THE National Parks and Wildlife Service said it was appalled by the actions of “4WD hoons” who damaged a fragile sub-alpine swamp environment in the Barrington Tops.
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The service said the hoons had deliberately gone out of their way to damage the watercourse by repeatedly driving through the streams of the Little Murray Creek, either side of the road.
“Roads are provided for visitor’s safety and to protect the environment from this sort of damage”, National Parks Lower North Coast regional manager Robert Quirk said.
“Disturbingly, the area ripped up was part of a Montane (Sub-Alpine) Peatland and Swamp, which is recognised as an endangered ecological community.
“These swamps are very fragile and this area will take years to recover. There is just no need for anyone to have gone off-road.”
Mr Quirk said the damage would be repaired at significant cost.
“This unnecessary damage means the taxpayer is left with the cost of repairs, which are expensive and time consuming and could easily be avoided if people simply acted responsibly,” he said.
“The recent snowfall meant some roads in the park were closed as a precaution against them being damaged by irresponsible drivers.
“However, we chose to leave this road open and it is very disappointing to see what has occurred.
“This is why access to fragile areas has to be managed. People should only drive on public roads and all vehicles must be registered and the drivers and riders licensed.”
Mr Quirk said rangers undertook regular patrols of the park and people caught in unauthorised areas faced a $300 on-the-spot penalty.
He urged people to report illegal activity to Crime Stoppers (1800 333 000) or the Gloucester National Parks office on 6538 5300.