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Author Archive | Justine Bourke

Crown Roads Access

Crown Road Management Policy Review
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council adjoins national parks including Morton and Budawang and is reviewing its Crown roads policy. Bushwalkers access many NPs via Crown roads and any disposal would remove this access. Bushwalking NSW recently submitted the following comments to Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council regarding its review of Crown Roads policy:

“Crown Roads form an important access route for bushwalkers who wish to visit National Parks and other public reserves. Conversion of Crown Roads to other land status such as sale to a private land owner can permanently close off these access routes. Bushwalking NSW represents around 70 clubs with around 11,000 members in NSW and the ACT and we request that the Council considers the potential impact on access to national parks and other public reserves before reaching a decision on whether to support the conversion of a Crown Road. Further, we request that Bushwalking NSW is consulted prior to any decision being made.”

Perceptions of image and naming of our bushwalking clubs: a survey

There is growing concern that many bushwalking clubs throughout NSW and ACT are not attracting younger members, particularly younger people who are willing to take on leadership roles (see our recent Opinion Piece on this issue).

Many people have suggested that a part of the problem is the somewhat staid and less-than-exciting image of bushwalking clubs in Australia. Accordingly an important question is should we consider a change of image and possibly our names within the bushwalking movement?

We would love it if you would help Bushwalking NSW further explore these issues by completing our 3-minute survey: Community perceptions on bushwalking and outdoor adventure terminology. By completing this survey you will be in the running for one of several great prizes, including three $150 gift cards from Paddy Pallin and five subscriptions to Wild magazine.

For more information please contact us at: youngpeopleinclubs@bushwalkingnsw.org.au

Outdoors People for Climate Concluding

We’re reaching out today to let you know that we have made the decision to close the organisation, Outdoors People for Climate. This decision was not taken lightly by our board of directors who took into consideration, primarily, the organisation’s capacity to continue OPC’s activities, as well as the changing context of the climate movement.

Whilst this organisation is reaching its conclusion, there are so many existing and emerging people-powered organisations that are driving important change across Australia.

Looking back over OPC’s lifetime, we are incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm, support and action generated by our community of supporters. We can be immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together to date. When Covid-19 kept us mostly indoors, we moved our bank accounts and superannuation away from fossil fuels and raised our voices in submissions and targeted campaigns. At the critical juncture before our last federal election, we wrote to our MPs and took to the streets, had important conversations with friends and family and pledged to vote for climate action.

OPC hosted powerful climate conversations and presented at outdoor workplaces and conferences. We brought together outdoor representatives for the climate change Better Futures Forum 2021 and partnered with Outdoors NSW & ACT to form a climate change subcommittee to explore pathways for action in the outdoor sectors.

During this time we’ve seen grassroots groups and everyday Australians stand up in an enormous outpouring of public sentiment in favour of climate action. This groundswell of support for greater climate action has contributed to important wins, from the strengthening of the climate safeguard mechanism to Victoria committing to end native forest logging in 2024.

There’s still a long journey ahead, and greater action is needed urgently to tackle the climate crisis and avoid the worst consequences. This includes ending the development of new coal and gas projects.

To all of our supporters who contributed to OPC’s work in a financial way, we thank you for your generosity. We have donated OPC’s remaining funds to the Australian Conservation Foundation who share OPC’s vision for ambitious climate action and thriving ecosystems in Australia.

With OPC’s activities concluding, some key organisations you may wish to connect with include The Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Protect Our Winters Australia, For Wild Places and the Climate Council.

Chardon Award 2023 – Leonie Bell

Some of you may remember that in 2013 BNSW held a Presidents Meeting to brainstorm ideas on promoting and running bushwalking clubs. I voiced an opinion that although the Confederation website had been great when it started, that it no longer met the needs of the organisation and we needed a new modern website. I was therefore gratified when the committee set aside some money and commissioned David Morrison to project manage a new website in February 2014. David called for volunteers to help write the content and since I had been so vocal about the website, I felt I should volunteer my writing skills for the project.

The website would have three aims: First to provide communication with member clubs, second to promote bushwalking and club membership to people considering engaging in the sport, and third as the state’s peak bushwalking organisation, to be the go- to place for accurate and current information about bushwalking.

Once the website was launched I was asked to update the content as required. Every so often Kirsten sends an email with a request to add or update information, or occasionally to write a new page. The website is much larger today and more comprehensive when than we first started.

Back in 2014 it didn’t occur to me that almost 10 years later I would still be working on the website. I had never edited a website before and I am grateful to have learnt quite a bit about the process, although I am certainly no expert.

I would encourage you to look at the content. The information is not only useful for people searching for a club, but aimed at new and experienced bushwalkers, and club committees. It contains some ideas for managing your club, lots of safety information, and details of Bushwalking NSW meetings, policies and submissions.

I was very surprised and honoured to receive the nomination for the Chardon award in connection with this work. I would like to thank the Bushwalking NSW committee, and Kirsten our wonderful Executive Officer who keeps us organised and on track, for the opportunity to work on the website.

Leonie Bell

 

Opinion piece: our bushwalking movement needs a change of image

Jon Grey, Bushwalking NSW Vice President and Young People in Clubs (YPIC) Working Group
14 July 2023

Bushwalking clubs throughout NSW and the ACT do not appear to be attracting younger members. This raises concerns regarding the ongoing regeneration, health and long-term viability of our clubs. I believe a change of our image is required.

I fear that bushwalking clubs, bushwalkers and the activity of ‘bushwalking’ do not have a dynamic and exciting image in the wider community, particularly with younger people. We and our beloved activity are generally not perceived as exciting or ‘cool’ but regrettably as rather staid and boring, and this is discouraging younger people from joining our clubs. This is a real shame, because most of us are in fact adventure seekers who believe in living life to the full. I believe we need to project an image of adventure and excitement to reinvigorate the whole movement.

My belief is that some change in the naming of our clubs is required to boost our image. Our names should give greater emphasis to ’outdoor adventure’ related activities, which I believe sounds more exciting and inspiring than the somewhat dull ‘bushwalking’ alone. I know that the term ‘bushwalking’ is held dear by many of us, therefore, I am only suggesting the simple addition of extra words into our club names, for example ‘Highlands Bushwalking Club’ changing to ‘Highlands Bushwalking and Outdoor Adventure Club’. At a broader level, I am also advocating a change from ‘Bushwalking NSW’ to ‘Bushwalking and Outdoor Adventure NSW/ACT’.

Also important is that most bushwalking clubs in NSW and the ACT typically do so much more than just ‘bushwalking’. Other activities such as cycling, canyoning, caving, kayaking and cross-country skiing are also widely undertaken. Furthermore, the term ‘bushwalking’ is not always apt when walking in alpine, or desert environments, or for overseas activity such as in Nepal, where terms such as hiking, trekking or the recently coined ‘wildwalking’ are more appropriate. Where clubs are just called ‘bushwalking clubs’ there is no suggestion they are involved in these other activities. It seems we are selling ourselves short.

It is interesting to note the gradual decline in the term bushwalking in Australia over the past two decades, based on Google search trends. From Figure 1 below, it is evident that in 2004 bushwalking and hiking had similar usage, but now hiking has a 20-fold wider usage. The term adventure currently has a 40-fold wider usage than bushwalking.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AU&q=bushwalking,hiking
Figure 1: Comparison of trends in use of “bushwalking” and “hiking” terms in Australia, 2004 to 2023.

In summary, I believe a change in the naming of our clubs is necessary to foster a more exciting and dynamic image within the bushwalking movement across NSW and the ACT. I believe the addition of terms such as ‘outdoor adventure’ to club names, and to BNSW itself, will help to reinvigorate the whole movement. We want and need young and adventurous people to think ‘Wow, that sounds like an exciting group! How can I get involved?’ I believe other measures we might adopt to attract younger members, such as increased promotion through social media, are unlikely to be successful in the long term without an underlying change of image.

What do you think?

Please discuss this issue amongst your fellow club members and email your comments to youngpeopleinclubs@bushwalkingnsw.org.au. BNSW hopes to soon conduct a survey amongst existing club members and also the wider community to help gauge perceptions of bushwalking and outdoor adventure terminology.

Jon Grey, Vice-President, Bushwalking NSW

Email: youngpeopleinclubs@bushwalkingnsw.org.au

 

Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2023: Event Volunteers needed!

Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2023: Event Volunteers needed!

Oxfam Trailwalker is a community event that brings people together from all walks of life. We are looking for dedicated volunteers create an incredible experience for our teams, helping them walk 100km in 40 hours to raise much needed funds to tackle poverty. The event spans across nine locations from Parsley Bay through to Bobbin Head and finishes at the scenic Tania Park. We have volunteer roles that suit everyone such as the ones below!

Trail Markers & Sweep Teams

Being an event based in the bush, we require keen and active bush walkers to head out and mark sections of the trail prior to the event and then sweep sections of the trail as our final walkers walk through. This is done in groups of approximately 4 volunteers per section.

Checkpoint Captains & Crew

In this role you will be the first face for participants and support crews at the checkpoint. You will assist with monitoring timing points and walker retirements, manage the food and beverage area and assist with car parking. Best suited for cheery, approachable and understanding people who are happy to rotate roles and create a fun event environment.

Perks?

Walk for Free at any Oxfam Trailwalker event in 2024!
A fulfilling feeling of giving back to the community and helping others in need around the world!
Oxfam Trailwalker food pack and volunteer gift

Want to know more? To volunteer head here to find out more on the roles available.

 

Tourism development in protected areas: Are we on the right track?

 

Tourism development in protected areas: Are we on the right track? 

Bushwalking NSW symposium 19 November 2022

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Summary

Keith gave a stirring call for the protection of nature and for retaining nature intact. See last slide for summary. Also, click here to watch the Symposium video and here to see the Agenda.

Speakers

Andy Macqueen – The Historical Perspective

  • the 90 years anniversary of Blue Gum Forest celebration is also a celebration of all national parks and the amazing legacy of Miles Dunphy
  • also discussed evolution of the conservation movement

Gary Dunnett, National Parks Association of NSW Executive Officer

  • NPA of NSW was established in 1957 to protect nature through community action
  • The National Parks Australia Council is concerned about proposals for commercial developments in Protected Areas
  • believes Protected Areas Management is veering off track

The findings of the 2021 NPAC national survey of community attitudes on development and commercial activities in Protected Areas reinforced:

  • the important protected areas purpose of nature and wildlife protection for current and future generations
  • Australians are twice as likely to visit national parks with low impact commercial tours compared to high impact activities
  • Any visitor services should be small scale, low key, of value to all visitors, and in keeping with the natural setting

Shadow minister for the Environment, Hon. Penny Sharpe

  • Labor’s task is to prioritise environment protection by increasing protected areas, curbing land clearing, establishing market based mechanisms to address climate change and retaining wildlife corridors
  • believes national parks have been downgraded – and we need to elevate NPWS status and increase importance of POMS
  • said invasive species issues are getting out of hand

Andrew Nicholls PSM, Acting Deputy Secretary, NPWS

  • The NPWS acquisition program focus is on under-represented areas of land
  • Australia is the world leader in extinctions – 85% of threatened species live in national parks. 
  • NPWS has a zero extinction policy eg feral animal control, reintroducing locally extinct mammals
  • 30% parks estate is managed jointly with traditional custodians
  • A key issue is stewarding parks due to increasing visitor demands on parks – the POM is the key tool used to balance conservation and recreation 
  • NPWS will use existing infrastructure where possible and will develop new camping facilities where needed. Options for those who want to pay more will be available
  • Economic benefits from national parks will flow to regional economies
  • NPWS will work within national parks legislation using a precautionary approach and consulting with the public

Private Tourism sector perspective from Mark Norek, Life’s an Adventure

  • Mark’s sustainable tour business model is to buy land near national parks for infrastructure, use local infrastructure and support local businesses. Accordingly he is adamant that there is no need for development in national parks. 
  • Outlined how his business principles have been successful with these walks –  Bay of Fires, Three Capes Walk, Light to Light and Kangaroo Island 
  • worried that NPWS is losing their direction and working for the big end of town

University researchers Ali Chauvenet – The Hidden Mental Health costs of the privatisation of parks

  • being in nature is good for our health – parks contribute $5000 per person per year in mental health benefits
  • without national parks there is double the amount of mental health costs 
  • parks privatisation increases the gap between those who do and don’t go to parks due to socio economic factors
  • there’s a missed opportunity for leveraging funding via mental health benefits but this needs to be inclusive and equitable
  • mental ill health is expensive and pervasive

Conservationist perspective from Keith Muir, Wilderness Australia

  • Questioned if the next generation will even know how to engage with nature
  • Parks development leads to more development and nature destruction not nature appreciation 
  • Partial privatisation is exclusive beach front development by stealth
  • The public are excluded from secret government/developer lease negotiations
  • Commercial built development in parks should be legislated against 
  • Local communities are bypassed and do not receive an economic benefit from high-end development
  • Multi use trails are a myth as they displace walkers in place of bikes etc
  • Green Gully developments are non-compliant with legislation. Horse riding negatively impacts on wilderness through weed spread
  • NPWS conservation role has been diverted to tourism management
  • Need to reinforce importance of ecological sustainability – manage parks for nature not humans

Legal perspective from Christopher Birch, SC

  • Gave a clear answer to the question: What stops development in National Parks?
  • While the PoM is the key instrument, the minister has powers to amend a PoM with only 45 days public viewing eg Beowa PoM was amended to allow hard roof accommodation development
  • The minister has extensive powers to grant leases and licences making it very easy to replace NPWS with a commercial operator.
  • EPA process: once the PoM is in place, environmental impacts are reviewed. Only have to examine and take into account environmental impacts as The Act doesn’t require impacts to be addressed. 

NPWS Greater Sydney Regional Advisory Committee perspective from Brian Everingham

  • Preserve Park Protection for Posterity
  • Educate younger generations to appreciate that national parks offer more than a backdrop to modern high-tech activities
  • More money for weed controls in National/State Parks
  • Protect national parks and use existing nearby infrastructure
  • Primary purpose of a park is conservation not commerce
  • The more we talk together, the stronger we are
  • Train young people to guide walks and maintain tracks. NPWS to run these projects and attract more people to walks.

Presentation Summaries:

 

How to set up a new bushwalking club – Coffs Hikers story

On a sunny day in spring 2021, a small group of keen walkers met at the Botanic Gardens in Coffs Harbour to discuss setting up a bushwalking club. But how do you set up a club?

This is our story. We hope sharing will help others on their journey to start and manage a bushwalking club.

Start with why, then how

We began by discussing our values, which determined the form the club would take. We agreed to set up a not for profit incorporated association and to affiliate with Bushwalking NSW Inc. This provides legal protection and insurance for our volunteer and members, allowed us to open an association bank account and get an ABN (useful for grants), and to benefit from knowledge shared within the NSW peak bushwalking organisation.

The minimum number of members for an association is 5 – we met that. Next we needed a constitution, and that required making some early decisions. For example, did we want to set a maximum period for serving on the committee to prevent burn out and stagnation? What membership classes were we going to have, and could children be members? We sought input from other clubs, and opted to keep it simple.

Once the constitution had been debated and finalised, our first committee was formed. The newly appointed Public Officer was given authority to go ahead and lodge with Fair Trading, incurring our first expense. Two days later, our application was accepted and Coffs Hikers came into existence. Our domain name was registered, and work began on a website.

We went to the bank to open an account and also set up a Business Account with PayPal so that we could support online payment of fees. PayPal charge of course, but they manage all the risk around credit cards and compliance, and we were comfortable paying for automation that eases the burden on our volunteer Treasurer. We set our annual membership fee at $35, to cover insurance premiums and fund the website, with a little to spare. Our first ten members signed up and paid their fees.

Once again, our group met at the Botanic Gardens to discuss our first activity program. Talking about walks is way more fun than constitutions! The final step in the process was completing the forms for affiliation with Bushwalking NSW Inc, and paying our first insurance premium. This was done in late November, just in time for our first walk on 4th December 2021.

So, there you have it – from initial discussion to incorporation, affiliation and first activity took us two months.

Automation reduces administration

We like to walk, but we’re not so keen on admin. We would rather not have to nag people to pay fees, or update membership registers, or, as leaders, have to remember who signed up for a walk and who cancelled and how many are coming now and what is that new person’s name again? Fortunately, we had a committee member with website skills.

The aim was a modern, low cost, mobile-friendly website that was easy to use for members, volunteer leaders and committee members. Before digging into the details of the technology used, let’s begin with some thoughts on how to simplify website building.

We built what techies call a “minimum viable product”. This avoids getting bogged down in committee discussion, designing an overly complex solution. We got a basic site up quickly, and learnt from that. We also tried to avoid reinventing wheels. For example, we link to Lotsafreshairs excellent videos and the Bushwalking Manual, no need to write your own.

Lastly, it’s important to be flexible with club management processes. For example, fees can be charged on a fixed calendar year (January to December for example, with discounts after July, and further discounts for families and concession cardholders). Or they can be like a gym membership, on a rolling 12 months from the date you sign up, with no discounts, auto renewed. For us, the second option was simpler and easier to implement.

Let’s get technical

As a new club with hardly any money needing a website fast, a bespoke outsourced solution was never an option. We considered club management software such as Wild Apricot, but were put off by the high price and concerns that it attempts to do everything without excelling at anything.

So, we went for a mix-and-match approach based on WordPress, combining different tools that play nicely together. WordPress iswell-known and widely used, development skills are readily available, and it is easy for volunteers to use. While we had the luxury of a member volunteering her time, we wanted to ensure others could maintain the site in future. Cost was important too: WordPress itself is free, with a large market of competitively priced plug-ins.

Before we could start building a website, we needed hosting for our website and chose Siteground as they have servers in Australia.

The website took about two weeks to set up and test, ready for opening our doors to new members. There was some maintenance work in the first few weeks of operation, as we refined our content and processes, but ongoing website maintenance is now light.

MemberPress provided us with a login system and the ability to restrict content to members only. We set up two membership classes (Trial, Full members) with different fees. We created an online membership form with a digital acknowledgement of risk and connected it to PayPal. We also provide an option for payment by bank transfer, but hardly any people have used this.Members can update their information, if their address changes, for example. Reminders are automatically sent when membership is due for renewal. We created roles for Committee Members and Leaders, who have access to extra functionality.

We installed The Events Calendar to manage our program of walks, cycling, kayaking, meetings and social activities. A calendar overview is available to the interested public as this encourages new members to join, but only members can see details such as leaders contact information, meeting place and time. We use Registrations for The Events Calendar Pro to manage online bookings, cancellations, maximum group size and a waitlist, an attendees list, walk reminder emails and more. A pre-filled sign on sheet is emailed to the leader the night before the activity, which makes it easy to remember who is coming!

We useMailerlite to publish a monthly newsletter and for occasional surveys. We could add a member forum to the website, but chose to use a public Facebook page plus a private Facebook group instead. Both the newsletter and Facebook have been instrumental in building community.

We also set up a shared Google Drive for storing documents and working collaboratively on committee meeting minutes and finance spreadsheets, for example.

We have begun work on a database of activities which will be available to all leaders in our club. We hope this will answer the question “but I don’t know any good walks to lead” and encourage our experienced leaders to share their detailed knowledge of local trails and campsites.

What works for you?

There are many paths to systems to support a club and build a community, these were our choices. We’d be interested to hear what has worked for other clubs, and your ideas for the future. We are still learning and improving!

Guest post by Yvonne Everett, Coffs Hikers President

Let us know what works for you here

Tourism development in protected areas – Analysis by John Souter

Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded.

What was true in the USA in 1909, when legendary American conservation crusader John Muir wrote those words, remains equally true in Australia in 2023. As proof, look no further than the suite of developments and proposals for tourism development in protected areas multiplying throughout the national parks estate. The race to commercialisation in some of our protected places has become a vexed issue.

The popularity of Tasmania’s Three Capes Walk has had mainland state bureaucracies salivating at the prospect of emulating the feat, even though there’s no telling whether it is actually making money for Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife. Commercial-in-confidence provisions in the relevant leasing and licensing contracts see to that. The ‘iconic walk’ fairy dust is now being sprinkled liberally all over the place. And with the iconic walk sobriquet invariably comes the business case pressure to commercialise and privatise in some way.

Thus we have the Australian Walking Company succeeding in its proposal to build eco-pods in the Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island, in which to house its guided walking clients on the 5-day Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. Expect to pay around $800 per night per person for the privilege. In this case the word ‘wilderness’ is something of a marketing tool but there have been serious proposals by such companies to build luxury accommodation in more remote designated wilderness areas: an unsolicited (and unsuccessful) proposal to do so on the Kanangra to Katoomba (K to K) walk through the Kanangra-Boyd and Blue Mountains Wilderness areas a few years ago springs to mind.

Such proposals are concocted, oblivious to the fact that the phrases ‘wilderness lodge’ ‘wilderness resort’ or even ‘wilderness hut’ are all oxymorons. But most of our national parks are not declared wilderness and the legal restraints that apply are fewer.

In coastal southern Queensland, there’s a proposal to build 10 ‘eco’ huts sixty metres up the banks of perched Poona Lake near Rainbow Beach in Great Sandy National Park to facilitate commercial guided walking on the Cooloola Great Walk. This national park also encompasses k’gari (Fraser Island); it’s only k’gari’s protection as a world heritage site preventing such development there.

Meanwhile, Victoria has come up with the Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing that will stretch an overnight backpack walk into a 5-day, 57-kilometre affair at the cost of many tens of millions of dollars. The consequent ‘low impact’ huts (with up to 10 two or three-person huts, a communal hut and two toilets at each site, this is more akin to a mini mountain village) are to be built at taxpayer expense but not available to the independent walker: the ‘preferred model’ is to lease them to a single private operator who would also operate the high-end accommodation and guided hiking package at around $800 per night.

Parks Victoria has already set its own precedent with the huts it had constructed at two walk-in campsites along the northern section of the new Grampians-Peaks-Trail. You can stay in these 4-person eco-huts so long as you employ the guiding and cooking services of either the Grampian Peaks Walking Company or Raw Travel and sign up for a 3-day guided walk: expect to pay around $900 each per night. When not being used by the two commercial operators (that is, most of the time), the huts lie unoccupied.

New South Wales has come late to the party but is busily making up for lost time. First up on the far south coast, the controversial Light to Light Walk upgrade, featuring two new huts. An earlier version of the proposal, modified after a public backlash, excluded independent walkers from camping at certain scenic sites and sought to force them to camp at the existing and less salubrious drive-in camp sites. The stay at the Green Cape lighthouse at walk’s end will be available exclusively to Light to Light walkers and will no doubt be bulk booked by commercial operators who will likewise seek access to the new huts on a bulk-booked basis.

At $56 million, the 4-day Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk will also have 3 new (basic) huts and campsites and a swish new Rainforest Visitor Centre. It is unclear whether it will be publicly managed or not: the department website states, ominously, that detailed operational procedures and pricing are not yet provided.

No such ambiguity with the proposed Great Southern Walk between Kurnell and Sublime Point. This 67-kilometre walk traversing Kamay Botany Bay NP, Royal NP and the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area, is already open for Expressions of Interest to find a suitable delivery partner even though no new infrastructure has been built yet. Once the new huts and campsites are completed, the suitable partner will ‘help run the guided walking and manage the new camping experiences using the new facilities’: more outsourcing to a private operator on an exclusive basis. The rationale for this – and I quote – ‘it … allows us [NPWS] to get on with managing our visitors and conserving the natural and cultural values of the national park.’ [Department of Environment website]

Apparently, managing walkers’ huts and campsites isn’t considered by NPWS to be part of managing visitors. If NPWS lacks the expertise to do so it should be recruiting skilled staff because the ‘provision for sustainable visitor or tourist use and enjoyment…’ is one of the legislated management principles under which it operates. You can bet that if a guided-walks operator is managing the new huts, their clients will get priority or even exclusivity, with independent walkers relegated to the camping platforms.

For something far more egregious, look to the plans for the long awaited and recently created Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area (SCA). No sooner had it been declared than a draft Plan of Management was released for public consultation. The problem with this slimline document was it had almost nothing of substance in it. All detail of what is being proposed for the SCA – a veritable theme park in the park’s ‘Lost City’ area – was devolved to a separate document: a draft Master Plan for the delivery of $50 million-worth of eco-adventure tourism.

The problem (or, more cynically, the trick) is that the master plan is a non-statutory document – it doesn’t need to be adopted by the Environment Minister, nor would it require public consultation to alter it; it could be changed at will. Along with zip-line courses, a via ferrata rock scrambling course and 4WD touring routes, there will be the multi-day hut-to-hut Wollemi Great Walk. No doubt, the huts, to be built with taxpayer funding, will again be effectively privatised through a long-term lease to a ‘preferred operator’, an all-too-familiar trope.

There are other ways of operating such long-distance walks that are still compatible with the high-end market. You can walk Victoria’s popular Great Ocean Walk the luxe way, staying off-park each night at the same luxury walkers lodge (midway at Johanna, which is not part of the park) and being transported with your daypack each day to the trailhead. Similarly, WA’s Cape to Cape Walk can be done in guided luxury, staying at Margaret River.

Kosciuszko’s new 55-km, 4-day Snowies Alpine Walk between Guthega and Lake Crackenback (Thredbo River) will be able to be walked self-guided or guided but staying at existing infrastructure at Guthega, Charlotte Pass and Perisher. Close to home, Shoalhaven’s soon-to-open 34-km Murramarang Coast Walk can be walked pack-free and with a roof over your head, staying either off-park (operators are already advertising guided package deals) or on-park at pre-existing accommodation, for example the cabins at Pebbly Beach, Depot Beach and Pretty Beach. But with bureaucracies feeling the political imperative to monetise the national parks estate in return for the sudden windfall funding for tourist infrastructure, this model seems to be on the wane. Put simply, there’s not enough money in it.

The argument is inevitably made that guided hut-to-hut walks increase equity of access by enabling people to complete such walks who would not otherwise be able to do so. This may be true in theory but in practice, the high costs of such guided walks in Australia preclude the majority of people availing themselves of the opportunity.

I recently attended a full-day symposium organised by Bushwalking NSW on Tourism in Protected Areas and not surprisingly, several of these case studies were discussed. It’s fair to say there wasn’t a lot of love in the room for commercial enterprises seeking exclusivity or for National Parks management seeking to outsource responsibility for managing the assets that are, after all, publicly owned and taxpayer funded.

So what is a reasonable stance to take on these issues? There is a (hard)core of bushwalkers who decry any roofed accommodation and related infrastructure ever being built in our national parks. They would hold to the idea that only self-reliant and self-sufficient walkers have any place venturing there on multi-day excursions. This is not what I’m advocating here. I don’t have an in-principle problem with huts in our national parks – either pre-existing or newly-built – if they are truly low-key, sensitively placed and having a low environmental impact. Huts have a particularly valuable place in more hostile environments and I’ve slept in plenty over the years. It’s the model that’s the problem. Given that our national parks and other such protected areas are all public land (unlike, say, European national parks), my first objection is to any form of de facto privatisation: giving commercial entities exclusive long-term leases on public infrastructure or on land on which to build their own.

I don’t object to paying a (modest) premium for staying in a basic hut rather than using an associated campsite. But there should always be a choice. Nor do I object to commercial operators providing guiding, cooking, pack transportation, food drops, trailhead client transport and the like under an appropriate licensing agreement. But such arrangements should be transparent, contestable and nonexclusive and the financial details should not be shrouded in commercial-in-confidence.

My biggest objection is to any attempts to mandate the use of huts, private or public, as a precondition for undertaking a multi-day walk a la the Three Capes Walk template. At the end of his presentation at the above-mentioned symposium, I asked a very senior NPWS manager why the Green Gully track – a 65-km walk in the NSW Oxley Wild Rivers National Park – is off limits to tent-based walkers. Self-guided walkers are required to move each day between the 5 pre-booked, six-person huts for which solo bookings are not accepted. The cost, though a small fraction of comparable commercial guided walks, is considerably higher than the Overland Track. I got a sheepish reply that this walk’s overly prescriptive regulation is an aberration, a mistake not to be repeated. I fear otherwise. Thank you to Rob Blakers for Three Capes Accommodation Footprint images.

Three Capes 9/11/15

Three Capes 9/11/15