Kosciuszko National Park
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| Kosciuszko National Park | |
|---|---|
| IUCN Category II (National Park) | |
  | |
| Nearest town/city: | Cabramurra |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 6 750 km² |
| Managing authorities: | New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service |
The park has an alpine climate and an alpine flora, which is unusual on mainland Australia. The landscape near Mount Kosciuszko was shaped by ancient glaciers which left moraines and tarns. The glacial lakes are: Lake Cootapatamba, Lake Albina, Club Lake, Blue lake, and Hedley Tarn.
The Snowy River originates in the park and flows south to Victoria. There are tunnels, dams, generators and other parts of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydro-electric system within the park.
The ski resorts of Thredbo, Selwyn snowfields, Perisher Blue and Charlotte Pass lie within the park, as does Cabramurra the highest town in Australia. The larger towns of Cooma and Jindabyne lie just outside and service the park.
In the 19th century gold was mined on the high plains near Kiandra.
The park is contiguous with the Alpine National Park in Victoria to the south, and the Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory to the east.
Around the national park there are a wide variety of historic alpine huts. Many of these huts are left over from early cattle grazers, miners and summer homes. Today these huts are used for hiking, cross country skiing, science and engineering. Many of these huts are maintained by the National Parks and Wildlife Service or volunteer organisations like the Kosciuszko Huts Association.
Much of the tree cover in the lower sections of the park was burned in bushfires in 2003. Fires are a natural feature of the park ecosystem, but it will take some time for the region to return to its pre-fire appearance.
[edit] See also
- Snowy Mountains
- Protected areas of New South Wales
- Canberra bushfires of 2003de:Kosciuszko-Nationalpark
es:Parque Nacional Kosciuszko zh:可西歐斯可國家公園
