wood fires

Not too sure on what the long term objective of the NPWS is gujimbo - apart from locking everything up, and for what reason I'll never know.

Enjoy the State Forests etc while you can, before these oxygen thief office jockeys, who've probably never been out of the their big smoke ivory towers take them over too.

What they're doing is "wrong"

Pretty clear there are three things they are concerned about: fire, disease, and habitat destruction via wood gathering. The more places are used the bigger these issues become.

Greetings.
I am all for the banning of fires. I know I am not going to win any popularity contests with this statement but having to HAVE fires is a state of mind.
I am fortunate enough to spend 6 months a year in NZ and the other half in Oz. If you see the number of Grey nomads - and others - on the road, the majority of them lighting fires every night.
The fuel has to come from somewhere and yes, it comes from the bush. Habitat destruction in a big way. We all know campers that even carry chainsaws with them and not just to cut up dead limbs etc. the evidence of desctruction is there for all to see.

I can live happily ever after without campfires and am sure, so can you. After all its all between the ears.

Happy camping and see you back in April.

Cheers, Case

I think this covered was in an earlier post GUjimbo.

And its so sad, generally this stuff is done by people with good intentions but flawed logic - or more correctly a short term point of view.

The usual outcome is to make things worse overall.

Constantly get amazed at some of the unintended consequences, just yesterday was researching something and came across the mandatory bicycle Helmet laws, seems like a good idea at first, but the practical outcome in Australia was to effectivily cost over 3000 lives.

My approach is to never do nothing, be firm & creative in your response,
its generally easy to make these things revenue negative as far as they affect oneself.

Yes we love a fire when appropriate for camp oven cooking etc. However we have been horrified by the attitudes and practices of many who profess to love the bush! One fairly popular campground, originally grassed and shaded, was reduced to a near desert. Every camper had to light his OWN (unnecessarily ENORMOUS) fire in his OWN place so there were large burnt out fire pits dug all over the place, often only a metre or two from that of a previous camper! These had mostly been just left to die out or not when the campers left the site, and, as we found out, were often still hot beneath the top ashes days later. This practice cost our dog a badly burnt paw and us a vet's bill! Any twig within reach had been hacked off with shade rapidly diminishing! The neighbouring farm property was raided for wood, with damage done to trees and habitat and probably fences.
No doubt that great camp spot will soon be either closed or gated with an admission fee and a supervisor!
Why do all these people carelessly destroy the very attractions they claim to value? Is it possible to educate them? Lynne

Please remember these are YOUR National Parks





SO KEEP OUT!!!!

We were at Manning Gorge last year and every man and his dog had a fire. The smoke rose up 5 metres then spread horizontally throughout the campground. Having dinner in the van ( not watching TV) and the smell overwhelmed us - no fun at all. You couldn't escape it. Put it down to another bush experience LOL....W

I love a Camp Fire, however National Parks have been set aside to protect the original natural plants and animals in the area.

We still have fires when we camp in a host of other places where the native plants and animals has already been decimated.

Hullo gujimbo
Worth linking to 897312 which covered same subject
Some informed comments there, particularly (but not only) from Phil G
Cheers
Andrew

A couple of years ago on a trip through the Kimberlies, in a number of National Park camps there were fire rings at several locations and the rangers supplied the fire wood. It was great. We (complete strangers) all sat around it, cooked our tea on it and got to know each other a little bit.

Regards,
Bob

Believing that this had not YET been decided, I emailed National Parks and received the following response:

"Thank you for your email regarding wood fires in Witjira National Park. At this stage wood fires, whether from wood sourced from the park or outside the park, have not been banned.

"The Witjira Co-management Board are proposing a ban on wood fires from January 2012, including wood sourced from outside the park. However, this is a proposal and is not yet been confirmed. Stakeholder consultation is still being undertaken and there are several issues that still need to be discussed and worked through.

"The Board (will) meet again early December 2011 to discuss this and other park matters, so the best I can offer you at this stage is that it is still a proposal and if it is determined that this proposal will be set into action, then notification of a ban will be communicated via the media, the Desert Parks Bulletin, and other means to inform people intending to travel. If the proposal does not go ahead, it will be business as usual."

I suggest that all parties concerned that this might restrict their enjoyment of the Park, make immediate written representations. Remember, if you don't write then you can't realistically object to the decision.

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fire dangers aside, I enjoy a camp fire. In general its just a lazy way of law enforcement, like banning knives so they cant be used for a robbery.

Far better Id say to PROVIDE a safe area for a fire, and perhaps a quantity of firewood also.
As said above it will be a social area for those so inclined to share a yarn etc.