Friday, Jul 27, 2007 at 12:20
Umm, ok I want to say this without sounding like the fun police or an arrgoant dweeb... But.... (everything before the but is bull bleep ) LOL.
You may notice that huge tree/log that has been placed in that
water crossing where you're freind got stuck. That was put there for a reason. To stop people going in there.
A little background on the powerlines for you:
As you may or may not be aware, this particular track is one of if not the most popular 4wd tracks around
Perth. It's fun, close and offers challenges for the majority of differently configured vehicles.
It has also been under threat of closure by the DEC and Watercorp due to the fact that is it located in a
Drinking water catchment area and boarders a DRA (disease risk area).
Volinteers of Perth4x4.com have been working closley with the DEC and Trackcare and have adopted this track in the trackcare/DEC track adoption program and have sat through many, many tedious meetings with the DEC and Watercorp to try and save this track from what seemed like imminent closure.
A few months back we received good news after many years of debate that the Watercorp had decided to allow use of the Wester Power track. (we have lot's of people arguing over this, the 4wd and dirt bike communities, Western Power, Watercorp, the DEC and the shire of Mundaring).
The track is saved for the meantime as long as a few rules are followed that have been handed down by the DEC and Watercorp.
1. Vehicles will not come into contact with
water bodies on the track - hence the tree moved into that particular crossing, albiet it looks like it has been moved since I was up there a month or so ago.
2. Vehicles will not stray off the track at any time into the Disease risk areas, this includes the "4wd training ground" you mentioned, which is not a 4wd training ground and has never been, in fact it has been off limits for years, but people still insist on going in there. Those mud pits ARE in the the DRA as they are on the southern side of the track.
Perth4x4 has also had several volinteer cleanups along the track (has been reported in many magazines and newpaper articles) removing car bodies and literally tones of rubbish from along there to also help the cause of preventing the Watercorp from closing it off.
So in short, if you want to keep using the track, don't go through the
water crossings, use the main track that goes past them and don't stray off the track, especially into the mud pits area near West Tallbot road.
Here is a map I made up for Perth4x4 for it's members to help clarify what the strory is:
Now you are probably going to say "
Well there were no signs blah blah blah".
No, there are not signs other than the
water corp signes all over the place saying that there is NO 4x4 ACCESS. Of course these have been ignored for years.
The DEC are reluctent to spend the time and money on
signage as they are under the impression that it will be removed/vandalised with in months of being errected. Perth4x4 have been discussing the possiblity of providing
signage through volinteer's money and efforts, at this stage this is still in the discussion proccess. The DEC don't care that it is not signposted as if people continue to do the wrong thing, they will just close it - plain and simple. It's not their problem.
AnswerID:
254684
Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Friday, Jul 27, 2007 at 14:20
Friday, Jul 27, 2007 at 14:20
Good reply Jeff and I definately do not take unbridge with anything you've said. I actually contacted a member of the Trackcare committee to discuss the current state of the track and the potential problems with the amount of
water currently on it. Our discussion also went onto to say theat the Track is the most important driving area in the near Metro and all efforts should be taken to ensure its continued availability.
With respect to the pits, I was only recently made aware that they are in the DRA maybe Perth4x4 should approach DEC to either fill them or consider whether the DRA
boundary can be moved around them. I am aware that a number of groups use them as part of their 4 x 4 training.
Signage is good but I suspect that out there they will either be vandalised or ignored anyway.
FollowupID:
515807
Follow Up By: jeffwa - Friday, Jul 27, 2007 at 14:33
Friday, Jul 27, 2007 at 14:33
LOL, yeah it would be great if they moved the boundries, but I can't see that happening. That area, in fact, I think is one of the DEC's biggest gripes of the use of the powerlines. I doubt the DEC will fill it in, but really it wasn't always tracks in there, they were created by people driving through the mud in the first place so filling them in would only deter people until the next person drives through there and creates new tracks.
I think if they were to be filled in, it would have to be done through volinteer efforts again, but you would need some machinery up there to take care of that area and that costs some $$$. Signs, maybe, I think the best thing is to do what we are doing now and let as many responsible people know as possible, just like what P4x4 have been trying to do and I think are slowly getting the message out.
The knob ends that don't give a crap won't give a crap wheather the
places are officially closed, wheather their are signes up or wheather it's filled in, so I guess as long as 99% of people are responsible and aware of the situation I think that's about as good as we can hope for. We have already heard of situations where P4x4 members have spotted people in the area that were unaware of it, and they have now been set straight. The use of the powerlines almost everyweekend by at least some members of that 1000+ member
forum helps them keep and eye on what is happening up there too in a sort of informal policing of the area.
FollowupID:
515809