We protect what we love

FRIDAY 24.03.2023.

Greetings trail runners, runners, outdoor enthusiasts and everyone in between!

The FWP team are up to some pretty awesome things. Lauren is currently in New Zealand completing a mountaineering course - which sounds super cool! I've seen some recent stories of knot-making as well as gear and weather lectures and practical weather assessments. I'm super keen to hear a lot more about this, so I'm volunteering Lauren to do a little write-up about it for the newsletter (when she gets time). 

A stunning lake en route from Queenstown to Lake Tekapo.

📷 Lauren Beels.

Over the weekend, Hilary, Kristen and a bunch of newfound trail friends headed out to the You Yangs (meaning Big Hill in Wadawurrung language) to pick up trails from this popular hiking, running and mountain biking park just outside Geelong, in Victoria. Over the course of two hours, eight trail legends picked up 5 kilograms of rubbish from 20km of trails. Being a state park, dogs are allowed, and the amount of dog poo bags (containing dog poo!) on the side of the trail was unbelievable! It seems strange that people are happy to pick up the poo, put it in a plastic bag, and then stuff the bag under a log or behind a tree... 🤔 surely that defeats the whole purpose of 'picking it up' in the first place?! Rule #1 of being a responsible dog owner is cleaning up after your furry friend! Thanks to everyone who came along, and to Emily from Parks Vic for the Zooper Doopers, and Graham from the Geelong Field Naturalists for telling us all about this ecological significant ecosystem.

'Do a fun photo' they said! The crew in the You Yangs.

📷 Jontee Langdon

Meanwhile, I'm back into running. After 10 months of pain, I've finally had a diagnosis on my ankle (you remember that injury that prevented me from doing the Kosci miler?) - it turns out I have a "tarsal coalition". This means that two bones in the back of my left foot are fused together when they shouldn't be, meaning that I don't have a join where I should have one. As a result, the surrounding bones have some bruising, which is what has been causing me pain. The fix for this is orthotics (and if that doesn't work - surgery). Whilst I'm a little annoyed that this was completely missed in my MRI last July, I'm so happy that I finally have a diagnosis, can practically do something about it and am now back into running (but feel like I've lost a lot of fitness).

In this week's newsletter, FWP project manager, Will, is bringing you an update on the Illawarra escarpment. We also link you to the latest trail chat with Lucy B. We hope you enjoy all the goodness written below.

THREATS TO THE ILLAWARRA ESCARPMENT

By Will Williams (he/him)

The Illawarra escarpment (Dharawal country) is a magnificent place, with its uniqueness stemming from the sheer diversity of ecosystems that occur there. On its foothills are forests of tall eucalypts towering over rainforest understory. In the gullies and on the benches can be found Illawarra-Shoalhaven Subtropical Rainforest, a critically endangered ecological community found only on the south coast of NSW. These parts are extremely biodiverse; it’s common to find thirty or more different species of trees in one small area. And then there’s the simpler - less biodiverse but no less beautiful - warm temperate rainforest, often found on the upper slopes.

The escarpment is a wonder and an icon. But despite this, it faces many threats to its very existence. Trail runners (together with many others) treasure the escarpment. It’s in our interest to understand these threats so we can support measures to protect this beautiful, wild place.

Creek trail on Brokers Nose summit trail.

Aside from climate change - arguably the single greatest threat to life on Earth - the most damaging threat to the escarpment is likely introduced animals, in particular, feral deer.

Deer were introduced into Australia after the British invasion and colonisation. The damage they do is listed as a key threatening process under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BCA). They trample vegetation, which destroys and clears it, reducing biodiversity. This degrades the soil quality and increases rates of erosion, especially after heavy rainfall. They ringbark trees by rubbing against them.

The damage done, clearly evident to runners and walkers, can literally prevent the next generation of escarpment rainforest. There is a local wild deer management program and, according to the South East Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plan (SERSPAMP), 5000 deer have been removed from the Illawarra since 2011. But anecdotal evidence, and the findings of a 2021 federal parliamentary inquiry, suggest that deer numbers continue to increase.

View of the Illawarra escarpment looking south from Brokers Nose summit.

Weeds are a significant threat to the escarpment, and many have simply escaped from home gardens. Weeds love disturbed areas, especially sunny ones, and can be spread by wind, vehicles, and even the soles of our shoes! Go for a run in the escarpment and you’ll likely come across some lantana, crofton, privet or - unfortunately - any number of other dangerous weeds.

The damage caused by exotic vines and lantana is listed as key threatening processes under the BCA because of their ability to significantly affect biodiversity by out-competing native species and altering their habitats.

We can help turn these problems around. To reduce the damage done by deer, there’s no easy solution. A legitimate debate exists amongst environmentalists on the ethics of deer control but it’s likely the best (or least bad?) approach is better-resourced culls. We have the choice of allowing deer numbers to grow - leading to the destruction of habitat and elimination of native wildlife - or intervening to reduce deer numbers in order to preserve native habitat and protect precious ecosystems. The Illawarra Wild Deer Management Program needs to do more culls, more often, to bring down deer numbers in the escarpment.

The problem of weeds (and deer) in the escarpment needs to be discussed in the context of the massive reduction in funding to the National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS). The NPWS has historically been responsible for environmental management in the escarpment, including tackling weeds, closing and remediating informal tracks, maintaining formal tracks etc. But budgets under both major parties have seen a dramatic reduction in funding to this work.

View from Brokers Nose looking south across Port Kembla.

According to the Public Service Association, in 2011 there were 289 parks and wildlife rangers, including 28 senior rangers. By 2018, there were no senior rangers, and only 193 rangers. Surely the first urgent measure needs to be a massive increase in funding for the NPWS so they can carry out their work.

There has been some increase in funding in recent budgets, particularly after massive bushfires, but large amounts are tied to capital works and infrastructure, much of which will only add to ongoing management costs. Funding is desperately needed for environmental management. We need to support community and union campaigns for these funding increases to prevent critical resources from being diverted from park maintenance to flashy ‘eco-tourism’ projects.

There are plenty of other threats to the escarpment, including unauthorised mountain bike track building and riding, non-weed invasive species (such as myrtle rust), coal mining operations past and present and other inappropriate human activities. Some of these will be covered in future articles.

But for now, join us in calling for an increase in funding to the NPWS and for funding to be directed towards environmental management. When you’re out on the trails, remember to tread lightly and if you come across any Rangers, say hello and a huge thanks for the - under-resourced and under-appreciated - work they do to protect our beautiful wild places.

🌳 🌳 🌳

TRAIL CHAT #11

With Lucy Bartholomew (she/her)

The lady who needs no introduction in the ultra-trail world.

Last week we had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Lucy Bartholomew - ultra runner, Ironwoman and self-confessed foodie.

We started the conversation with her incredible performance at the Tarawera 100-mile run, which was described (by Lucy) as "a day where everything clicked and came together"; nutrition was on point, energy was high and her crew/pacers were great. Whilst the win didn't come without some challenges (e.g. nutrition and shoes not arriving in time) she navigated them really well. Whilst she started the race much faster than originally anticipated because of a "crappy head torch" - she had to tag along with someone else with high beams - this inadvertent strategy seemed to work pretty well.

If you follow Lucy on Strava, you will get the impression that her recovery is going really well. And that's correct. As someone who is currently dabbling in two sports - ultra running and iron-womaning - her 'recovery' was actually just training for her second sport (it involved swimming and cycling).

The FWP crew on call with Lucy, currently mid sentence

Tarawera was Lucy's first non-Western States 100 mile run. Lucy has been on the start line of WSER three times - first was a great run, the second was a mediocre run and the third was a half run. Tarawera was her opportunity to "make peace with the distance" and also distance herself from her Western States identity that people tend to associate her with.

We continue to chat about a whole bunch of things - from how to balance swimming/cycling/running training (especially between UTMB and Kona), how to stay motivated when doing your non-favourite training, inaccessibility of non-running sports, the impacts of cross-training, her being the second female and first Australian to do the Kona + UTMB combo, and even how she responds to unsolicited 'advice' on her bike fit.

Overall, it was very nice catching up with Lucy ahead of her Euro and US adventures, and you can watch the recording here.

🌳 🏃🏻‍♂️ 🌳

MEET SONNY, THE CAT SNIFFIN' DOGGO

Sonny, the Skylos Ecology Conservation Detection Dog, is a kelpie with a purpose - sniffin' out cat poo in our National Parks. Feral cats cause incredible harm to native animals and birds, and thanks to their elusive nature, can go undetected. Thanks to Sonny's snout, the worst fear of ecologists have been realised - that feral cats are everywhere across the Otways, and they are eating precious threatened species.

After 12 days in the field, resulting in the detection of over 200 scats (aka animal poo), the presence of cats was confirmed at all sites Sonny surveyed, from dense heathlands to wet forests, between Angelsea in the south-east and Gellibrand in the north-west, within the Great Otway National Park.

Dietary analysis of cat scats found by Sonny showed feral cats in the Otways prey on a range of native animals including swamp wallabies, ringtail possums, bush rats, antechinus, birds and beetles. One scat was also found to contain South Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus), which is a federally listed endangered species. Although this is alarming news, it means that more resources (aka money, time and people) can be allocated to address the feral cat problem within the Otways.

Whilst we love all of our four-legged friends, cats can cause untold harm to small marsupials, reptiles and birds. Much like picking up after your dog is #1 in canine responsibility, making sure your cat does not kill little creatures is equally as important. Having a bell or CatBib will help prevent your feline friend from sneaking up on critters. Breeding in the wild is also a huge issue - consider getting your cat desexed. In Australia, the National Desexing Network offers discounted access to desexing services, to encourage pet owners to avoid unwanted litters and wild breeding. We can't be as clever as Sonny, but we can all be responsible pet owners, to ensure the longevity our of precious native wildlife, reptiles and birds. You can read more about Sonny here.

NEXT WEEK

You may have seen on socials that we are currently on the lookout for a Fundraising and Volunteer Manager to join the Pilliga Ultra team for the upcoming 2023 event. If you are motivated, innovative and passionate about grassroots campaigning, trail running and protecting the environment, then we want to hear from you. More details can be found here.

And as for next week... the newsletter will be hosted by Sasha, who recently joined FWP as finance manager. Stay tuned to hear more about Sydney, salsa and surfing from Sasha! 🌊

And as always, thank you for taking the time for wild places.

Elanor (she/her) & the For Wild Places team

CHECK US OUT ON INSTAGRAM

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/04 TRACTION: Otways | RSVP

02/04 Fundraising / Volunteering Manager application close | APPLY

27/04 Trail chat #12 with Aubri Drake (they/them) | RSVP

06/06 TRACTION: Gariwerd | RSVP

15/06 Trail chat #15 with Jake Fedorowski | RSVP

We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This email was compiled on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.