Are Australia's 4WD enthusiasts wrecking the bush?
From bushwalking to ALL TERRAIN driving in the bush

"4WD touring is booming and it's putting unprecedented pressure on the bush. The increased traffic is also degrading many of the tracks...Many of the tracks are historical — initially built for logging, gold mining or firebreaks — and are not designed for four-wheel driving. These tracks proliferate, they very rarely disappear."

"Something bogs up, drivers go round it, and it gets bigger, damages vegetation and spreads weeds and pests...The rules for four-wheel drives are the same whether you're in a national park or in a state forest, you're supposed to drive them on a road. You're not supposed to drive them around in the bush, willy nilly."

"Seasonal closures can also protect areas at risk of degradation.The spokesperson says 181 infringements totalling more than $60,000 were given to people caught driving cars or riding trail bikes illegally off-road or in restricted areas last year."

Déjà vu of SUVs being washed in a perennial stream (Orara River) on the eastern slopes of the Dorrigo Plateau and nappies deposited on river rocks.
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-13/4wd-tracks-see-boom-in-drivers-damaging-landscape-high-country/104049400
#conservation #NPs #TheBush #NSW #TheDrive #Bellingen #Orara #rivers #NeverNever #SUVs #ATV #OffRoad #DomesticTourism #rubbish #weeds #toilets #degradation #car #culture #regulation #bushwalking #biodiversity #habitat #climate

‘Minds were blown’: These scientists were stunned at what’s happening on the NSW North Coast

“This means Forestry Corporation NSW plans to log three times more compartments of state forest within the proposed Great Koala National Park over the next year than they did over the last two years combined"

“It is spectacular. All the variants of this Gondwana rainforest – cool and warm, temperate rainforest and also the subtropical rainforest – is something that is so unique globally that you wouldn’t find it in this particular combination elsewhere... Professor Helge Bruelheide, professor of botany at the University of Helle in Germany, was stunned by what he has seen exploring the forests in and around the promised Great Koala National Park on the state’s North Coast this week."

“The tempo, the scale, the intensity of logging has all ramped up since labour was elected. It is a pillage. It’s a smash-and-grab operation by a loss-making Crown corporation. They are jamming boiled lollies in their mouth as they bolt down the street,” say Graham, who feels let down by Labor."

"One of the reasons the Victorian industry was eventually closed was because citizen scientists proved the state loggers were not properly protecting greater gliders. The failures cost VicForests millions of dollars in fines and access to forests it needed."

"As the legal challenges wind their way through the courts, the NCC is about to ramp up the pressure by announcing the creation of Breachwatch, a network of volunteers trained and equipped to monitor, record and report evidence of Forestry Corp breaches."
Must read in full>

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/minds-were-blown-these-scientists-were-stunned-at-what-s-happening-on-the-nsw-north-coast-20230831-p5e11w.html
#GreatKoalaNationalPark #GNKP #Gondwana #rainforest #botany #So50s #LoggingIndustry #MidNorthCoast #NSW #BellingenLogging #SaveTuckersNob #pillage #Moonpar #Boambee #Orara #koalas #biodiversity #climate #StopLogging