Mt Separation Survey (Victoria).
After our morning snow trip saturday, we headed up to Mt Separation
to check the recent damage apparently caused by DSE bulldozers in an
effort to close the short access track to
the summit.
Well they certainly closed the track to cars, although bikes have already gone
around it.
Keeping to the north of the devasted area we quickly worked out a walking
path to the top and surveyed the area.
As always there is almost no evidence of damage caused by vehicles, no old
campfires, no ruts, and only one or two drink containers could be found.
However looking back where the track used to be its quite another story.
The damage begins with the beautiful old tree, smashed to pieces where vehicles
used to
park.
Various mounds of dirt and trees lay all over the place where they have been
pushed and this continues all the way back about 200m to a new car-
park.
Previously there was no cleared area at the track start because vehicles could
park
on the large
flat rock surface of
the summit.
Now a huge, about 40m diameter area has been cleared by pushing trees and dirt
aside to presumably to create a
carpark with walls designed to keep cars in.
If reports are true (and I no reason to doubt them) that this vandalism has
been caused by a government department then I think that 4wders could be proud
of there long record at Mt Separation and claim the moral high ground in there dealings with government departments who appear to have so lost their way that they consider bulldozing a place as a solution to a problem not significant enough to even warrant prior consultation, and then claim they are short on funds.
Robin Miller
P.S. See Last three members pics
1/ Typical dozer strike
2/ Destroyed old tree near start of rock summit
3/ Un-necessary new
Carpark