Category: BTAC

Posted on by

BTAC Track Maintenance, Myrtle Loop Walk, Yarra Ranges NP

The aim of this project was to reopen the Myrtle Loop Walk at the Beeches Picnic Area on Lady Talbot Drive out of Marysville. This short (600m) loop walk had been closed for a long time due to lots of large fallen timber after the Black Saturday fires.

To work out the scope of the job, Ranger Steve, John and myself did a recce in the week before. We found the line of the track sometimes with great difficulty, needing to negotiate multiple large logs across each other. It didn’t take long for us to realise that this is a high value track that would be worth the effort to re-establish. It is a fine example of the regenerating Myrtle Beech and Ash forest of the area. There is lots of interesting fungi on display at present.

 

The plan of attack was to put a team of 2 arbor saws, a hedgetrimmer and thrower through to clear space for the big saws and track clearers to work. As there was much wood in varying states of decay on the track, the clearers were armed with crowbars and mattock to break it up or lever it off the track. A brushcutter did a final cleanup after everyone was through.

We took advantage of being only 300m from the trailer and had a sausage sizzle for lunch with tea or coffee with carrot cake.

The teams worked through the track very efficiently (maybe the caffeine at lunch helped) and we completed the circuit by the end of the day.

Marysville Caravan Park was a good base being very close to a bakery and pub. No doubt we all enjoyed a pub meal in the evening with the satisfaction of having worked well as a team and finishing the job earlier than expected. To quote one volunteer, “it was good to see a worthwhile track transition from woe to go”.

11 Volunteers – 5 chainsaws, 1 hedgetrimmer, 1 brushcutter, 2 crowbars, mattock and rake.

600m of track cleared (re-established) in 77 volunteer work hours plus 46 travel hours.

Patrick Platt

Activity Leader

8-10 May 2026

Posted on by

BTAC AAWT Square Top Clearing

The AAWT in the region of Square Top had a clearing in February 2024. However, the job was not completed, principally because of the long distance to walk in the tools from The Nobs. After much consideration, planning, postponing and re-planning, the job was finally done in mid-May. Two rangers and four BTAC volunteers met in Mansfield on Thursday 14 May. In two Parks Vic vehicles, we drove up Mount Clear Track to camp about 1 km west of where this 4WD track meets the AAWT, about 2 km north of Mt Clear. That afternoon, we walked our tools, fuel and protective gear up over Mt Clear to the saddle just before Square Top, leaving it there in preparation for the next day.

On day 2 we walked in again over Mt Clear and set to work. There was plenty for the chainsaws to do but relatively light work for the hedge trimmers, until we came to the saddle half-way along Square Top. We were then faced with chest-high overgrowing scrub of alpine pea, completely obscuring the track. We managed to cut a wide path through and met up with the start of the previously cleared work, just in time to begin our walk back. With the chainsaws doing a little further tidying up along the way, we arrived back at the vehicles just as the daylight was fading.

Rangers James and Emily excelled in catering for us, including cooking a delicious barbecue meal both nights. We were glad to have had the job postponed to this time: the weather was perfect- clear
skies and cool, sunny days.

Another small section of the AAWT has been improved.

John Green

14-16 May 2026

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by

BTAC joins forces with FoBB to work on the AAWT

For a number of years now the Bushwalking Victoria group Bushwalking Tracks and Conservation (BTAC) have had an annual activity working with Parks Victoria (PV) and the Friends of Baw Baw National Park (FoBB) on various tracks within the Park with a focus on the 46km of the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) that is within the Park and the Walhalla Historic Area.

The original plan was to establish camp at Talbot Hut, situated at almost 1,500 metres elevation, and clear the overgrown section of the AAWT from Talbot Hut towards the Rock Shelter, covering 6.7km. However, a week prior, the weather forecast predicted possible snowfall and near-freezing conditions throughout the activity. In response, the team sought alternative work in a lower-altitude area. After discussions with Parks Victoria, it was decided to tackle the AAWT from Walhalla to O’Sheas Mill Site, avoiding the section currently cordoned off for Poverty Point Bridge repairs, which are expected to finish mid-2026. While not as urgent as the initial plan, this work would still enhance the walking experience. The change in location allowed volunteers to camp comfortably at Erica Caravan Park, enjoying hot showers, a campfire under shelter, BBQs, and electric kettles.

Thirteen volunteers participated over the weekend, supported by PV Ranger Mark, who contributed with brush cutting, chainsawing, and preparing a delicious BBQ dinner on Saturday evening. The volunteers dedicated 168 work hours to clearing and tidying up 6.6km of track. Including travel, preparation, and administration, the total volunteer contribution reached approximately 250 hours.

On Friday, PV rangers who had initially planned to help establish camp at Talbot Hut site instead cleared the Firebreak Track from Mt Erica Road down to O’Sheas Mill Site, covering 4.6km. This combined effort resulted in the first (or last, if walking southbound) 18km of the AAWT being cleared, except for the 6.4km currently off limits due to bridge repairs.

Despite forecasts for cool temperatures and showers, the group experienced excellent working conditions overall. However, one volunteer returned to find their tent collapsed and soaked. The volunteers did not escape all the leeches, and first aid was required for a couple of cuts.

Sincere thanks to all the volunteers for their time, hard work, and camaraderie. Appreciation also goes to Parks Victoria for their support and the BBQ, with special mention to Mark for his commitment throughout the weekend.

Joe van Beek
Activity Leader

10-12 April 2026

Posted on by

BTAC Activity Report: Mt Buffalo National Park Track Clearing 27 Feb to 1 March 26

10 BTAC Volunteers met with Parks Vic Ranger Zoey Godfrey at the Lake Catani campground on Friday 27 for a welcome and induction in preparation for an early start the next day. Zoey outlined her expectations and safety requirements and that we would be working on Saturday morning to clear tracks in the Le Souf Plateau area of the Mt Buffalo National Park.

When we left Melbourne heavy rainfall was underway across Victoria and by good fortune avoided Mt Buffalo and we able to get the job done in fine and warm conditions.

The trip was a first visit to Mt Buffalo for some volunteers.  As the work progressed all expressed admiration for the ever present expansive views of the rugged granite  terrain  and surrounding mountains, and this is reflected in the photos.

The Lake Catani campground is a Parks Vic hidden gem.  It has first class camping facilities and is a great place to chill out or go for a walk after working on the tracks,  Some volunteers opted to take up Parks kind offer of staying on an extra night.

The project was conducted safely with no reported safety incidents or issues.

The  main work objectives  for the weekend were to:

  • clear by brush cutting, hedge trimming , and raking excessive vegetation over tracks in the Le Souf Plateau and Cathedral area.
  • locate and clear drainage features on pathways, conserving their heritage value and sensitivity to further erosion using line trimming, matocking where appropriate and blowing to expose as well as cleanup

Tracks in this area contain frequent formed stone  steps and staircases . They have been in place for more than 50 years and required careful treatment so as to not disturb the placement of each rock step and its water drain features, and not to cause damage that will create future erosion issues.

The team used normal brush cutting, raking and tossing methods to clear excessive vegetation.  The ensuing drainage maintenance was more of a conservation exercise with track features passed first with a pack mounted blower and then carefully manicured with line trimmers and some low impact matocking before the blower was used as a final debris removal leaving the stairs, etc. looking like brand new!

Blowing causes leaves, accumulated dirt and debris to fly everywhere. We were fortunate to have hot showers at the Lake Catani campsite so we could all get clean at end of day.  This process, implemented recently by Zoey certainly is effective on rock stair tracks but not so on sandy surfaces where the powerful air flow can easily erode the track surface.  Well done to Robyn, Emily and Toby for their enthusiastic adoption of this new BTAC technology!

Other worthy mentions are Heather, Mark, Phil, Colin and Yvonne, for their constant hard work on brush cutting, raking and tossing, and to Peter for celebrating his birthday with us!   Also thanks to Zoey for the delicious BBQ meal!

For those interested we contributed approx. 240 volunteer and achieved the following stats.

Le Souf Track and side tracks to The Sentinel, Mahomet’s Tomb. Corral Peak and the Castle.

Works completed:

  • 1200 m Brush cutting. Line trimming and clean up
  • 800m Hedge trimming
  • 500 m Track blowing to remove debris and expose drainage
  • 400 m drains on Sentinel Track
  • Replaced totem and temporary sign on Castle track

The Hump and Cathedral track

Works completed:

  • 2000m blowing (up and down ) to expose drains and remove debris
  • 900m  brush cutting and hedge trimming
  • 500m clearance of well hidden drains
  • Replacement of totem on Cathedral track

Trip Photos can be found here

The project was a great success and we are all looking forward to next year

Mike Grant

BTAC Project Leader

The class of February 2026
Posted on by

BTAC Volunteers at Mt Buffalo

BTAC volunteers had a very productive weekend at Mount Buffalo, working on Le Souef Walking Track complex, focusing on drainage out to the Sentinel and brushcutting out to Mahomets Tomb and Corral Peak.

All but the last 140 meters of the Hump Walking Track was cleared on Sunday, again focusing on drainage,  vegetation clearing and some signage repairs.  We were excited to welcomed a first time volunteer (and not scare her off), while everyone else were repeat offenders.  One crazy volunteer chose to celebrate his birthday by joining the volunteer activity.

Thanks everyone that attended and PV for the wonderful BBQ on Saturday night.

Remember to check the Bushwalking Victoria web site for future projects. We have jobs for everyone.

Posted on by

What a weekend up on the Mount Howitt Spur!

These popular feeder tracks from the Upper Howqua onto the AAWT at Mount Howitt received some TLC. From 14–16 November, our Bushwalking Victoria BTAC crew — alongside the legends from Parks Victoria — smashed out 15.3 km of track clearing across the Howqua region.

Friday kicked off with an advance team clearing the 4 km Howqua Feeder Track. By Saturday, 12 eager volunteers were on deck and split into two crews:

  • Crew 1 pushed up Mount Howitt Spur and made huge progress.
  • Crew 2 tackled Queens Spur and the first 800 m of Stanley Name Spur.

Saturday night’s hero moment? A top-notch BBQ cooked by the Parks Vic team… after two of them had already walked and chain sawed 18 km of track. Absolute champions.

Campfire laughs, shared know-how, and good company capped off the night.

Sunday saw Crew 1 wrap up the remaining 2.5 km of Howitt Spur, while Crew 2 cleared 4 km from 16 Mile Jeep Track through to Ritchies Hut.

All up: A massive, productive weekend with some seriously hard-working volunteers. Huge thanks to everyone who got stuck in.

Check us out if you would like to join an activity.

Report and images courtesy of Peter Maffei

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by

BTAC Volunteers Enhance Safety on Paling Spur Walking Track

Paling Spur Walking Track runs about 3.5 km up from the Cobungra River, climbing roughly 500 metres and leading up to Youngs Spur, providing access to Young Hut and the AAWT near Basalt Temple on the Bogong High Plains.

A group of 11 volunteers and Parks Victoria Ranger Al met at Mt Hotham on Friday afternoon and drove 5 km to the turnoff to Brandy Creek Firetrail. We then travelled in 4WD vehicles 4 km down to the Cobungra River. After that, we made a couple of trips to walk our gear from the vehicles a kilometre along to our camping spot on the flats at the base of Paling Spur. This required repeated crossings of the Cobungra River to ferry our gear across. Despite the water being more than knee-deep and quite cold, only two volunteers fell in, and we were pleased to make it to our idyllic campsite. A fire was started to warm us in the cold night as we cooked dinner and discussed plans for the next two days of work.

Saturday started very cold. We formed into a chainsaw pair and two teams, each with two brushcutters. The chainsaw and first brushcutter team walked up the 500-metre climb to start work at the very overgrown top of the spur. The second brushcutter team cleared 100 metres of dense track beside the river, which we had passed on the way to the campsite, before climbing halfway up the spur to continue clearing. By mid-afternoon, the three teams met up, with enough time for some extra clearing before finishing for the day and leaving the tools by the track.

Al had carried in a barbecue plate and a large esky of supplies for Saturday dinner. The fire was started, and the food prepared — special mention to Andrew for his excellent cooking and to Ros for salad preparation. It was a very enjoyable meal; thanks, Al!

One brushcutter wore out during the day, but Al and Patrick managed to make it serviceable again for Sunday. On Sunday, in the milder weather, we all climbed the steep section of the hill again and, in two teams, cut our way down, completing the work by midday. After lunch, we ferried our gear back over the river and along the track to the 4WD vehicles, then transferred to cars at the top of Brandy Creek Firetrail.

It was very satisfying to clear such an overgrown track and improve a number of bends to minimise the likelihood of walkers wandering off course. Everyone worked hard, including using the two larger Parks brushcutters. Among all the others, first-time volunteer Jack was especially notable. We enjoyed fine weather, a great sense of camaraderie, and unity of purpose.

About 4 km of track was cleared and improved over the 500 m climb. We contributed 143 volunteer hours and 206 hours of travel, administration, and reconnaissance. The great contribution by Ranger Al in leadership, planning, and support was appreciated by all the volunteers.

John Green, BTAC Event Leader

Posted on by

BTAC in the Dandenong Ranges – New Project with Parks Victoria Olinda

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

Posted on by

BTAC Event at Bunyip State Park and Kurth Kiln Regional Park

About twelve volunteers commenced arriving at Mortimers Picnic Ground in Bunyip State Park from 3.00pm on Friday 11 July. Unfortunately, rain put a bit of a dampener on the evening, however a good campfire provided a focal point for socialising.

On Saturday 12 July the Supervising Vic Parks Ranger, Andy Musgrove, outlined the proposed work for the weekend and commence inductions for fifteen volunteers. The volunteers included two first time volunteers plus another volunteer who had recently gained her chainsaw ticket. One of the aims of this BTAC event was to train volunteers how to use track clearing hand tools correctly.

On Saturday we travelled for 20 minutes to the Kurth Kiln Picnic Ground where the objective was to clear the Tomahawk Creek Track and the Thornton Walk – a total of about 3km. The clearing of the tracks was completed by 3:30pm.

Ranger Andy proved to be a top BBQ Master and served the volunteers a very nutritious evening meal featuring lamb chops. This was a hit with the volunteers and there were encores for a repeat performance.

On Sunday, the fifteen volunteers were split into two groups. One group travelled to the Buttongrass Walk whereby 230 metres of gravel was transported and spread along the walk to facilitate all weather access. This group did such an excellent job that they fully depleted the gravel stockpile.

The second group travelled to the western section of the Tree Fern Walk. After the track was cleared stepping stones were hauled down the slope. Holes were excavated and the stones were placed into position. Near the end of the day the stepping stones installation was assessed by two hikers who commented that the work was perfect. Both groups returned to base at 3:30 pm.

There is still further work required to complete the Tree Fern steps and the paving at Buttongrass Walk but it may prove to be a good back up job if other planned BTAC events are cancelled due to fire concerns or other issues.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the event, everyone got on well together, the two new volunteers received excellent training on the tools and more of our senior volunteers experienced work that was other than track clearing. Also, Phoebe Nguyen was given one on one training by John Green on how to use the chainsaw safely and proficiently.

It was remiss of me not to thank the valuable assistance of Patrick Platt who accompanied me on the reconnoiter of the possible work sites.

Posted on by

BTAC Joins Forces with BCWC in the Mitchell River National Park

The Mitchell River National Park which is jointly managed by Parks Victoria and the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) is a favoured bushwalking area for the Ben Cruachan Walking Club. With sections of the 20km Mitchell River Walking Track from Angusvale to the Den of Nargun being a regular feature on their walk program. The track was in need of some serious attention as in many places the vegetation was forcing walkers to walk off the track. Last September BCWC supported by BTAC cleared 4km. Over the recent ANZAC weekend 20 volunteers, including eight from BCWC, worked in two teams. They checked out some 12 kilometres of the track and cleared vegetation from over six of them.

On ANZAC day afternoon 15 volunteers settled in for the weekend at the Echo Bend Camping Park, a lovely spacious privately run park with a variety of amenities including hot showers and shelters. Four BCWC members joined us for the day on Saturday morning. We divided into two teams with Patrick and John co-leading one team which worked north from Billy Goat Bend. John and Ken went out of their way to clear a large fallen tree about a km before Jurgenson Point. I lead the other team which worked north from Woolshed Creek near the Den of Nargun. After nine hours out in the field exhausted volunteers appreciated the hot showers and the BBQ meal cooked by volunteers but provided by Parks Victoria.

On Sunday morning a fresh BCWC member joined us for the day. We formed up into our teams with my team walking in to where we finished the previous day to continue clearing the track to the point where the crew finished off last September, 4km south of Billy Goat Bend. We did some light work on the Den of Nargun loop track on the way back.

Patrick and John’s team drove to Angusvale at the northern end of the track, walked in 2.5km and then cleared 750m of heavily overgrown track.

The weather forecast leading up to the activity suggested rain showers on both days, but Saturday was fine all day. There was some light rain at 6am on the Sunday but lightened to no more than a fine misty drizzle which persisted for most of the day and then got heavier when we were back at camp in the evening. Those that stayed over on Sunday night lit a fire, cooked and socialised in one of the camp’s shelters.

Thank you to all the volunteers for making the effort to get to Mitchell River and join the activity. Volunteers contributed 300 on the job hours and spent over 100 hours on travel to get to and back home from the activity. I was impressed with the willingness of people to help out with all the things that needed doing both on and off the job. Thanks also for the camaraderie which despite what the weather does makes these activities so rewarding and enjoyable.

Thanks to Patrick and John for leading the other team. Thanks to Parks Victoria for their support and the BBQ provisions which were very much appreciated. Thanks to Jullie and Geoff our hosts at the Echo Bend Camping Park and a big thank you to the Ben Cruachan Walking Club for picking up the camping fees.

Trail Hiking Australia commented on Facebook “The work you do is incredible and is greatly appreciated by all. Thank you”. The walkers and runners we met on the track agree with that.

Joe van Beek

BTAC Activity Manager and BCWC Tracks and Conservation Officer

Well spaced out at Echo Bend Camping Park