Guerilla Track Maintenance

[daznkez]

Hey to All,

On a 'crutch walk' in the south west last week, i met two blokes on the track. I had 'busted' them doing some track work with hand tools. They didn't have a chainsaw with them...yet. They were going hard on the justification bit, noting that Parks may have dropped the ball. They were pretty keen on repairing Blakes shelter in the near future. They were aware of the legal restriction on these activities, but figured there was none left employed to catch them. At a basic level we are all involved in some track clearing as we walk, but when does the line get drawn. I have met other older walkers who always carry bow saw and tomahawk, and consider the young-uns mad not to!. I also recall walkers having died from exposure when they could have lit a fire, not doing so because it wasn't legal. But I digress; I wondered what other forum members considered to be acceptable track maintenance?. It seems that if Parks and F/T are on the path to downgrading track maintenance for the long term, this kind of response from walkers is hardly unexpected

[Ent]

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[ILUVSWTAS]

F/T are rapidly destroying the Picton valley so good on those guys for trying to restore something that wasnt hurting anyone anyway. There are still a few Huts along the huon track that people dont know about, Purely because they are SLIGHTLY off the main track.
On the subject of fires, I would have no hesitation in lighting a very small one if I thought my or anyone's life was in danger. Seems common sense to me,

[Singe]

Interesting one... The only 'maintenance' I've ever done is moving fallen timber off the track to prevent the track going around it, and occasionally snapping off a branch if it's at eye height and could pose a hazard to the unwary. Personally I'm in favour of minimal track maintenance for most areas; the occasional scramble keeps the hordes away and makes life more interesting

[tastrax]

Hi Folks,

<Parks hat on > I don't know anyone in Parks who would object to small scale maintenance such as kicking out drains in boggy holes or moving limbs off tracks - personally I do both of those on regular walks (despite that being technically illegal). Its when it comes to the prolonged use of tools that things could get messy legally BUT there are plenty of ways to actually help out Parks if you are so inclined. Most of it comes down to a good rapport with the parks staff because unfortunately we do come across folks illegally cutting tracks with saws/slashers/chainsaws etc into areas where it would be inappropriate.

If you have a genuine desire to do this stuff then it can be accommodated - just visit the local Ranger in the place where you want to do the work and build that rapport. Wildcare is another choice (http://www.wildcaretas.org.au/) because it can cover insurance for participants and even provide funds for tools, gloves etc. There is also an agreement between the agency and some walking clubs to "work as you walk" which allows small works with handtools - this is also generally affiliated with Wildcare (in some cases for cheap insurance cover).

There are also programs for folk that want to work on historic huts. Mountain Huts Preservation Society has just signed a five-year partnership agreement to do work on a range of huts and bridges.

Happy to put folks in contact with the right people if you are interested.

PS - as for the fires - there is a clause in regulations that allows for a well controlled fire in an emergency - again I cant see any Ranger getting hostile if next to that fire is an injured or hypothermic walker waiting for a helicopter or rescue party.

[RiverFly]

G'day Phil,

Can I have the contact details for Mountain Huts please?

[Ent]

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[BarryJ]

G'day Phil,

Can I have the contact details for Mountain Huts please?

Daniel, try here:
http://www.tco.asn.au/oac/community_gro ... 5&oacID=31

[Nuts]

It was a good post tastrax...

There was (many years ago) a pile of cord at Lk. Will turnoff, with a sign to carry one on, I expect the responsibility for simple measures such as this has stifled some of the most direct contributions.

Conservation Volunteers also get involved in a lot of track projects including outside of parks. I worked for them for a while on weeklong and w/end projects.

tastrax, perhaps we could offer a group from this forum to get involved for a weekend somewhere?
I'd be happy to organise it (contacts, transport etc.....) what would you suggest? Anyone else be keen to help out?

[tastrax]

Great feedback folks - many thanks.

I am in the south but most of you are in the NW. I know Eddie Firth ( Eddie.Firth@parks.tas.gov.au ) at Cradle does some good work with local clubs on the Penguin/Cradle trail (through Wildcare) and he is also looking after work on the Overland. I suspect he will have some funds this year for works so that might be one good lead.

Contact me by PM if you have a particular track or collective project that interests you and I will contact the local staff. In general works on the more major tracks will involve more "building type work" such as drainage, bridges, planking etc but more remote tracks are likely to just be clearing projects.

Wildcare actually ran a one day course some years ago with a couple of trackies and a person from the Botanical Gardens who taught how to prune correctly. It was a great day.

[E.G.]

I joined Mountain Huts a couple of years back and have loved working with them. They have established a very good relationship with Parks (not always the case I have been told) and are currently doing work on a hut on the Februaries and have largely completed replacing two bridges on Warner's Track. There is now a strong colaboration between Mountain Huts and Parks with Parks providing a lot of the equipment and materials and Mountain Huts a lot of the work (with assistance from some very hard working Parks people too). They welcome new members and have regular working bees now that that the weather has improved (?). PM me for contact details.

[tas-man]

When I moved to Tassie in 1994 and joined the Launceston Walking Club, I was interested in the fact that the walking programs had regular "Track Maintenance" weekends, especially on the circuit walk in Freycinet that the club proposed and constructed in the 1970's. It all came to a halt in the late 1990's when the Insurance scene went pear shaped, and restrictions were placed on what could be done, where, how, and by whom, and it all became too hard to organise the proper notices to parks, and supervision required. So the bundle was dropped, and nothing like that has been on their programs for many years. With the concerns raised at recent meetings about parks's track maintenance work being constrained, there may be now a more sensible climate to take a fresh look at how the walking community can be mobilised to assist in the maintenance of our beloved walking environment. I agree that the growth of Wildcare groups is one way of getting folks involved with some proper supervision and risk management, but sometimes the most efficient maintenance is done "while you walk" if problems are found along the way, so some protocols that will give guidance in such activities would be useful. Interesting discussion

[PeterJ]

Unfortunately there is hardly ever enough money to adequately manage out parks and reserves, so I and a few others offered to help out at Mt Field National Park. It has proven to be very rewarding work, and I don't mean financially. We find park staff encourage our efforts and dealing with them is reasonably straight forward. You can an idea of some our work from the web, and If you would like to join in helping drop me a message and I can add you to the mailing list.

We have recently branched out into helping PWS in Wellington Park

[wander]

And there I was thinking the thread was going to about maintaining the "track" on Guerilla Ridge.

[Taurë-rana]

I have been involved over the years in some very productive maintenance of 4WD tracks in conjunction with Parks, but I have to say that it quite often depends on the individual rangers in charge of an area. Some would rather close tracks off than have volunteer maintenance which is unfortunate.
I was just talking about this with forthferalz this evening - she was commenting on the state of the Mt Roland track which is apparently well maintained to a point, then not - she talked to a local councillor who said that the maintained bit was FT, the unmaintained bit was Parks, and they had been trying to get the situation sorted out for a long time, to no avail. I guess FT have to do all they can to be seen to be putting back into the community!

[E.G.]

How is this for guerrilla track maintenance? This is the Mountain Huts Preservation Society finishing the construction of a bridge on Warner's Track.

Cheers,

E.G.

[jimmyjam]

started doing some guerilla track maintenance on the old picton track (red rag scarp) and am thinking about a bit along moonlight ridge, so trying to ignite this thread again particularly with respect to forestry NP discouraging people from certain area etc.


what about mysterious track clearing? i have a friend who is keen on improving tracks while walking, taking secateurs or a pruning saw and cutting obstacles out of the way. actually he thinks about this quite a bit and cuts away dangerous obstacles, previously cut stems etc that could injure in a fall. sometimes it's possible to use building materials that have been left behind by parks to make things a bit better (moonlight ridge). it does seem a shame to me that tracks like red rag scarp are overgrown, they are interesting historically and I am suspicious of authority's agendas in neglecting some with views of coups etc. pretty easy to be paranoid amongst the destruction of the picton valley, now extending up the huon and weld. anyhow cutting away a bit of scoparia or tea tree seems like a public service to me, especially on a flagged track. quad bikes and chain saws might be a bit much I guess.

[greyim]

A recent walk at Bakers Beach - Archer Knob indicates thistles are running out of control there... makes me think, track volunteers still are worth their weight in gold.