e-news TRACK REGENERATION WORK AT DINGO DELL, WEST OF SYDNEY. By the project coordinator, Matt Barnes, Public Relations Officer for the Land Rover Owners Club of Australia (Sydney Branch) Inc One of the most popular trips within reach of Sydney is simply known as The Caves to Caves Trip. It runs from the tourist ridden Jenolan Caves through some rugged and isolated bush of the western side of the Blue Mountains, to Wombeyan Caves near the Southern Highlands. Along this route, there are many beautiful camping areas worthy of an overnight stay, one of these is known as Dingo Dell. Over the last 25 years, Dingo Dell has been used and sometimes abused by many 4wders. The most attractive part of this spot lies on private property and had always been unfenced and assumed to be open for all to use. From the campsite on the Kowmung fire trail at Tuglow creek, the Banshee Fire Trail rises from the valley floor to the top of the ridge, passing views of a spectacular cascading waterfall on the other side of the valley and finally meeting up again with the Kowmung Fire trail at the top. Banshee Fire Trail Eroded Track Unfortunately, the abuse this camping ground had suffered, mostly formation of extra challenge tracks up the side of the hill through the vegetation to the track running along the ridge, and the erosion it had caused, had attracted the attention of the local water catchment authority and the National Parks
and Wildlife service, citing the new owner of the property with the responsibility of taking steps to stop this erosion to prevent silt runoff and weed migration down the creek. Dingo Dell Campsite Large Group at Dingo Dell Our club, the Land Rover Owners Club of Australia (Sydney Branch) Inc, was approached by the owner in November of 2006. He explained his conundrum and after some discussion, we offered to help. The Landowner offered to set this area aside as an exclusive camping area for the use of the 4wd association which, unlike the NPWS camping grounds, is more suited to vehicle based camping and to maintain access through his property via the Kowmung fire trail in order to keep the iconic Caves to Caves route open. First inspection of campsite and challenge tracks
Over the next couple of months, we visited the site to see if there was anything that we, as volunteers, could do. With the help of many other associated clubs and the support of the National Parks and Wildlife and Four Wheel Drive NSW and ACT, a program was developed. Beginning in April of 2007, myself, along with a couple of members of our club, would attend every second month and host a weekend working bee with one of the other 4wd clubs of the association. Prototype Erosion Barrier Barrier at Required Height Barriers with Foliage Mulch in Place The plan was, to repair the tracks by installing erosion mounds and barriers made from locally felled logs, laid across the track and recessed into the embankment on either side, stacked vertically to the required height. These, along with the left over foliage laid across the track would slow rainwater runoff to reduce its eroding effect while dropping seeds to help propagate vegetation to hold the topsoil together. Fencing Work in Progress
Moving Heavy Timber Positioning logs using a dual winch setup Amenities Block Takes Shape
The Long Drop Dunny Installed Followed by the Wash Basin The first weekend was spent installing these barriers on two of the tracks. This was more of an experiment to see if the process was going to work. After a few weekends of track regeneration, we turned our attention to fencing and gating the boundaries of this part of the property, then to the construction of a long drop dunny, known in some circles as a pit toilet, latrine, amenities block etc. Our vehicles, equipment and experience were utilised to move some of the heavier materials within the site and to the site from other parts of the property. From dragging fence posts behind the cars to one of the more ingenious efforts that I saw of rigging two winches, one at the top of the track and one at the bottom, to control the lowering of the larger logs down to be placed across the track as a silt barrier. The top winch spooling out as the bottom winch wound in, controlling the decent of the logs and allowing them to be safely positioned. While the tracks leading down the hill into the newly established camping ground were fairly straight forward to repair, our main challenge lurked on the other side of the ridge. These tracks were steep and long, they were also riddled with erosion trenches up to 4 feet deep these tracks also directed silt straight into the creek, which eventually flowed into Sydney s water supply. The National Parks and Wildlife Service took particular interest in these as the bottoms of the tracks were within a wilderness area. Our last job for this year was to sort out these tracks. With the help of the NPWS, an excavator was brought in to tidy up the surface of the hill on the day before we got there. Once everyone, including several field staff from the NPWS and couple of rangers had arrived on the Saturday, we set about transplanting common tussock grass from the campground to the freshly graded tracks and
Club Members Gathering Tussock Grass Ably Assisted by NPWS Field Workers we had a team uprooting the tussock in the campground and loading it into a trailer; the trailer was towed to the top of the repaired tracks, and then lowered down the hill on a winch cable to the required position where another team was replanting them. This tussock is a particularly tough species and has proved to be successful in holding the tops of some of the other tracks together. The NPWS got set up at the bottom of the hill and installed three mesh silt barriers across the bottom of the tracks. As we move into 2009, we are looking at practical completion of the job, with only a bit of landscaping and maintenance left to do. We have established an exclusive camping area for member clubs of 4wdNSW and ACT, we have also managed to reduce the impact of our 4wd s on the area and hopefully prevent further damage to the area. But, of course none of this could have been achieved without the help of the volunteers; thanks go out to firstly, the members of the Land Rover Owners Club that came back time and time again to help out, rain, hail or shine (also frost and snow), and members of the All Wheel Drive Club, the Suzuki 4wd Club, the Toyota Landcruiser Club, Overlander 4wd Club, Triple Diamond 4wd Club, Off Road 4wd Club and the Jackaroo 4wd Club who made the trip up from Sydney, (4 hours from some parts of the city), with numbers varying from 3 to over 20 people, to spend the weekend working. Thankyou and congratulations to everyone of them, they are all absolute legends.