ABSTRACT
The prolonged work of several individuals within the different park management agencies responsible for Alps protected areas led to the first formal gathering of Alps parks staff in October 1985. This meeting brought together policy makers, planners and managers from four park organizations ‘to discuss strategies and priorities for co-operative planning and manage ment for national parks and other protected areas in the Australian Alps’ (Davies, 1986). The vision of the Australian Alps National
Parks Co-operative Management Program (the Alps Program) is of ‘agencies working in partnership to achieve excellence in conservation management of natural and cultural values and sustainable use through an active programme of cross-border co-operation’. This vision has been implemented through the MOU, which requires that participating governments and agencies develop a programme that provides for:
• consultation in the preparation of management plans or in amendments to existing plans, such that management plans provide for complementary policies and management practices;
• consultation in the formulation of regulations for the management of the Alps parks and the enforcement of those regulations;
• collaboration on matters of research including resource data collection;
• exchange of information, ideas and expertise rele vant to protecting the values of the Alps parks;
• cooperative management training for Alps parks staff;
• consultation with Aboriginal communities and fostering of their participation in the management of the Alps parks;
• opportunities for community education, interpretation and awareness of the values of the Alps parks;
• opportunities for public participation in the management of the Alps parks;
• complementary recreation management policies;
• monitoring the use of and public awareness about the Alps parks;
• recognition of the bioregional, national and
international significance of natural and cultural values of the Alps parks.
