Perth Bushwalkers Club
Inc has a strong bias towards conservation - we respect
the bush and recognise that we must protect this resource
so that we can enjoy our bush environment. There is a
position on the committee for a Conservation Representative.
The Club's policy on minimum impact
bushwalking details how members operate in the bush
to protect the bush environment.
The Club has been a long term supporter
of the WA
Conservation Council and for many years Club members
demonstrated alongside members of the Forest
Alliance to end logging in old growth forests. The
Club supports the work of Conservation
Volunteers Australia.
However, the 'conservation' path is
not all good for bushwalkers. More recently there has
been a recognition that conservation activities can compromise
bushwalking opportunities, and in fact some policies for
conservation have resulted in locking bushwalkers out.
Some examples of where bushwalking clubs are at odds with
the conservation movement are:
- Fire
is a hazard to bushwalkers in the bushfire season (see
Club's policy on bushfires),
so the Club generally supports the system of hazard
reduction burns conducted by the Western
Australian Department of the Environment and Conservation,
rather than adopting the position of the WA Conservation
Council.
- The
policy for creation of wilderness zones restricts hazard
reduction burns and excludes mechanical transport means
(which includes roads). Western Australia's sometimes
very dense bush and arid countryside means that bushwalkers
are limited to no more than a day's walk from water,
and the presence of the water in season often must be
verified. Bush without tracks that has not been thinned
in hazard reduction burns is often impassable on foot.
This means that Wilderness Zones may be effectively
unavailable to bushwalkers.
- The
cessation of commercial logging operations in many state
forests, has in turn led to the closure of vehicle access
tracks which have historically provided bushwalkers
access to forest areas.
- Large
scale maps, which were originally produced for foresters
and were very useful for bushwalkers, have been replaced
by maps that show land ownership rather than physical
features, and are much less useful for bushwalking.
Some argue that this is a deliberate policy to restrict
bushwalkers access.
- Regulations
aimed at the conservation and protection of drinking
water catchment areas unreasonably restrict access by
bushwalkers.
» See Minimum
Impact Bushwalking
» See Dieback
