Improved pre-trip information for walkers needed

The recent spate of bushwalker rescues and fatal accidents is alarming but the Tasmanian National Parks Association is concerned that this could lead to pressure to quickly implement simplistic solutions without sufficient consideration of their effectiveness and possible impact on the experience of bushwalking in wild country. Any proposed solution needs to start from an analysis of the incidents which generate search and rescue activities; are there any common factors or causes?

Accidents can happen to the best prepared and most experienced walker but there seems to be broad agreement that some avoidable rescues occur when walkers get into difficulty because they have not anticipated the challenges of their planned bushwalk. There is plenty of information available on track conditions and the difficulty of particular walks. The problem is not an absence of information, it is how to draw attention to the information that matters amongst the multiple competing information sources on-line. Prospective walkers need this information when they are planning their bushwalk. Presenting it on a sign at the start of the walking track is unlikely to be effective. By the time they reach the start of the track most will be committed to their planned walk and carry on regardless.

There will never be a single authoritative source of information on bushwalking in Tasmania as there was in pre-internet days when almost all walkers relied on one well respected guidebook but the Parks and Wildlife Service could position itself as the best source of on-line information if it put more effort into the information on its website and engaging with social media.
The above was published as a letter in The Mercury newspaper on 9 January 2025.

Share this post