True to form, whenever Bushwalking Victoria’s BTAC Volunteer Group and the Friends of Baw Baw carry out track maintenance and conservation activities in the Baw Baw National Park the weather has a say in what gets done. Saturday was an ideal day for volunteer activities, but Sunday was a very wet day, and we finished early before everyone was completely drenched.
With 24 volunteers and two Parks Victoria Rangers attending we were able to split into 4 groups and tackle a number of priority jobs on this iconic section of the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT). The jobs included vegetation clearing, new board walk installation, drainage clearing and reinstatement and repairs to existing board walks.
In total the group contributed some 480 volunteer hours, 370 on the job and 110 travel hours. BTAC and FoBB volunteers travelled from all over the state to attend.
The vegetation clearing team cleared to Mushroom Rocks ensuring that this popular track is again a family friendly walk. This crew contributed 150 hours, future proofing the track for the next while, barring further tree falls. The drainage crew which covered the largest distance did some 55 hours. The rain on Sunday tested their work and it stood up well. The board walk repair crew did 40 hours and made an impressive difference. The construction crew did 80 hours constructing and installing new boardwalk sections. Unfortunately, this team had to redo the installation plan as the previously placed location ribbons had all been removed by persons unknown. Ranger Mark’s excellent planning works had to be repeated before they could start. Well done to everyone.
One small and one large project remain. The small project is to install one remaining section of board walk. 11 of the 12 sections were installed over the weekend. The larger project is to return the Beech Gully Nature Trail to a walkable state and its former glory.
It was good to see how flexible everyone was to pitch in with the tasks as required. Thanks to Patrick, David, Peter and Mark for leading the teams and Simon for bringing his skills and tools to the construction work.
Thanks to all the volunteers for making the effort to get to Erica for this activity and for all the contributions towards the work despite the weather. The activity was safe and incident free. Thanks also for the camaraderie. It is the volunteers that make these events enjoyable, rewarding and fun activities, so thanks again. Thanks also to Parks Victoria for their support and provision of Saturday’s BBQ to feed the hungry volunteers. Thanks to the Parks Victoria Rangers for all the preparation work, leadership and contributions over the weekend. Finally, a shout out to Anthony and Janine of the Erica Caravan Park who provided camping accommodation for our volunteers at a very generous rate and to the FoBB who picked up the accommodation tab.
Joe van Beek, BTAC Convenor and FoBB Member
Peter Maffei, President FoBB and BTAC Volunteer
