Bush Cookout to lobby support for continued access to Snowy Mountains

If this is true we must, for once, make some noise. As a trout fisherman the park is one of the few places where quality fishing is still accessible. If the only way in is on foot the 2 week trip I have planned for later in the year would take abut 2 months!! Not to mention it is a beautifull place for camping and photography, both keen interests, and one I want to share with my kids some day. A 10 year old cannot be expected to hike in. I did it a few years ago for 5 days and loved every exhausting minute of it, but it's just not suitable for everyone.

It seems NPWS sole objective these days is creating untouched wilderness with no humans in it - except them of course. What they need to be about is managing a sustainable wilderness environment that can be enjoyed responsibly by all. If that means being banned from all parks for life if you do donuts in the park I am all for it.

Cheers.

There is a significant amount of information on the NPWS web site about this - No report yet. From what I have read today it would appear that closing the entire park down to all but bush walkers might be rumor - but as they say it's not over till the fat lady sings.

I believe that everyone needs to get involved and have their say in this park review, the ability to do this electronically should greatly increase the number of submissions received by NPWS.

Below are some paragraphs in no particular order of signifcance taken from the various press releases and informtaion on the site npws.nsw.gov.au web site.

-Rowan
Canberra

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At this point, the plan is still being prepared and has not been officially released to the public for comment. This will happen in early 2004, when the draft plan of management will be placed on public exhibition for a period of three months. Comments received during the public exhibition period will be reviewed for preparation of the final report.

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The NPWS has created an exciting new on-line submission facility for the Kosciuszko National Park draft plan of management, allowing people to submit comments over the Internet for the first time. Stay tuned to hear more about the public exhibition process, ways to get involved and the new on-line submission facility!

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The zoning scheme allows for horse riding in most of the Backcountry Zone (approximately 43 per cent of the park) and in the minor road corridor zone.

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At this week's meeting the NPWS, together with members of the Forum will review management of the Cooleman karst catchment. It will consider the option of reducing the exclusion area for horse riding to specific areas, along with the introduction of a monitoring program to assess impacts from a range of recreation activities

Follow the Snowy Mountains Hghway from either the East (Tumut) or the West (Adaminaby/Cooma) to Rules Point. GPS: 35 43' 15"S 148 31' 53"E

Long Plain Road intersects with the Snowy Mountains Highway at this location. Follow Long Plain Road North. Continue along Long PLain Road until you reach the right hand turn to Cooinbil Hut. GPS: 35 37' 27"S 148 35' 24"E

Follow this road to the hut about 1Km: GPS: 35 37' 53"S 148 35' 50"E

There is a huge area around the hut. Plenty of room for the numbers they are expecting.

A friend of mine rang the BUG president to get some info on Saturdays activities:

Apparently they have accessed a leaked copy of the management plan. They indicate it will be quite restrictive.

The function on Saturday, is a general meeting at 16:00 followed by a meal and entertainment. The meeting is to fill people in on where things are at and to inform on what protest activities have been planned.

The meal is bit of a fund raiser for their work. The are going to have bush poets / bush ballad people around on the Saturday night for entertainment. Mention an Australian champion poet John 'Tractor' Reedy.

They are expecting around 300-400 people. The BUG are keen on having any groups with a recreational interest in the area being represented. The bug is offering $10 individual and $20 family memberships as a fundraiser for their activities.

Hope this hepls.

-Rowan

I attended this 'meeting' - it was well attended by about 200 people, mostly 'local' horse people (my guess).
The meeting had many valid points and I hope the 4WD community gets behind this group because we are the people who require NPWS tracks to access the parks of NSW.

I drove to the meeting via Brindabella Rd/Broken Cart Track and the country looks great, although there is a section of track (Barnetts Rd ?) that had quite a lot of wet weather vehicle damage and NPWS were installing gates on this section (Dubbo Creek to Broken Cart) of track for winter closure.
I'm not sure what NPWS are worried about - most visitors don't go beyond the tracks or camp grounds and those that do travel further, walkers and riders, must have minimal impact. Of course a little bad publicity can ruin it for the majority - like the Bendethera NP incident and the track damage I mentioned above. I also think that a limited budget has a lot to do with decisions made from a high rise in Sydney.

BUG (Snowy Mountains Bush Users Group) needs a lot of support and will need to carefully select a suitable articulate person to represent them.
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