Roads cutting through mountain ranges and waterfalls
Do they cause landslides and reactivate old ones?

Temporary fix for Waterfall Way at Gordonville slip site
"Waterfall Way has reopened between Bellingen and Dorrigo after temporary repairs to the Gordonville slip site. The temporary fix consists of a gravel filled shipping container wall, two containers high and eight containers long, attached to the rockface using nine high-strength steel anchors drilled deep into the rockface." >>
https://insidelocalgovernment.com.au/temporary-fix-for-waterfall-way-at-gordonville-slip-site/

Video of landslide: Waterfall Way, Gordonville Crossing Landslip >>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGymAVc1u8g

Do roads mean landslides are more likely? >>
https://blogs.egu.eu/geolog/2015/01/16/geosciences-column-do-roads-mean-landslides-are-more-likely/

Could road constructions be more hazardous than an earthquake in terms of mass movement?

"In this study, we report a distinct correlation of mass movements and major road constructions that explicitly shows human impact on mountainous environments which are under anthropogenic disturbance recently. Our results further suggest that slope instabilities increased drastically after major service road constructions for hydroelectric power plants and as well as other road extension works."

"We also stress that the impact of road construction can disturb the natural slope equilibrium to an extent comparable with moderate (larger than 6 Mw) earthquakes."

"Such an observation implies that human activities can have a large, if not even dominant, impact on landscape evolution and the natural regime of surface processes. This is part of the definition of “Anthropocene,” an age where our society shapes nature for our purposes, frequently at the risk of damaging ourselves."
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-021-05199-2

Image: Sisyphus, Franz von Stuck, 1920

#roads #WaterFallWay #mountains #ecosystem #denudation #overloading #waterfalls #Bellingenshire #Dorrigo #landslides #landslips #infrastructure #cars #engineering #Sisyphus #mindsets #Anthropocene

The mountain is falling off on Waterfall! Way due to traffic overloading

"The road is a key tourism and agricultural route between north-west NSW and the coast, vital for the transport of livestock, dairy and produce over the Great Dividing Range...We've had 150 tonnes coming down over the initial 50 tonnes of material that fell."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-29/farmers-call-long-term-solution-waterfall-way-landslide/106257220

Landslide susceptibility near highways is increased by 1 order of magnitude in the Andes of southern Ecuador, Loja province
"Mountain roads in developing countries are known to increase landslide occurrence due to often inadequate drainage systems and mechanical destabilization of hillslopes by undercutting and overloading." >>
https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/15/45/2015/nhess-15-45-2015.html

#roads #landslides #slopes #traffic #trucks #waterfalls #mountains #Dorrigo #MidNorthCoast #NSW #tourism #FossilFuels #climate #WaterFallWay

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, Mak and I have an exciting announcement for our fans! Introducing our Turkish Mezze Platter

Mezze Platter---------------Medium Platter - $138Large Platter - $168.00 Fruits Platter--------------Medium Platter $55Large Platter $85

#bellingen #dorrigo #vallabech #macksville #midnorthcoastweddings #Mylestom #Christmas #mezze #turkishfoods #newyearsparty #newyears

Rare Earth Elements and Mining Externalities

"For every tonne of rare-earth oxide produced, roughly 2,000 tonnes of acidic wastewater are left behind." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-15/australia-refining-rare-earths-environmental-challenges/105969994

The new Australian-American $US8.5bn critical minerals deal. >>

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/oct/21/australia-news-live-michaelia-cash-china-jet-raaf-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-donald-trump-white-house-critical-minerals-deal-ntwnfb

Push to reopen old mines in The Dorrigo Plateau ,NSW in global race for critical minerals >>

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/05/push-to-reopen-old-mines-in-nsw-in-global-race-for-critical-minerals

Not So “Green” Technology: The Complicated Legacy of Rare Earth Mining

"But as much as technology is hailed as the panacea of the future, most of these innovations have a dirty underside: production of these new technologies requires companies to dig up what are referred to as rare earth elements (REEs). " >>
https://hir.harvard.edu/not-so-green-technology-the-complicated-legacy-of-rare-earth-mining/
#mining #RareEarth #externalities #water #waste #pollution #CriticalMinerals #ICT #cars #ElectricVehicles #EV #energy #transition #panacea #weapons #REEs #MiningExternalities #regulations #Dorrigo #NSW

Remember the Urunga wetlands waste tailings rich in antimony, arsenic, lead and cyanide?

"For five years in the 1960s and 1970s, antimony and other heavy metals leached from an ore processing plant into the melaleuca wetlands. The wetlands used to open up into a moonscape of light grey sand with not a single bit of vegetation."
>>
https://www.crownland.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-07/Urunga-Wetlands-fact-sheet.pdf
https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-5357%2120190227T035916.488%20GMT

Now they want to go for Wild Cattle Creek 'high-grade and high-tonnage' antimony-gold mining >>
https://www.listcorp.com/asx/tmg/trigg-minerals-limited/news/acquisition-of-globally-significant-antimony-project-3091939.html

A Clarence Catchment Alliance community meeting

is being hosted by the Bellingen Environment Centre,
with Blicks River Guardians and Lock the Gate Nambucca,
from 2pm on Friday May 31 at 16 Cudgery St, Dorrigo.
>>
https://clarencevalleynews.com.au/clarence-catchment-alliance-community-meeting/
#NSW #Dorrigo #Urunga #remediation #CoffsHarbour #mining #antimony #gold #extractivism #harm #WildCattleCreek #WCC #water #contamination #wetlands #rivers #waterways #freshwater #MarineWater #platypus #biodiversity #BellingenShire

Prescribed burn in the the Valley of the Giants gone wrong
Save the tourist infrastructure not the national park?

"A plan to protect tourist infrastructure has resulted in an estimated 180 large trees falling over. Western Australian authorities say the planned burn was carried out east of the Valley of the Giants precinct to protect visitor infrastructure. While the tourist hub was untouched, conservationists say the fire has been "catastrophic" for a nearby section of bushland, and the outcome should have been predicted."
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/popular-aussie-national-park-too-dangerous-to-enter-after-botched-project-053459736.html

The Dorrigo Arc Rainforest Centre in Dorrigo National Park tourist "upgrade".
Dorrigo Escarpment great walk review of environmental factors: public consultation
Have your say on the review of environmental factors

until Monday 24 February 2025.
>>
https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-management/community-engagement/walking-tracks-and-trails-in-national-parks/dorrigo-great-walk/dorrigo-escarpment-great-walk-review-environmental-factors
#tourism #infrastructure #clutter #Dorrigo #rainforest #systemic #failure #values #bushfires #ControlledBurn #NationalParks

The Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk

Intensifying the throughput rate with a series of soaring walkways through the Gondwana Rainforest

The $56.4 million investment in Dorrigo National Park will create “accessible, engaging and immersive experiences for visitors. The 4-day walking track will “connect people with nature... The new 46-km multi-day walk along the rugged escarpment within Dorrigo and Bindarri national parks, includes hiker camps, pedestrian bridges and lookouts.”

The review of environmental factors for the Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk is available for public comment
>> until 24 February 2025. >>
https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-management/community-engagement/walking-tracks-and-trails-in-national-parks/dorrigo-great-walk
https://www.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say/dorrigo-escarpment-great-walk

The Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk project has the potential to put though an extra 200,000 visitors ...>
https://bellingenshirenews.com/2023/11/22/new-opportunities-flagged-for-shire/

There is an information session at the

Gleniffer Hall at 10am on Tuesday 11 February

at which staff from National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) will outline the draft review of environmental factors (REF) for the Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk.

#biodiversity #rainforest #Gondwana #MidNorthCoast #NationalParks #NSW #BindarriNP #Dorrigo #AdventurePark #infrastructure #lookouts #views #cars #Climate #tourism #traffic #TheDrive #Bellingen #experience #stuff #walkways #ecology #MoreThanHuman #impacts

Stop logging The Great Koala National Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfW9OzspOX0
#TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #NSWlogging #SaveCloudsCreek #SheasNobSF #activism #Dorrigo #gliders #koalas #BiodiversityCrisis #ClimateEmergency

The end of the road trip?

The culture of 'the drive' requires sisyphean road maintenance, especially in a climate emergency.

Mobile sprawl as a form of 'recreation' eliminates the landscape. It is the annihilation of space and time. Motorists want to get from their door to the spectacle in the fastest way possible. The 'in-between space' viewed through the car window vanishes.

The pleasure cruise from A to B does not just degrade the landscape, but also eradicates possibilities of a livable planet. The overuse by the masses in their fossil fuel boxes makes the hillsides crumble, leads to landslides and erosion. After flash flooding, drought and heatwaves the roads have to be rebuilt over and over again.

Here are three cases of 'scenic drives':
California, Victoria and NSW

Extreme weather is changing California. These road trips show how
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/28/climate-extremes-california-road-trip

Climate Risk : The Path Ahead for the Great Ocean Road
Unsustainable Tourism
https://www.earlywarningnetwork.com.au/news/the-path-ahead-for-the-great-ocean-road

Waterfall Way scenic drive, NSW
https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/driving-routes/waterfall-way-scenic-drive
Why is the road called Waterfall Way ?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-15/waterfall-way-in-dorrigo-coffs-harbour-wet-weather-nsw/12986532

#TheDrive #Cars #roads #ScenicDrive #vehicles #MobileSprawl #tourism #FossilFuels #hazards #RoadTrips #culture #So50s #BigAuto #MobilityDesign #dromology #speed #GreatOceanRoad #WaterfallWay #Dorrigo #NSW #GlenifferRoad #landscapes #erosion #RockFall #FlashFlooding #ClimateCrisis