A mere 0.5% of mainland Australia is truly alpine. This region, above 1500 metres altitude, is one of the lowest alpine regions of the world. The Victorian Alps cover 500,000 ha in the east and north-east of the state, extending from the isolated plateaus of Lake Mountain and Baw Baw to the vast plains around the headwaters of the Murray River.

Formed during the Palaeozoic Age around 500 million years ago, the granite and sandstone peaks have been sculpted by glaciers and eroded by rainfall and snowmelt to form rounded mountain tops and plateaus. The gentle slopes are clothed in grasslands, herbfields, heathlands, woodlands and sphagnum bogs, each adapted to a particular combination of topography, soils and micro-climate. The highest regions of the alpine country support a rich mosaic of heathland, grassland and alpine bog communities, each adapted to particular combinations of topography, soils, water availability and microclimate. At slightly lower altitudes these ‘treeless islands’ give way to subalpine snow gum woodlands of White Sallee and Black Sallee.

Climatic conditions are harsh, and the area is typically snow-covered for more than four months of the year. In spring and summer, nature explodes into the short growing season. Many species, such as the Flame Robin, migrate to the alps to exploit the abundant food resources, while millions of Bogong Moths complete one of the longest insect migrations in the world, to spend the summer in the cool of the alps. These become meals on wings to a wide variety of animals and link the ecology of the alps to areas hundreds of kilometres away.

Alpine plants and animals have evolved to cope with the extremes of their environment — low temperatures, high winds, snow cover for long periods, and seasonal inundation. As a result, many species and ecological communities are found only in the alpine area. They include several species at risk of extinction, such as the Baw Baw Frog, Alpine Water Skink, Mountain Pygmy-possum, Stirling Stonefly, Cushion Caraway and Small Star Plantain.

Today the Victorian Alps remain largely intact, with the majority of the area set aside as National Park. The uses need to be carefully managed so that alpine vegetation (particularly herbfields, sphagnum bogs and streams) are not damaged and fauna are not placed at risk.

As with much of Victoria, environmental weeds and pest animals pose a risk to the natural alpine environment. Climate change through global warming is a potential long-term risk to the flora and fauna of the alpine environment.