Right: Australia's contiguous Alpine National Parks, of which Victoria's section is the only one in which cattle are still run.
Arguments in favour of cattle being returned to the Alpine National Park
1. Cattle have been returned to the Park in limited numbers, in restricted areas and for a limited time
The trial, commissioned by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, has returned only 400 cattle to the High Country. This affects only six sites covering some 25,600 hectares, or 3.9 per cent of the Alpine National Park. It has been decided that no grazing will occur on the environmentally-sensitive Bogong High Plains as part of the trial.
Mr Ryan Smith, the Victorian Environment Minister, has stated, "The research sites have been selected to avoid environmental impacts, and only areas that had been grazed in the past will be used."
Mr Smith has assured critics, "Any decision the government makes on strategic grazing in the future will take into account any potential impact on the environment and community."
The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE)has stated, "Appropriate design principles, including site selection, will avoid and/or minimise significant impacts from the trial on important natural values and threatened species and communities."
The DSE has further explained, "The sites for the trial have been selected to add to the existing body of research by focusing on areas that don't have enough scientific evidence (both geographically and vegetation type)."
Avoid areas in the park where cattle-grazing is expressly prohibited under legislation.
The DSE has also indicated that care has been taken to minimise risks to listed national heritage values, to threatened species and to communities. Another determining factor was the need for ease of access to the site for cattle. Research sites will generally be close to private property or areas of State forest currently under grazing licence.
The DSE has noted that site selection criteria covered a range of site variables, such as altitude, slope, aspect and ecological vegetation class and were concerned to restrict cattle grazing under the research trial to areas that have been previously grazed.
2. The cattle have been returned as part of a carefully managed scientific trial to determine their impact on fuel load in the area
The Environment and Climate Change Minister, Mr Ryan Smith, has claimed that the trial, undertaken by Professor Mark Adams of the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre, is intended to provide evidence on the efficiency of strategic cattle grazing for fuel and fire management purposes.
Mr Smith has stated, "The Coalition Government is committed to making transparent and informed decisions on bushfire management in Victoria's High Country based on credible scientific evidence. Current information on the effect of cattle grazing for bushfire mitigation is limited."
Mr Smith explained, "Bushfire management is a significant issue in Victoria and this trial will ultimately inform future fire management decisions and ensure an effective approach to environmental management."
Mr Smith has further stated, "The six-year research program is hoped to help DSE meet its responsibilities under Victoria's National Parks Act to ensure that appropriate and sufficient measures are taken to protect each national park and state park from injury by fire.
Any future decisions on the use of strategic cattle grazing to reduce bushfire risk in Victoria's High Country will be informed by the outcomes of the research."
Mr Smith also maintained that the trial and its findings would be conducted in an open, accountable and evidence-based manner. Mr Smith stated, "The Coalition Government is committed to making transparent and informed decisions on bushfire management in Victoria's High Country based on credible scientific evidence."
Mr Smith further stated of the head of the trial, "Professor Adams, from the University of Sydney, is currently leading the High Fire Project for the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre and his depth of experience and knowledge will be a valuable asset during the research."
The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment stated, "There is a need to collect more evidence and research that looks at the direct effects of grazing on fuel load and structure in all alpine and subalpine ecosystems.
Before cattle are introduced into the Park for fuel reduction purposes, DSE's Secretary must be satisfied with the effectiveness of cattle grazing as a fuel reduction measure, including non-fuel reduction impacts. So a trial is being conducted to gather that information and evidence."
3. Members of the Mountain Cattlemen's Association support the trial
The Mountain Cattlemen's Association has long maintained that its intimate knowledge of the Alpine National Park and its care to preserve the alpine environment were ignored by the previous Victorian government. The Association is strongly behind the decision taken by the newly-elected Liberal government.
Mark Coleman, the president of the Mountain Cattlemen's Association, has stated, "This is a government decision based on common sense and will seek solutions to long term good management of our public land.
In 2005, the Labor Government kicked us out of the Parks for short term political gain.
This new government is to be congratulated for having the courage to revisit that very bad decision and to accept in principle what the MCAV had been saying about grazing and fuel reduction for more than 50 years.
Members of the MCAV stand ready to assist this exciting project and to pass on their knowledge as to how the High Country should be managed and cared for."
The Mountain Cattlemen's Association maintains that grazing cattle in the Alpine National Park contributes to the good management of the Park.
On its Internet site the Mountain Cattlemen's Association of Victoria makes the following claims, "The Mountain Cattlemen's Association of Victoria (MCAV) represents a hardy group of people whose families and predecessors have grazed their cattle and maintained the Victorian High Country dating back to 1834. From Australian settlement to the present, caring for their cattle and custodianship of the land has been a cross generational family undertaking, so their training in the mountains is a lifetime experience. Consequently, the cattlemen are known for their love and knowledge of the bush."
The MCAV stresses the importance of the fuel reduction that is achieved by grazing cattle in the Alpine National Park. They argue that this practice must be reintroduced while there are still cattlemen alive and farming who are skilled in the management of their livestock for this purpose. The MCAV states, "The MCAV is working to preserve that knowledge and heritage and to have cattle grazing reinstated as a proven management tool to reduce fuel loads. This has to be done while there are still cattlemen around who can explain to the next generation how to do it."
4. The federal Government has been informed of the trial, however, the responsibility in this matter remains with the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has claimed that contrary to the assertions of some members of the Australian Government, the federal Government has been informed of the cattle-grazing trial in the Alpine National Park.
In its media release the DSE stated, "DSE has written to the Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities advising of the trial and offering a full briefing."
The DSE has claimed that in conducting the trial, it is doing no more than meeting its obligations under Victorian law. On its Internet site the DSE states, "The six-year scientific research trial will help DSE meet responsibilities under the State's National Parks Act to `ensure that appropriate and sufficient measures are taken to protect each national park and state park from injury by fire'."
The DSE has noted that the 2005 decision to ban cattle -grazing in the Alpine National park was taken by the former State government and thus the investigation of that decision is a state responsibility. On its Internet site the DSE states, "The decision to stop cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park was made by the previous State Government, based on its opinion that the continuation of grazing did not make environmental or economic sense. The decision was made after considering the issues and opinions identified by the Alpine Grazing Taskforce, based on the available scientific, social and economic evidence at the time.
The Taskforce raised a number of issues in its report and identified a range of options for the management of cattle grazing in the Park. These warrant further and more detailed investigation from a fire management perspective."
5. Opposition to the reintroduction of the cattle is politically motivated, while the trial itself is not
It has been claimed that opposition to the grazing of cattle in the Alpine National Park is politically motivated.
In 2005 the former head of the Victorian Farmers' Federation, Paul Weller, stated, "The Government has turned its back on Victoria's mountain cattlemen who have been an important part of the Alpine environment over many generations protecting this iconic environmental treasure from fire and pest weed infestation."
Mr Weller went on to say the then government had succumbed to a radical ideological philosophy to lock the community out of forests and allow them to deteriorate with weeds and pests.
Mr Weller stated, "Farmers have no confidence in the politically dominated Alpine Grazing Taskforce which is merely a front for government MPs to hide behind to avoid responsibility for their decision to sacrifice cattlemen to curry favour with radical environmentalists."
In contrast, the current Victorian Environment Minister, Ryan Smith, has claimed that his government's decision to implement a trial of cattle-grazing was not politically motivated.
Mr Smith has noted that the Mountain Cattlemen's' Association was not being given what they had asked, full access to the Alpine National Park under the terms that had existed before 2005. Mr Smith noted, "I am not opening the gates to let 8000 cattle back in."
Mr Smith also claimed that the process that was being followed was an open one and was not politically motivated.
Mr Smith stated, "The decision to allow cattle back into the Alpine National Park .was not politically motivated. The Premier has said we are going to implement our election commitments and my belief is I am doing that in a responsible way."