Under the conditions specified in the Snowy 2.0 planning approvals, Snowy Hydro Limited must pay offsets to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for the residual impacts of the project on biodiversity, recreation and heritage.
The Kosciuszko Offset Project includes:
- a program framework
- a prioritisation plan
- the Kosciuszko Offset Strategy for biodiversity
- a recreation strategy
- a heritage strategy
- Kosciuszko offset action plans for each threatened species, threatened ecological community and ecosystem identified in the Kosciuszko Offset Strategy.
Kosciuszko Offset Strategy
The Kosciuszko Offset Strategy is the biodiversity strategy for the Kosciuszko Offset Project. It sets a framework to deliver a biodiversity gain in Kosciuszko National Park equivalent to 120% of the biodiversity loss identified in the Snowy 2.0 environmental assessments.
The strategy provides for actions that will generate a benefit exceeding the requirements of the New South Wales and Australian Government offset conditions. Specifically, this means generating a net conservation gain for identified threatened species, threatened ecological communities and ecosystems.
Read the Kosciuszko Offset Strategy and Kosciuszko Offset Strategy – Attachment.
Kosciuszko offset action plans
We will develop Kosciuszko offset action plans for each threatened species, threatened ecological communities and ecosystems impacted by Snowy 2.0, as listed in the Kosciuszko Offset Strategy.
The plans provide details on:
- objectives and targets
- specific actions
- threats being addressed
- locations within Kosciuszko National Park where actions will take place, when these actions will occur, and costs associated with each action.
Offset action plans also detail how biodiversity benefits will be measured – the attributes to be measured, the metric used, methodology and monitoring design, timing and frequency of measurement, and associated costs.
Kosciuszko offset action plans developed under the Kosciuszko Offset Strategy are:
- alpine she-oak skink
- alpine sphagnum bogs and associated fens
- alpine tree frog
- Booroolong frog
- broad-toothed rat
- Caladenia montana
- clover glycine
- eastern pygmy-possum
- gang-gang cockatoo
- Kiandra leek orchid
- leafy anchor plant
- masked owl
- mauve burr-daisy
- Max Mueller's burr-daisy
- Raleigh sedge
- slender greenhood
- smoky mouse
- southern myotis
- white-bellied sea-eagle
- yellow-bellied glider.
Park management
Offset payments received for the residual impacts of the Snowy 2.0 project on recreation and heritage are grouped together in our park management annual report. Park management actions include land management (specific enhanced feral animal and weed management), recreation (improvements to park visitor facilities), heritage (actions related to heritage values), and park values (broad actions that recognise the natural and cultural values of operating in a national park).
Projects delivered with these funds cover a broad range of activities across Kosciuszko National Park. Completed projects currently include upgrades to campgrounds (Yarrangobilly Village, Bullocks Hill and Denison campgrounds) and picnic areas (Murrumbidgee River picnic area), soil landscape profiling in the Yarrangobilly catchment, purchase of equipment to undertake remote weed spraying of Ox-eye daisy, and upgrades to the road to the thermal pool at Yarrangobilly Caves.