Essentially, the area from the dam wall to the boat ramp will be formally added to the resort, as will some land around the Howmans Gap snow clearing quarters. An equivalent area on the north slopes of Mt McKay are being added to the national park (from the resort). This is a win/win where the national park gets higher conservation value land and the resort gets disturbed land that will let it provide better summer facilities.
From fallcreek.com.au
The Bill contemplates a number of Resort boundary changes including:
i. the addition of 9.6 hectares of land from the Alpine National Park on the northern foreshore of the Rocky Valley Storage
ii. a small realignment of land in Sun Valley that currently houses Resort infrastructure
iii part of the Howman's Gap Snow Clearing Quarters which is currently on a Government road reserve.
The areas of land being added to the Resort are highly disturbed; the legacy of the Resort's hydro-electric heritage. The Bill also preserves two existing leases over areas associated with the Kiewa Valley hydro-electric scheme.
The area set to be included in resort boundaries.
Pic - Charlie Brown
In return, a larger portion of 11.9 hectares of high conservation value land on the northern slopes of Mt McKay will be returned to the Alpine National Park.
Actions contemplated in the Bill have been supported by the Falls Creek Resort Management Board's recently completed Biodiversity Management Strategy (BMS). The Falls Creek BMS is the first environmental management tool of its kind employed by a Victorian public agency. The BMS comprehensively identifies each ecological vegetation class contained in the Resort. The BMS identified the increased area of land added to the Alpine National Park as well as its significant species of flora and fauna.
"The proposed Bill is the culmination of considerable multi-agency cooperation supported by our cutting edge BMS" said David Herman, CEO of Falls Creek Resort Management. "The proposed land changes allow Falls Creek to pursue its access and equity objectives by delivering an all season’s activity base supported by the beauty of the Rocky Valley Lake. Equally, the land returned to the Alpine National Park is of high conservation value, thereby further protecting key species of flora and fauna for all Victorians".
