Track closures - Wombat

goodday truckster
i was 1 of the 200 odd people there last night was interestingsome of the things discussed especially the "not very well advertised" bit unfortunately due to work commitments today i missed the outcome of the night but presume there is now a working committee with vic4x4 and other interested parties

steve

Well after reading that I am planning on going, but I will be in the XR not the Patrol...does that count?

We do give a care but many of us are so far away from the issue that it does not raise a concern. I would have thought that as there are so MANY 4wd enthusiasts in Victoria that by now you would have a concerted campaign going and lobbying whichever authority against closures. Why are the tracks being closed. Is it because of environmental damage or just bloody mindedness. There must be a reason behind these closures. Where do these tracks go and are they essential etc etc.

The big green groups have a lot of punch and they push wilderness big time by doing form letters etc and ensuring that they get on steering committees for park plans of management etc. I don't know the area your talking about ! But all I can say is don't just say keep all tracks open if you do letters etc - think about it and say that these certain tracks should be left open for this reason - think where there are erosion issues and try to come up with solutions or so - closure at certain times etc, gating the trail with controlled access by responsible groups - then the land managers know who has used what and these groups can report on the trail or assist with management issues perhaps. If there are issues with trail bikes and 4WD's head onns etc maybe you could suggest making certain trails one way. If extreme 4WDing occurs I can see this as a major issue for environmentalists - you could suggest certain areas for this type group with suggestions such as maintenance of these areas by the users with such things as erosion control devices like roll over drains, sediment traps, sediment dams etc. You could also look at the favorite tracks and routes used by 4WDers and other groups and suggest zones - one area for bushwalkers and one or horses, bikes , 4WDs and the provision of buffers between some of these conflicting groups. Example trail bikes which are noisey could be zoned away from the bushwalkers and horses. Also consider the fire management - what trails would be used for what.
Hopefully common sense will prevail and your areas in Vic will not end up like the National Parks in NSW where there is no access by anyone except for the fit and young who can bushwalk everywhere. Wilderness don't let it happen - means that there will be no access - not even controlled access. Wilderness is just a way of getting political points with the greens. It is funny they when they name an area wilderness you would think that means the place is left as wilderness and not touched - wrong - if you get a fire in it they send in ther dozers and new tracks are everywhere. Wilderness shouls only be in areas where there are no trails and fire can be let run if they are ignited naturally by lightning.
Anyway sounds like I should get down there and see it before it is closed.
Do we have a contact where support for the non closure of the area can be forwarded. Also is there a tourist map on the area which shows all the trails (perferrably avail on the net).

one of the few places in the region that allows a fair spread of all recreational users , NOW on group want it for themselves , I THINK NOT!!!!

First of all they stopped logging then closed many tracks for users in vehicles .

Ask some jobless timbermill workers in town an watch for their response .

basically the city hippies move up here then tell people how to keep their forest alive by basically stopping all access by all parties except of course tree hugging love hippies on a federally funded fact finding mission to show the government has there views to heart (bollocks!).

I B4 i had my own 4by was a fairly avid bushwalker with sensible vies on sustainabilty but todays government has it wrong in many ways with many NSW parks closed altogether and many with restricted access the same apparently goes in QLD.
It is alright for the parks people to put a price on day entries to deter visitors but do they do an enviromental assessment when blazing new dozer trails (barring fire acces trails obviously ).

join the RUD yahoo group as truckster posted above in a new post to combine the recreational users to combat more closures!

Following up on the whole of this thread.

Apologies to the site owners for following Trucksters example of using bad language..unforgivable. I see however that the bad language substituter is working. Thank you for that.

These issues of closures etc are emotive and people get so wound up about them blaming everyone who is seemingly against whatever we as 4x4 recreationalist do. Whilst the area concerned is a long way away from where I am it is still a worry that area are being closed to the public.

The only way to fioght this is to bombard the Minister concerned with letters and emails as the final say rests with him/her.

So many time you have posted these issues on this forum without giving any for or against proposals or presentiung any facts. Then posters get on the bandwagon and cry out their own bit of hysteria which in the end is just a lot of hot air.

If you want us to help then do something constructive about it. Tell us the facts and give us a run down on the issues and the contact addresses of the politicians responsible for these areas and then maybe we will be able to help.

Hi Willem,
Truckster provided the site in an earlier post
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Rugvictoria
Regards
Joe

I do a lot of 4wdriving in Lerdederg and Wombat and speaking to the ranger. I have found that some of the tracks that are closed are because it's in a water catchment area and are trying to prevent silt build up. And I have also been told they may be opening up tracks again that where closed but they will colour coded as to how hard they will be. And you enter at your own risk and if you get stuck don't call the ranger he will just refer you to the SES at Bachus Marsh.

Rossco