healthy tube stock supplied by the nursery and also the post planting care the trees and shrubs have received. The ability to water the plants in summer through the use of the snowmaking system has helped the plants establish and also survive the dry periods. It is hoped that these plantings will help to establish vegetation corridors so that native fauna can move around in relative safety and also minimise the visual impacts of exotic vegetation species that are used to rapidly stabilise the ground after slope construction works.

Vegetation monitoring

Scientific monitoring of vegetation across the resort has occurred regularly each summer over the past five years. Vegetation plots and transects have been established to monitor a variety of factors including the effectiveness of established and emerging rehabilitation techniques, the rate of natural regeneration of previously disturbed areas and the impacts of new development activities. Seven of these sites are in Perisher, with three at Front Valley and four at Tube Town, with the remaining sites being located around the Ridge Chair area at Blue Cow. Monitoring is ongoing and is undertaken by a specialist plant ecologist.

Improving rehabilitation techniques

Perisher Blue recently assisted the NPWS in the development of the recently released “Rehabilitation Guidelines for the Resort Areas of Kosciuszko National Park” - NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, August 2007 (Guideline). The Guideline is aimed at providing comprehensive technical information to assist in planning and managing rehabilitation projects within ski resort areas. Over the past couple of years, Perisher Blue has experimented with numerous rehabilitation techniques including trialling the use of sterile rye corn as well as different methods of planting native grasses. Perisher Blue will continue to work with the NPWS and the Department of Planning to improve rehabilitation techniques.

Seed collection program

In February and March of 2008, staff of Perisher Blue spent fine weather days walking the resort areas collecting native grass seed to be used in future rehabilitation programs. The Victorian Alps Nursery in the Ovens Valley provided guidance on the easiest and most effective ways to the collect seed. Two different grass species, Poa fawcettiae and Poa costiniana were targeted for collection and a total of 9.3kg of seed was gathered. The seed has been dried and stored and is ready for use in the 2008/2009 summer. Some of the seed will be passed onto the nursery to grow tube stock and the rest of it will be used for direct seeding purposes within the resort. A big thank you must go to the Conservation Volunteers of Australia who kindly assisted with the project and also to the NPWS for their guidance and assistance.

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