OUR proud heritage is threatened by silly political games, writes MARK COLEMAN

The Victorian Government's referral of the alpine grazing trials to the federal Environment Minister is an opportunity to study the background to this long-running issue.

Cattle grazed the Victorian Alps from the 1830s until 2005, about 170 years.

It was an activity as established and as enduring in the state's history as Melbourne itself. For all but the final 30 years, alpine grazing was neither controversial nor political.

That changed in 1982, when the incoming Cain Labor government announced its intention to create a massive National Park, with alpine grazing eradicated.

Naturally the mountain cattlemen reacted. Their livelihood and the very purpose behind their existence were threatened.

Reluctantly, the cattlemen went political. We lobbied Labor (unsuccessfully), we sought support from the Liberal and National parties (successfully).

We rode our horses through Melbourne several times to raise the issue directly with the people. It was quite clear then and it remains clear now that we have a lot of public support in city, town and bush.

When the Labor government eventually legislated the Alpine National Park into existence, in 1989, it required the support of the Liberal and National parties to pass the Bill.

It got this support on the strict proviso that alpine grazing would continue in most of the park, with cattlemen issued renewable seven-year licences.

This was the status quo until 2005, when the Bracks government reneged on the deal.

With a majority in both houses it could ram a ban on alpine grazing through Parliament; and it did.

It dressed up the process with a trumped-up parliamentary inquiry comprised only of Labor MPs, which cited a report from a single scientist who did limited work in one area.

Labor was not worried about the environment. It was chasing the green vote.

The Liberal and National parties publicly opposed the ban on alpine grazing and promised to reinstate it. They have maintained this position ever since and took this policy to last year's state election.

Once again Labor was trying to destroy us. The Coalition parties gave us hope.

You don't have to be Albert Einstein to work out who we supported in that election.

We put a lot of effort and, for us, a considerable amount of money into the bellwether seat of East Gippsland. For the record, we donated $20,000 to each of Liberal and National campaigns in that seat.

The politics didn't end with the election.

We expected the usual rubbish from the Victorian National Parks Association: that the green case is all science and ours is all greed.

Then there's Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke's inflammatory, insulting comments.

His open hostility to the cattlemen derived, he says, from being appalled at the cattle damage he saw during a one-hour inspection.

Pulled up beside a deer wallow, Mr Burke vented his outrage to the assembled media, egged on by VNPA members he had invited along.

Nobody present noticed or cared that their convoy had ripped up the access track, rendering it impassible after they left. Mr Burke's concern was not for the environment.

It was to keep the Greens in Canberra firmly on side.

Here is the basic problem. Mountain cattlemen see the bush through the prism of their inter-generational experience. They see it as it is.

Greenies and the uninitiated see it through the prism of their aspirations and expectations. They see it as they wish it to be.

Mountain cattlemen are immensely proud of our 170-year record in caring for and sharing the bush.

When it became a national park, it was in excellent shape.

The park is now a disgrace.

It is a firetrap, with massive buildup of fuel in formerly grazed areas. It has suffered terribly from preventable and mismanaged wildfire.

Its streambeds are choking. It is overrun with feral animals and weeds. It is haven to almost no large native mammals.

Much of the park is a soul-less, joyless place now, devoid of history and heritage.

We couldn't give a fig for the politics. We don't want to be at war with Tony Burke, Labor, or even the VNPA. We want what's best for the bush.

We'll continue fighting this until the cows come home.