This document provides information about environmental impacts in the Grampians National Park in Australia. It discusses different types of impacts including indigenous impacts using fire, non-indigenous impacts of sheep and cattle grazing, and recreational impacts from activities like bushwalking and rock climbing. It also describes management of the park by different organizations, details about the park's declaration in 1984 and size of 1672.19 km2, and flora and fauna found there like stringy bark forest and endangered species. Introduced species like cane toads are discussed along with their impacts. The values of the park to different groups and codes of conduct for activities are outlined. Ways to minimize impacts from recreation and commercial use are listed, and potential

1. SAC 3 Environmental Impacts By Tessa Smith

2. 1. Impacts Introduction Explain the different types of impacts that exist in general, providing at least 2 examples of each and the types of things they impact upon. Impacts that exist include, Indigenous which uses fire and Non Indigenous which includes the use of sheep and cattle on the land, Commercial activities including agriculture, mining and development and urbanisation, Recreational activities such as bushwalking, rock climbing and mountain biking, Conservational activities such as revegetation and establishments of reserves such as National Parks and Salinity Management. Left : The view from the pinnacle.

4. 3. Introduced Species The Grampians is home to a variety of Introduced/ Exotic species. Explain one of them and how its introduction has impacted on the natural landscape/ environment. At the Grampians some types of animals were needed to be introduced to help out the land. One that was introduced was the Cane Toad. It was introduced in 1935 by the Australian Sugar Cane Industry to help control the pest of sugar cane. It was a very successful species until a new technique was found, it was an insecticidal spray that helped to control the pests, therefore the Cane Toads were no longer needed. The cane toads continued to breed, and are still around today.

5. 4. The Grampians National Park The value of the Grampians varies for different groups. Provide insight into your knowledge of the values of the Grampians. Agriculture, mining, forestry and timber harvesting, development and urbanisation, tourism, fishing, hydro-electricity, scientific exploration, irrigation. Commercial activities deliberately affect the land, by taking away from it. This is done by cutting down trees and taking away animals from their natural environment. Commercial Revegetation and rehabilitation, establishment of reserves, scientific investigation, salinity management, Water watch, Coast care, community education. This is an activity in which helps to preserve the land and stop it getting damaged. Having people assigned to certain parts like park rangers in the camping parts of the park, will help make people do the right thing. Conservational users Bush walking, rock climbing, cross country and downhill skiing, snowboarding, four wheel driving, fishing, hunting, water sports, photography, wildlife observation. Recreation users are slowly wrecking the environment without knowing. Using the land for sports and activities is creating things such as erosion and damage to the land. They also try and prevent the damage by installing paths and using zoning for different activities. Recreation users Firestick farming, flannery, sheep and cattle, agriculture. Uses of fire, which would have changed the landscape and burnt out flora and fauna. Also, uses of cattle on the land which creates grazing and flattens and destroys the land. Cultural Examples of practice Value this thing/groups places on the environment - Describe For the:

6. 5. Codes of Conduct Explain the key points of Bushwalking and Mountain Bike riding codes of conduct. What are the positives and negatives of the two. Mountain Bike Riding Ride on roads and management vehicle tracks only. Respect the rights of others. If you meet walkers, announce your presence, slow down and give them right of way as you pass. If you meet horse riders, always give horses right of way. Avoid skidding. Stay away from wet, muddy areas. Check before you leave. Bushwalking Stay on the track. Avoid sensitive vegetation. Walk softly. The mountain bike riding and bushwalking codes are as above, negatives about the codes may be that it could be hard to stay away from wet, muddy areas and stay on the tracks also, there will need to be bending of the rules. Some positives are that you are letting bushwalkers know when you are coming so they are prepared to give way to you whilst mountain biking, another is giving horses right of way, horses wont be able to understand what you are saying or doing, therefore letting them go first will save a lot of hassle.

7. 6. Minimising Impacts commercial and recreational List as many ways you can minimise the impacts of recreational and commercial use. Different ways that may help minimise the impacts of recreational and commercial uses to the park may be.. -Keeping parts of the park marked out for different activities, eg. Bushwalking and Rock-climbing, Timber harvesting and Tourism would all be in different parts. -Get people to move away from the area to stop the issues with the farming and agriculture, and also the issues with urbanisation. -Keep urbanisation from happening, so keeping the shops from starting up in the area, etc. -Restrictions on who can come to the park, and restrictions on the group sizes. -Establishment of reserves to protect the areas further. -Creating walkways, viewing platforms and erosion control measures to minimise soil loss and vegetation loss.

8. 7. Conflicts of Interest Successful management is vital for the long term security of the park. Choose two different user groups and list the possible conflicts that may arise between them over the use of the park. The two different user groups in the park that I chose were a bushwalker and a mountain biker. Conflicts that may arise between these two may be the bushwalker may only want to see bushwalkers on the walking tracks, not loud and fast mountain bikers. A bushwalker would want a more peaceful walk to observe the scenery, and a mountain biker could possibly get in the way of this. A mountain biker may feel that they need their own paths to ride on, as they don’t want people getting in the way as they are riding. This may be because they aren’t looking at the scenery and therefore would prefer to ride faster and not have anyone standing in their way. This may all be resolved by having a certain path for bushwalkers and another park for mountain bike riders, even if they are close, but still far enough away to keep both of the people happy. vs.