On Saturday 6th September 2025 twelve volunteers met at Butterfield Reserve to clear a section of the Dandenong Ranges Tourist Track. A section of the track had some major wind storm damage with lots of large tree trunks down and crown material blocking it. The Dandenong Ranges Tourist Track is a 16.5km historic route that goes from Sassafras to Emerald following Sassafras Creek, Woori Yallock Creek and Menzies Cks through some amazing tall forest.
After a briefing at Butterfield Reserve we formed two teams. One to work from Moxhams Rd and the other from Rankins Road with the plan that we would meet each other somewhere between. The teams were able to move through at a good pace as Parks Vic staff had taped sections where the track was indistinct or needed realignment. Luckily we had enough chainsaw operators to have 5 chainsaws running.
After the teams made contact in the early afternoon, we had time to work on the sections from Rankins Road and David Hill Road back to Butterfield Reserve. On Sunday one team completed these sections while the other worked on the track from Butterfield towards Emerald on the Menzies Creek section. Due to the wind speed picking up and knowing a storm front was coming through we wisely finished around lunchtime.
A special thanks to Mike and family who generously hosted the volunteers who stayed overnight at his property nearby. It was an enjoyable evening with a delicious BBQ dinner provided by Parks Vic.
It was great to work with the team at Parks Olinda, especially Shannon Walsh who made sure track marking prep work was done and who supported us so well with the chainsaw work.
The stats: Approximately 5.5 kms of track cleared, 132 volunteer work hours, 30 hours of volunteer travel time.
Patrick Platt
BTAC Activity Leader
Photos – Phoebe Nguyen and Mike Grimes