Arm River - road access?

[Fizzygood]

Hi all,

Would love an update on road access to Arm River with all the snow we have had...

Cheers...

[walkabout]

I tried to get down Maggs road about 3 weeks ago but had to give up - managed to get around/move a few fallen trees but then they got too big.

[corvus]

Wish the area was still managed by FT .

[north-north-west]

Yes. Because they'd take a snow plough up there to keep it clear for us . . .

TasPAWS do the best they can with insufficient money. You want better service, get the Government to fund them adequately.

[corvus]

I suspect many of the roads we have used thanks to FT will become unusable or become much longer walks due to lack of maintenance and funds to do so, Arm River Track springs to mind as we have lost one road ,top one is only open because they were still "pulling bushes" up there on that one till recently .

[Nuts]

Yep, no protesters out there lol. Apparently parks are taking over some of the forestry roads so I guess they get the budget? (most likely to do the minimum).

Sorry Erin, nothing to report. I too need to get in there soon, I doubt the tree's will be cleared in a hurry unless it's done privately.

[corvus]

Yes. Because they'd take a snow plough up there to keep it clear for us . . .

TasPAWS do the best they can with insufficient money. You want better service, get the Government to fund them adequately.

FT used to employ a regime of keeping roads clear of trees on roads why your inference to snow ploughs ? never done or expected IMMO ? and If they had not created the Mersey Forest Road we would not have easy access to many of our popular walking tracks .

[grant evans]

Before the hydro dams went in, used to have to go in via liena, big plain, then back down to the Mersey up past Howells plains etc. it was abig trip back then. Thanks to the hydro and forestry we all have easy access to the area. But to keep these roads open you need industry to provide the money for upkeep, with the forestry pretty much gone the funds simply aren't available anymore. Expect more road closure. Be careful what you wish for.

[north-north-west]

Fine. Except that the modern forestry industry in Tasmania has always been subsidised by the taxpayer.

[pazzar]

What sort of costs would we be looking at to have the road graded twice a year and cleared after snowfall. I hardly expect it to be a mountainous cost.

Maybe we should be lobbying the TLC to buy the farmland in the valley.

[doogs]

Wowsers. So "Green" groups have influenced the world in such a degree that they have instigated the downturn in the use of Tasmanian pulp timbers through the increase in consumption of written materials on electronic devices. Geez they're a pretty backward bunch...
You cannot blame "Greenies" for the downturn in the forestry industry, just as it is hard to blame Forestry Tasmania. 20-30 years ago, when many of these Blue Gums were planted, the idea of reading books on Kindles and iPad, instead of books and newspapers would have sounded like a fanciful idea. What we do need is an alternate use for all this low grade plantation timber that we have in our state, so we can plant sustainable timbers for building materials etc. Ideas??

[Richard W]

Parks and Wildlife getting ownership of former forestry roads could be a big problem in the future.

My neighbour uses an ex-forestry road to access a farm we run cattle on.

He asked Parks when they took it over if they were going to maintain it.

Not only are Parks not going to maintain it, they won't let him do it either. If he wants to keep it clear then he has to get an environmental impact statement completed for each tree.

I don't think Parks have a lot of interest in maintaining access to areas outside of the main promoted walks.

It was the same when I lived in North Queensland, only even worse- a lot of national parks were 'special environmental areas' that it was almost impossible to legally access. At least in Tasmania we can legally access anywhere we can physically walk to.

[pazzar]

I don't think Parks have a lot of interest in maintaining access to areas outside of the main promoted walks.

Parks don't have the funding to be able to take an interest in maintaining access to areas outside of the promoted walking areas.

[Richard W]

Parks don't have the funding to be able to take an interest in maintaining access to areas outside of the promoted walking areas.

No doubt - what I have a problem with is not letting anyone else maintain them either.

[pazzar]

Parks don't have the funding to be able to take an interest in maintaining access to areas outside of the promoted walking areas.

No doubt - what I have a problem with is not letting anyone else maintain them either.

I understand your frustration. I can also see the flip side. If any man and his dog was able to do maintenance work on a PWS road, if someone were to have an accident, PWS would be liable if the accident was a result of a poorly constructed road. I think the government needs to have a major rethink in the distribution of funding. Do we need to put PWS back in the same sector as tourism in order to get proper funding?

[Nuts]

A level of maintenance will only cost more or less the same whoever the funding goes through. Part of this was obviously returned from harvesting profits that wont continue so it will logically either be funded by revenue generated further into parks? or not funded to the traditional level perhaps?

Bushfires, trees down and heavy snow storms, it may have been an expensive option keeping the loop open but gave an alternative (for piece of mind at least).

Apparently the road is open (to 4wd most likely). Lot's o snow up there!

I should add, for those not familiar with this road in winter, be especially careful on the section ascending from the arm river (/maggs) road intersection. Not only on the way up, coming down could be tricky and in some places not much barrier on the side (to a long tumble).