Tim, prior to fleeing to Tas I used to live not far from Lithgow & for decades rode dirtbikes & drove 4X4’s around the bush that surrounded it. From the early 90’s onward the NSW department National Parks began to arbitrarily block access to fire trails throughout the national parks with an assortment of deep trenches, fencing & huge boulders.
All this was done to stop 4WD’s from traversing the areas as they supposedly “causing erosion”. No maps or detailed records of these trail blockages was made which meant that the rural fire service had no idea if they were sending teams into dead-end tracks when battling fires, thus the fire teams now refuse to enter these areas (I personally know the Clarence Plateau above Lithgow was riddled with these stupid roadblocks).
I have never understood why the media has never reported this outrageous act of lunacy by the National Parks & the dangers it has created. All this was done at the behest of “The National Parks Association” (not a government body, but a Green lobby group) & brought into effect by the Carr Labor government. I haven’t been through the NSW bush since the ALP was thrown out, but I’m tipping none of this has been rectified.
