ABSTRACT
This chapter considers an area within three extensive and contiguous national parks, Kosciuszko National Park and Brindabella National Park in New South Wales (NSW) and Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), as well as two large commercial state forests. The parks and forest lands are part of the landscape of the Snowy Mountains and Brindabella Ranges (part of the Australian Alps), the major water catchments in southeastern Australia. The project area covers six high-voltage powerline easements that traverse the mountains as an extensive corridor over a distance of some 300km. The easements are the responsibility of TransGrid, a state-owned corporation that operates and manages the NSW high voltage electricity transmission system. One of TransGrid's primary activities is to maintain transmission-line easements to ensure the safe and reliable supply of electricity for the state of NSW. In particular, these activities involve the ongoing management of vegetation to ensure suitable clearance from the powerlines. As the easement corridors of this project occur within and dissect national parks and forests, they are a major management consideration for both the power transmission agency (TransGrid) and the national parks and forestry land management agencies (see Figure 13.1).
