crollsurf wrote:As I understand it in NSW, the NPWS have almost no budget for trail maintenance. They're spending big using grants from the government.
In fact, some NPWS staff have been led to believe NPWS needs to become a profit centre! Imagine that, a government department that makes a profit!
Longer term, that impenetrable scrub will give way to more open environments, but that'll take decades. And that also depends on science winning over short sightedness. Politicans want votes.
Most ecologies produce bigger fuel loads when burnt regularly, not less. And you're seeing that now. The country needs a rest from regular burns and to get back to a fire resilient equilibrium.
Might just take you up on thatHuntsman247 wrote:Took hours but I've cleared the falls limbs and cut a path through the vines on the route pretty good so if anyone wants an 'easier' trip, now would be the time. Lol.
sandym wrote:Huntsman:
How far does your "clearing" go?
That is one route I have yet to do in the Budawangs and I might be enticed out one more time (no doubt to come back wondering why).
puredingo wrote:Maybe this is a solution to our problem?
Each month a member gets to nominate a track and in that ensuing month we all have to visit that track at our convenience and walk it while we remediate.
By 2040 we should have about 4 tracks completed
sandym wrote:Huntsman, I'll DM you for a gpx file and will attempt to get in there the next couple of weeks. You took a newby! Bit of a baptism by fire.
This site might be useful, it shows how "hot" the fire burned. It almost seems as if the areas where the fires were really intense are worst affected by regrowth, although I have yet to test that theory using the information on the web site.
https://geo.seed.nsw.gov.au/Public_Viewer/index.html?viewer=Public_Viewer&locale=en-AU&runWorkflow=AppendLayerCatalog&CatalogLayer=SEED_Catalog.331.2019-20%20FESM%20Severity%20Classes
peregrinator wrote:When viewing it, would there be a way to quickly alternate between switching the fire severity data on and off? It's impossible to see most of the underlying positional information.
crollsurf wrote:The history of the term "wilderness" is an interesting one, at least in NSW. Originally, it meant an area protected from development.
K2K might actually be a good candidate for a focussed clearance effort by walkers (through repeated foot traffic, with or without machetes), given it's one of the more ubiquitous arterial routes that also serves as access to other routes?sandym wrote: Reclearing something like the K2K would, as you say take until 2040.
Walk_fat boy_walk wrote:K2K might actually be a good candidate for a focussed clearance effort by walkers (through repeated foot traffic, with or without machetes), given it's one of the more ubiquitous arterial routes that also serves as access to other routes?
sandym wrote:Since then, things may have got worse, I think, certainly not better. The regrowth that was waist high is now 3 metres high and progress is made by tunneling through like a rabid wombat.
tom_brennan wrote:sandym wrote:Since then, things may have got worse, I think, certainly not better. The regrowth that was waist high is now 3 metres high and progress is made by tunneling through like a rabid wombat.
One things that's been particularly unusual post the 2019/20 fires is that we've had three wet years immediately following the fire. So lots of opportunity for the regrowth to get established.
What will be interesting to see is if we go into an El Nino period as expected, whether that will knock back some of the younger plants. Or are they generally well enough established that some dry weather won't kill them? Even if it doesn't kill some of them, it will probably put a brake on further growth.
There are also some areas on poorer soil that are recovering more slowly, and still decent walking country. But they're a bit scattered.
Return to Bushwalking Discussion
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests