Battle of the high country cattle
January 26, 2011
LURKING behind the debate over alpine grazing is the issue of who knows best how to manage the land.
At its most basic, it's an issue of local knowledge versus interference by "ignorant city greenies".
Victoria's Alpine National Park is Crown land and, as such, it belongs equally to all Victorians.
That means every Victorian has the right to comment on its management.
For this reason, over the past 40 years or so, a series of government-led independent inquiries (open to input from all Victorians, and supported by both sides of politics) systematically looked at all public land across the state.
Some people have been surprised that that process resulted in large areas being protected for all time as national parks and other conservation reserves.
But abundant evidence emerged that Victoria's biodiversity - our 500 million-year-old natural heritage - was seriously in trouble
.
And it was clear that the only way to look after that heritage was to protect and restore the great range of native ecosystems in the state.
Business as usual, where we logged, grazed or otherwise, revealed these areas as resources weren't working.
There was never any suggestion that the land should be "locked up" and left to fend for itself.
On the contrary, it was, and still is, abundantly clear that the protection of that heritage needs active management.
Looking after about 100,000 native species across Victoria is no easy task.
It won't happen by relying on 19th-century land management practices, such as cattle grazing, any more than we can reliably cure cancer using leeches
.
In this day and age, we have to move into science-based management to make sure the vast and irreplaceable species diversity out there stays with us.
There is already abundant evidence grazing doesn't significantly affect fire at a landscape scale.
This grazing trial has all the hallmarks of
political intervention disguised as science.
If we are to secure our natural heritage we need to take science out of the hands of politicians, and restore its integrity.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/01/26/285971_opinion-news.html