In Australia’s Snowy Mountains, a battle over brumbies

From Undark magazine, 25 July 2018:

The peatlands that drape the high, treeless slopes surrounding Australia’s tallest peak form a natural archive. “They are unusual bits of landscape in that they actually record their own history,” says Geoffrey Hope, an environmental historian at the Australian National University, who has been studying these unique bogs for more than 15 years.

In this famously dry continent, the peatlands of Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales are remarkable in their persistent sogginess. They experience heavy frost and snow in winter and, occasionally bushfires in summer. Yet somehow, they endure, providing a haven for one of Australia’s most critically-endangered species, the brilliant yellow and black Corroboree Frog. But recently, a new history is being stamped into these delicate ecosystems by the hooves of wild horses. Read more.