The Australian Alps, from the snow-capped peaks of Kosciuszko to the High Country where the legendary Man from Snowy River rode, will be acknowledged today as a place of outstanding natural and historic value and placed on the National Heritage List.
The federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, will announce the listing that takes in 1.6 million hectares, covering 11 national parks and reserves across NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
It will be the largest National Heritage listing to date.
The Alps contain some of the country's most remarkable and fragile plants and animals, including the snow gum, the mountain pigmy possum, the smallest in Australia, and many stunning wildflowers, from alpine daisies to southern heath.
Picturesque glacial lakes, along with the nation's best skifields, also make it the country's most popular winter playground, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors for skiing, snowboarding and bushwalking every year.
"Known as the High Country in Victoria, Snowy Mountains in NSW and the Brindabella Range in the Australian Capital Territory, the listing of the Australian Alps National Parks recognises the outstanding natural, indigenous and historic values of this iconic landscape," Mr Garrett said.
The listing will cover the ski resorts in Kosciuszko and Mount Buffalo national parks, including Perisher Blue and Thredbo.
This means they will now come under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and any significant development to the resorts will need approval.
Mr Garrett emphasised the region's rich Aboriginal and early settler history, which played a role in its listing, and said it was an important place for Aboriginal dreaming and gathering.
Local Aborigines held feasts on the Bogong moths that arrived there in early summer.
Graziers, stockmen and goldminers made history in the alpine high country, immortalised in Banjo Paterson's ballad The Man From Snowy River, published in The Bulletin in 1890.
The head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Don Henry, applauded the listing but said the most serious threat to the Alps was from climate change.
Studies by the UN's peak scientific body and Australia's CSIRO have warned that without a global effort to stabilise greenhouse emissions, much of the snow season will disappear by 2050.
A fall in snow cover would have drastic consequences for the ski season, local water supplies that depend on the snow melt for run-off, and wildlife.
The mountain pigmy possum's habitat would be eliminated with a temperature rise of one degree, which would make its extinction likely by 2030.
The foundation last week put the Alps on its list of 10 Australian icons under threat from rising global temperatures.
"This listing is a reminder that we must redouble our efforts on climate change," Mr Henry said.
"The Australian Alps and the Great Barrier Reef are two icons that will be greatly damaged from global warming.
Australia must have a strong 2020 target to cut its own emissions if we are going to have a leadership voice on climate change."
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