Snapshot: Deua National Park and Monga National Park Horse Riding in Wilderness Trial Monitoring Results
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Snapshot: Deua National Park and Monga National Park Horse Riding In Wilderness Trial Monitoring Results February 2014 to November 2015 © 2016 State of NSW and Office of Environment and Heritage With the exception of photographs, the State of NSW and Office of Environment and Heritage are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. Specific permission is required for the reproduction of photographs. [Disclaimer for guidance and technical documents] The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) has compiled this plan in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. OEH shall not be liable for any damage which may occur to any person or organisation taking action or not on the basis of this publication. All content in this publication is owned by OEH and is protected by Crown Copyright, unless credited otherwise. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) , subject to the exemptions contained in the licence. The legal code for the licence is available at Creative Commons . OEH asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: © State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2016. Published by: Office of Environment and Heritage 59 Goulburn Street, Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 Phone: +61 2 9995 5000 (switchboard) Phone: 131 555 (environment information and publications requests) Phone: 1300 361 967 (national parks, general environmental enquiries, and publications requests) Fax: +61 2 9995 5999 TTY users: phone 133 677, then ask for 131 555 Speak and listen users: phone 1300 555 727, then ask for 131 555 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au Report pollution and environmental incidents Environment Line: 131 555 (NSW only) or [email protected] See also www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978 1 76039 462 2 OEH 2016/0505 September 2016 Contents Overview ...................................................................................................................... 5 Major site influencing factors ..................................................................................... 5 Monitoring of horse rider track usage ....................................................................... 5 Georges Pack Track .................................................................................................... 6 Threshold exceedances: Georges Pack Track .......................................................... 7 Threshold responses: Georges Pack Track .............................................................. 9 WD Tarlinton Track ................................................................................................... 10 Threshold exceedances: WD Tarlinton Track ......................................................... 11 Threshold responses: WD Tarlinton Track .............................................................. 12 Shoebridge Track ...................................................................................................... 12 Threshold exceedances: Shoebridge Track ............................................................ 13 Threshold responses: Shoebridge Track ................................................................. 15 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks Overview This report is a summary snapshot for the period February 2014 to November 2015. Results from a final data collection period, followed by a spring 2016 weed survey, will be incorporated as part of the final review process. Supporting documentation, including framework, methods and biannual data summaries, is available from: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/policies/HorseRidingTrial.htm This summary includes information on the three tracks in Deua National Park and Monga National Park included in the horse riding in wilderness trial – Georges Pack Track, WD Tarlinton Track and Shoebridge Track. Major site influencing factors The Deua National Park and Monga National Park tracks are different in nature to the hardened vehicle trails of the Mummel Gulf National Park and Kosciuszko National Park trial areas. The Deua and Monga tracks are narrow bridle trails that average 1.4 metres in width, with high natural variation in compaction, vegetation and litter cover. Overall track usage was low. Tracks were occasionally used by walkers. Horse riders were the most frequent trail users. Tracks were occasionally used by native and introduced animals, with more frequent use on the southern section of the Tarlinton Track by cows and sambar deer. Monitoring of horse rider track usage Cameras were deployed for the trial period in two locations on Georges Pack Track, two locations on WD Tarlinton Track, and one location on Shoebridge Track. Of the five cameras, all experienced at least some period of inactivity (where the camera was not functioning, either because of faults/failure or tampering/vandalism). There was a period of camera inactivity on Shoebridge Track for 187 days (6 months) from September 2014 to Mar 2015 and a period of inactivity on Georges Pack Track for 131 days (4 months) from February to July 2015. Figure 1 shows the total number of detected camera passes by horse riders in the horse riding trial area. The total number of riders counted for this period of 22 months was 91 over 14 occasions. There was one instance of illegal activity associated with usage (riders with a dog) on Tarlinton Track. 5 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks Deua National Park and Monga National Park tracks Numbers of horse rider camera passes 30 Camera Camera 26 26 inactivity: inactivity: 24 24 25 Shoebridge Georges 19 Track Pack 20 Track 15 10 10 10 8 7 6 5 4 4 5 number rider of passes detected 0 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 month Georges Pack Track Shoebridge Track Tarlinton Track Figure 1: Number of camera passes by horse riders on the Deua National Park and Monga National Park trial tracks during the period February 2014 to November 2015. Shaded blocks indicate periods where there were no cameras active on tracks. Georges Pack Track In accordance with the Monitoring Framework for Wilderness Horse Riding Trial, biannual sampling events were undertaken in February 2014 (baseline) and September 2014 (spring 2014). Field delays pushed the planned autumn 2015 sampling to July 2015 (winter 2015). Further sampling was conducted during November 2015 (spring 2015). A baseline weed survey was conducted in spring 2014. A final sampling event is scheduled for June 2016 (winter 2016), in addition to a spring 2016 weed survey. Twelve sites were sampled at each sampling event and two cameras were placed and checked biannually. Figure 2 shows sampling site locations. 6 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks Figure 2: Horse riding in wilderness trial monitoring site locations: Georges Pack Track 7 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks Threshold exceedances: Georges Pack Track Biannual site data was compared to baseline data and tracked against set thresholds for management interventions. Measure Threshold Baseline Spring 2014 Winter 2015 Summer 2015 Sampled? Sampled? Within Sampled? Within Sampled? Within threshold? threshold? threshold? Simple (track) sites Erosion area (average % cover) 50 pp* increase Compaction (average kg/cm2)# 50% change Depth of track 5 cm increase Landscape classification LCS (landscape score) Increase by 1 Fan-out sites Compaction (average kg/cm2) 50% change Site average Track width (m) 10% & 20% increase Erosion area (average % cover) 20 pp increase Compaction (average kg/cm2) 100% change Other indicators Weed species Any new species - n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Weeds (% cover) 20 pp increase - n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Pathogens 1. Visual evidence 2. Confirmed presence Heritage assets None identified n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n..a Social cohesion Complaint *percentage points; #kilograms per centimetre squared 8 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks Threshold responses: Georges Pack Track Responses were implemented for threshold exceedances in accordance with agreed responses from the threshold workshop process. Measure Sample period Response Compaction (average kg/cm2) Spring 2014 Photo points indicated no intervention required. Expert advice from an OEH soil scientist was sought on use of this measure Compaction (average kg/cm2) Winter 2015 and the associated threshold. Advice concluded that due to the low range of values Compaction (average kg/cm2) Summer 2015 in the existing data, routine soil compaction Compaction (average kg/cm2) – Summer 2015 measurements should not be used to trigger a Site average management response. Final sampling event scheduled for June 2016 (Winter 2016) 9 Horse riding in wilderness monitoring summary: Deua and Monga national parks WD Tarlinton Track Biannual sampling events were undertaken in February 2014 (baseline) and September 2014