5.8 Recording of regular management practices in Alps National Parks
All landscapes in Alps parks may be considered as cultural landscapes, in that they are subject to management regimes that
are determined by contemporary ideas of appropriate park management. To enable these processes of continuing landscape
evolution to be studied, documentation of daily and routine activities is required for all actions, everywhere in the park - not
just for identified or significant cultural landscapes.
Recording of everyday management activities will enable future researchers to understand the management activities that are
shaping Alps parks landscapes today. These include factors such as roading practices (eg location, construction, and frequency
of maintenance and use); waste management (location, treatment, and frequency of use of tip sites); frequency of ski slope
grooming; vermin eradication; weed spraying; suppression of exotic wildings; removal of native vegetation for fire control,
control of vegetation for landscape management or public safety reasons, and general fire management practices. Use the
experience you gain from trying to interpret cultural landscapes yourself, and think what documentation and information would
have helped you understand it and manage it appropriately. Remember that today's practice is tomorrow's history, and next
week's archaeology! Do the next generation a favour, and record what you do.
Regularly filling in a standard activity report form will enable monitoring of these park management activities to occur. It will
also enable a comprehensive GIS record to be prepared, mapping the occurrence of these activities over time.
Monitoring of all park landscapes should occur regularly with respect to environmental changes and the impacts of
management actions. Aerial photography can provide widespread coverage of a landscape. Regular interpretation should be
undertaken to detect subtle and long-term changes, as well as the impact of catastrophic events such as bushfires.
5.9 When to seek assistance