[talk-au] Deletion of walking tracks/paths

[Tom Brennan]

I was somewhat bemused by the comment:
"As Ranger of Macquarie Pass National Park (New South Wales, Australia) 
I am writing to advise that these tracks either do not exist or are 
illegal tracks, which have been closed based on a risk assessment and 
legal advice following a serious incident.
Illegal tracks are also causing significant environmental degradation 
and impacts to threatened species and are not suitable for use".

One of the closed tracks is the Jump Rock track, which is listed as such 
on the NPWS alerts for Macquarie Pass:
https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/macquarie-pass-national-park/local-alerts

However, a number of the other tracks do exist - I've walked them - and 
as far as I am aware, are not closed. Though perhaps there is 
on-the-ground signage about closure(?). There is no general prohibition 
about walking off marked tracks in Macquarie Pass NP (ref. Plan of 
Management), so not sure about the "illegal tracks" comment.

The tracks are certainly not signposted, but are regularly used and 
followed by canyoners. Trail visibility is at best intermediate 
(probably less for some).

It is good that NPWS has engaged. I suspect they probably need a policy 
or approach at a higher level than individual national parks or rangers. 
The officer who made the OSM updates has obviously been instructed by 
the local area ranger, but probably doesn't have the on-the-ground details.

Each park has its own management challenges and that general approach 
would probably get tailored depending on the park - for example, 
Macquarie Pass NP is relatively small and likely to be more impacted by 
track proliferation than something large like Blue Mountains NP.

cheers
Tom
----
Canyoning? try http://ozultimate.com/canyoning
Bushwalking? try http://bushwalkingnsw.com

On 24/01/2022 4:08 pm, nwastra nwastra wrote:
> For info and with some regard to recent discussion of US Trails Working Group…
> 
> I noticed a lot of paths being deleted by this user as requested by a National Park Ranger.
> 
> I commented with some suggestions and received the following reply in comments...
> 
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/116520175
> 
> https://nrenner.github.io/achavi/?changeset=116519029
> https://nrenner.github.io/achavi/?changeset=116520175
> 
> I am inclined to leave to others to consider.
> I would rather they be left in the OSM and tagged in a different way for various reasons but I expect we have little choice but to accept the NPWS decision.
> 
> Nev Wedding
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