Rebecca Hamilton, one of a team of rangers from DEC (the Department of Environment and Conservation) working in our local National Parks, presented us with a talk entitled ‘The Parks of the Hills and How We Range Them’.
Rebecca introduced us to the eight parks in which she has responsibilities. Although it is an advantage to have qualifications in environmental science and land management, much of the work in which she and a team of rangers are involved requires many aspects of public management and good communication skills. This important role of a ranger involves the relationships of the park and environment to the visitor services
The parks of the Darling Range areas extend from Dwellingup to Bullsbrook and include eight National Parks and many regional reserves. The parks can be found on the DEC website (www.dec.wa.gov) together with details about their scenery, amenities and fees. DEC’s Perth Hills Centre is within the Beelu NP (formerly Mundaring National Park) and staff there can provide details about trails and walks in local National Parks.
Some of the best known local parks include: John Forrest, Gooseberry Hill/Zig Zag, and Beelu. Some parks have been renamed using Aboriginal names to reflect aspects of traditional land usage and can be researched on the DEC website.
Important concerns affecting the environment of parks and public use are many and include: the use of motor bikes, quad bikes and 4-wheel drive vehicles; illegal camping (squatting); and illegal wood cutting with both chain saws and axes, all impacting on wildlife and natural woodland. Within the parks there is need for a balance between public use and protection of the environment: at times there can be direct confrontation between these. On occasions investigations on reported incidents require a combination of personnel using staff from other departments including forestry and water departments. Security is an important issue for rangers as some investigations lead to unpredictable or even hostile confrontation. Public access varies with the position of a park; some parks border residential areas and obviously have greater concerns with littering and dumping. Others border part of the Avon Descent and require special planning for coping with large crowds.
The public mostly act responsibly in the parks and do report unusual activity. One example led to the investigation of an odd pile of rocks revealing a dog burial site.
It was disappointing to hear about the large quantities of rubbish left and dumped in parks, with about 84 tonnes from the combined parks in a year. This includes contractors dumping, tyres, stolen cars and household rubbish. The cars pose a fire hazard and involve other departments in disposal. Encouragingly there is an 80% success rate in tracing rubbish to the perpetrators, resulting in prosecutions and fines. GPS readings on all finds of rubbish heaps are noted by rangers. Some rubbish, such as cans, can be recycled.
Work by staff within the parks includes construction, such as building steps and camp facilities and trialling new materials to best serve the weather and longevity, as well as routine maintenance of trails and paths.
It was surprising to hear about the large numbers of feral animals within the parks, many of which will have been released by the public and since thrived. The animals include mainly pigs and goats but wild deer and cattle are also found. As an example of the seriousness of the problem we were informed that 250 feral goats were noted in a three month period. It was also disappointing to hear that sightings of native animals are generally low and control of foxes, impacting on numbers, has been limited by loss of funding. However, we were shown images of chuditch and echidna, and work is carried out in parks with specialist researchers on animal studies involving bandicoots (quenda), some of which are microchipped.
Weed control is another aspect of park management, and is of great concern within parks bordering residential areas. Some assistance is given with a number of volunteer groups from the area such as eradication of watsonias in the hills area. Human agency is not the only means of spreading weeds. For example, some olive trees are seeded by birds. Blackberry, cottonbush, Eastern States eucalypts and genista are among the common local weeds.
Controlled burning and dieback control are other important aspects of parks management.
As residents of this area we are fortunate to have so many parks, which are much appreciated for their scenery, bushland and habitat protection, and provision of many picnic spots.
Rebecca gave us interesting talk and her enthusiasm did not seem dimmed by the many negative aspects of public behaviour. The work of a ranger is certainly varied.
Susan Stocklmayer