More Follies on the Capes

It seems that almost every month the 3 Capes project exposes another event of illogical blundering, bumbling bureaucracy and visionless political agendas.

Last week Parks & Wildlife have advertised for interests of tender regarding works for stage 1 of the 3 Capes Track – a 4.2-kilometre formed access track to Denmans Cove.

Whilst the northwestern route seems like the logical approach, it is subject to an additional boat operational tender which attests that the department’s intentions is still for walkers to access the region via a 15-minute impractical boat ride from Port Arthur.

Obviously they have finally realized that the boat access may not be viable in inclement weather, and so have undertaken the necessity to additionally provide land-based access.

This confusing ideology raises some pertinent questions:

• How can they enforce that you use the cumbersome boat access when it is going to be a simple one-hour walk in?

• How can they prevent walkers entering the Denmans access route if they choose not to use the boat? (particularly as the region is not within the jurisdiction tenure of the department).

• Why spend the guesstimated $1.5 million on an alternative access track if they are confident that the boat access is the correct option?

In practical reality the 3 Capes walk should not begin from the West. Hardly a World-Class experience if on the first day walkers take a mundane fifteen minute boat trip then walk 2.6 kilometres through scrub to arrive at an isolated site. Or alternatively walk through State Forest near Stinking Bay (an appealing name that inspires visitation) to Denmans Cove.

If walkers were coming from the eastern direction, the Surveyors Cove village site would be superfluous as the walk could easily be completed via the exit to the road at Oakwood. Ultimately they are hoping that the government may come up with the tens of $millions to complete the disjointed and less viable western extension of the walking trail, even though their own market research shows that a 3-day walk is what is desirable.

On another aspect, Parks and Wildlife reported in their recent Buttongrass newsletter that they – “Do intend to construct 14 prefabricated huts”, and arrays of village social boardwalk in the Tasman National Park. Not to mention heli-pads, countless water storage tanks and other associated operational infrastructure.

Villages, hamlets or conglomerates – call them what you like, these accommodation and management clusters will be socially unwieldy to combine private and commercial walkers in the same arena. The whole mechanics of the concept simply won’t work for those seeking remoteness.

Unquestionably these structures will have a major impact on the wilderness values of the area, and moreover none of these constructions were included in the approved management plan.

In conclusion … rumour has it that the commercial operation tender for 3 Capes has been granted. If this is true? then you would think the Liberal Government and Tourism Council would be gloating with glee!

Most likely the silence is because a tender has been granted without the required $8 million contribution from the commercial operator, which ultimately means the taxpayers are taking up the slack for yet another subsidized private operation.

Who says our national parks are not becoming a free for all?