The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has extended the community engagement period for the Protection of the Alpine National Park - Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-2020 (Draft).
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The draft plan was launched on Friday, December 22 2017 for a six-week engagement period, available for comment on the Victorian Government’s website Engage Victoria, which has now been extended by two weeks until Friday, February 16, 2018.
Parks Victoria has also added the anticipated Assessing the Impacts of Feral Horses on the Bogong High Plains, Victoria report to the Engage Victoria web page as a supplement to the draft plan, available in the document library.
The independent report, conducted by the Arthur Rylah Institute of DEWLP, assessed the nature and extent of damage caused by feral horses to the sensitive alpine environment across the Bogong High Plains, and how this has changed over time.
The assessment found that feral horse activity and impacts are widespread and expanding, through hoof damage to stream banks, trampling of wet areas, dung deposition, creation or widening of tracks, roll pits, pulling of vegetation and general trampling. Despite a relatively small number of horses being present, these impacts are worsening.
The Australian Alps is home to many unique and threatened plant and wildlife species, including alpine wildflowers and herbs, mossbeds, snowpatch plant communities, and alpine She-oak Skinks, Tree Frogs and Spiny Crayfish.
Feral horses are not a natural part of the Australian environment and are considered a serious threat to the survival of alpine species and their habitats - particularly for their impacts on high-country waterways and vegetation.
The Protection of the Alpine National Park - Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan 2018-2020 (Draft) has been developed as part of The Greater Alpine National Parks Management Plan released in 2016, which guides the future management of the Alpine National Park.
Reducing the number of feral horses in the Alpine National Park is needed to prevent further damage. An estimated 2,500 feral horses are present in Victoria’s eastern alps and 60-100 in a separate population in the Bogong High Plains area.
The plan does not consider shooting of free-ranging horses, either from helicopter or ground.
To comment on the draft plan, please visit www.engage.vic.gov.au
