CAN1SIR1QILA IUIIWALKXN© CLUIS IINC. N1EWLTTT1E1Q IT P.O. Box 160, Canberra, 11.C.T. 2601 Registered by Australia Post; Publication number NBH 1859 VOLUME 25 NOVEMBER 1988 NUMBER 11 PnsMent's PattIe Fire has been a human comfort ever since we came down from the trees. The colonial artists painted the pioneers by their campfires. Songs and poems made the old black billy a symbol of the explorers, drovers and swagmen. So against this background it is nt surprising that the debate on the use of campfires has moved only slowly in the last decade. For we latter day explorers the thought of a camp without a fire, especially in the cooler• months of the year, is a cheerless one. Yet pressures to minimise the use of fire exist. Some of these come from our desire for wilderness - to find the bush that we walk in as it was a thousand years ago. Others come from land management authorities. In the ACT, for example, a recently introduced ordinance requires you to have a permit to make a campfire. In NSW state forests you may only make a fire in a provided fireplace. What then is responsible use of fire for the potential bushwalker? First question - could the fire attract the attention of the fire authorities? It does our conservationist image no good for us to be in breach of the law. Next - IS THE FIRE NECESSARY? If warmth is not important then maybe a fuel stove would do the same job without leaving any trace that we were there. I have attempted to summarise the fire laws in NSW and ACT in a separate article to help you answer the first question. The rest is up to you. Anton Cook TV VVV,VV YVYai November Monthlq Meeting This will be held as usual at the Dickson Library on the third Wednesday of the month, Novembet 16th at 8pm. This month Will Osborne from the ACT Parks Administration will give a talk about unusual native fauna of the High Country. This includes bogong moths, corroboree frogs, mountain pigmy possums and alpine grasshoppers. December Activitie5 Over the December -January holiday period the Canberra Bushwalking Club does not hold its regular monthly meetings in the Dickson library, instead a number of outdoor activities are organised. The first of these will be the regular Meroo Point base camping weekend to be held on December 3-4th. This is the ultimate in lazy bushwalks. I challenge anyone to white-ant a weekend that involves a mere tOO metre walk from cars to camp. Meroo Point is on a lovely stretch of coastline near Termeil. It offers plenty of scope for daywalks for the energetic . (eg George Carter's Clyde River, Castle Gap Trip), and surfing and sunbaking for the rest. This weekend is ideal for relaxing and catching up with old friends, for introducing non-bushwalking friends to the great outdoors, and bringing along those too young or too broken-down to do long rouqhs. There are one or two minor inconveniences: there is no fresh water so bring your own; and there is not much good wood to spare so try and bring a bundle. The map below will show you how to get there. Anyone wanting help with transport should contact the Social Secretary, Sally Petherbridge, on 480439(h), 898478(w). Then, on Wednesday December 81st, there will be the annual Christmas barbecue. This will be held again at Weston Park starting at 6pm. Bring your own barbecue plus a dish to share. The Club will provide refreshments. After that play sport, swim, talk shop or see the Walk Secretary about your plans. A sketch map below will help you find your way to the right place. The January meeting will also take the form of a barbecue. this time at Uriarra Crossing. more information will be given next month. W ESTON PARK MEROO POINT To t 4lidrd,46. ?t. meet- Ate€?- _ i3cL s%- --.% I C.- Jilonolith Dailey Shortly before the Annual General Meeting, Greg Ellis received a letter from the NSW Minister for the Environment accepting our offer of $1000 and our labour for track upgrading, erosion control, and reveqetation in the Monolith Valley. It was always accepted that our contribution would go only a small way to do what is needed in the Monolith Valley. The committee has written to the Minister, Mr Tim Moore, saying that we want to see the Government's funding priority for work in the area given high priority next year. We have said also that we hope that our initiative, and the Government's response to it. will encourage other community groups to contribute to National Park maintenance. The NatiOnal Park people have told me that our $1000 would go entirely towards materials. They would pay for airlifting and other overheads associated with the exercise. The first step in this project is to work out how best to use our funds and effort. If you want to participate in a survey of the area on the weekend of November 86-27th please ring me on 474148(h) or 810958(w). Anton Cook 3 Past President's Report It was good to see so many people at the AGM in September and most gratifying to see the numbers that stood for Committee positions - a good measure of the Club's vitality. That vigour has been expressed in so many ways throughout the past year: a healthy membership, well attended meetings and IT collations and an extensive and diverse walk programme that saw many new leaders come to the tore. For myself some of the highlights were the offer of substantial amounts from our conservation fund together with our volunteered labour to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for restoration work in the Budawangs; - the articles on Minimum Impact Bushwalking, Navigation and Walk Leadership in IT (courtesy of Messrs Cook, Carter and Vidler); - the Pine Island clean-up (may we see more activities that give the membership the opportunity to do something for the environment from which we draw so much pleasure) and; those great summer barbecues at Weston Park and Uriarra Crossing As for the effort of a very hard working committee, apart from the regular administrative tasks, major reviews were undertaken of the walk booking system and of Search and Rescue procedures. In addition, a number of submissions were made to the Victorian and NSW Ministers of the Environment and the ACT Administration on matters of concern to the membership. I would like to thank the out-going committee for its support during the year and I take the opportunity on behalf of that committee to wish new office bearers all the best for the next twelve months. I look forward, along, I am sure, with the whole membership, towards a great year of walking. Greg Ellis The Correspondence Column A fellow bushwalker from South Australia is looking for somebody to walk with in the Western Arthurs Range in South-West Tasmania during January. He is also planning an earlier walk from the Walls of Jerusalem to Lake St flair starting on December 22nd. If you are interested, please contact me for details. No doubt you have heard of the very fast train proposed to connect Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. If you are concerned about the environmental aspects of this projects, letters should be sent to the Departments of Transport. Planning and Environment, and Conservation, Forests and Lands to call for a public enquiry into the matter, before the consortium proceeds any further. Cathy Keenan Notice of Motion "That the Club spend up to $120, from the Conservation Fund, during 1988/89 on repairs to a stove for, and other maintenance on, Doltons Hill Hut' Moved: Rod Peters, Seconded: John Kyatt New members, in particular, may not be aware that the shelter huts in the Kosciusko National Park are maintained largely by users. The National Parks and Wildlife Service does put staff effort into administration of. and provide some materials towards, the task. The majority of Club members using the Park will have occasion to use the huts. if only for brief rest stops during inclement weather, The Club should therefore contribute towards maintenance of the huts. Use of the Conservation Fund is lu'a' considered appropriate because use of the huts by walkers and skiers can reduce the impact of campfires and camping on the park. The existing stove at Boltons Hill Hut is unserviceable. As a result, users of the area, have been lighting campfires near the hut. Installation of a small, serviceable stove is expected to reduce use of firewood in the area. Rod Peters Fire Regulations in NSW and ACT In 146W two acts govern the use of fire - the Forestry Act, applying to state forests, and the Bushfire Act applying to elsewhere in NEW. In the ACT there is a Careless Use of Fire Ordinance. This article summarises the main points relevant to campfires. General Rule5 Without going into fine print there are a few general rules that apply wherever you are. A lighted portable fuel or gas stove is a fire in the terms of the bushfire regulations. Fires must be built in cleared ground. Fires must not be left unattended and on departure must be extinguished completely. Total Fire Bans In both 146W and ACT when there is a fire ban in force you may not light a fire anywhere in the fire ban area. This completely cancels any permissions that you might have. NSW State Forests You may only light a fire in a fireplace constructed by the forestry authority, and you must clear the area around it.