I'm not familiar with the tracks out at the Watagans, but there are some track closures planned there soon.

Here are the details:http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parkmanagement/watagansjillibdraftpom.pdf"]Watagans National Park - draft plan of management (3.1MB)[/url]

There is an online form for public comments/consultation on the following link.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pa...nspomdraft.htm

All submissions must be received by 30 March 2009.

I understand the reasoning behind track closures, but my concern is that tracks are closed, but none are opened to replace them. This isn't "management", as management would involve redirecting those recreational users to other tracks in the area. This is just forcing recreational users of that area to break the law as there is no alternatives to the current offerings being provided.

This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Knowledge of the location of most of the 4wd tracks is mostly passed between 4wders, and isnt made public and easy to find. So a lot of 4wders who aren't "in the know" just drive around randomly in search of tracks (even members of this club who have been 4wding for years dont know where a lot of the tracks are in the Watagans, being a newbie - i know even less!) and it gives 4wders a bad rep for not being considerate of public property, and the tracks that are known about, are driven into oblivion and then closed.

I've been looking around at the other states 4wd association websites to see what services they offer their members and the victorian association seems to be one that the others should be taking their cues from.

The VIC association site has track maps, directions with GP co-ords and reports and notes on conditions/temp closures - that are up to date - and available for everyone (not only logged in members) to download as PDFs at http://www.fwdvictoria.org.au/ (look under "track information")

This is the kind of information that I think NSW (and other states too) 4wders need to have made available to them. The NSW 4wd assoc seems a little preoccupied with promoting itself and its clubs with posters at the moment though to start doing something like this. Are they at a different point in their lifecycle? Did VIC do all the club promotion stuff a few years ago and are now at a more advanced stage of engaging with their clubs members?

I'm not going to just have a whinge about this and expect someone else to fix it, if I can help make this kind of thing happen for NSW (and maybe replicate it for the other state bodies), then who do I talk to at the 4wd association?

What are peoples thoughts on track location information?
Should locations of tracks be easily accessible for all? Or should it be just for those "in the know" as it is now? What are the pros and cons?