No business in snow business! Warm weather shutters Japan ski resorts
million years old – pre-dating many dinosaurs – were believed extinct until the Wollemi grove was discovered in 1994.
Its location has remained a closely-guarded secret to protect the trees from contamination by visitors.
“Illegal visitation remains a significant threat to the Wollemi Pines survival in the wild due to the risk of trampling regenerating plants and introducing diseases which could devastate the remaining populations and their recovery,” Kean said.
The trees have been propagated and distributed to botanic gardens around the world to preserve the species, but the Wollemi gorge is the only wild stand.
Australia’s wildfires have since October claimed 28 lives, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and burned 100,000 square kilometres of land – an area larger than South Korea or Portugal.
About one billion animals may have died in the fires which have driven many species closer to extinction, according to environmental groups. — AFP
TOKYO: Record low snowfall in Japan has forced many ski resorts to shut their doors and is threatening a World Cup ski jumping competition, with organisers forced to truck in extra powder.
Northern Japan saw just 38 per cent of its average snowfall in December, with only a ‘little’ snow seen in western Japan, the country’s meteorological agency said.
The snowfall figures for December are the lowest since the organisation started collecting records in 1961, an agency official said yesterday.
“There are various factors behind the small amount of snow this season but climate change is among them,” Motoaki Takekawa, an official from the agency’s global environment section, told AFP.
Daisen White Resort in Tottori, western Japan, has been shut since early January after opening over the year- end holiday thanks to a sprinkle of snow and 10 machines that pumped out artificial powder.
Since Jan 6, however, it has been so warm that even the fake snow has melted on the slopes.
“The shortage has battered not only our resort but snowrelated businesses here such as hotels and rental ski shops,” said Masahiro Ozeki, an official at the resort.
The slope is scheduled to partially re-open today after snow fell on Wednesday.
“But we are still concerned about the rest of the season as less snow is expected in February,” Ozeki told AFP.
According to local media, more than a third of ski resorts across Japan have stayed closed since the beginning of the year. — AFP