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General Climbing Discussion

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Dargan Creek (Dams Cliff) Plan of Management 4-Feb-2012 At 7:53:24 AM climberman

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My biggest problem with the draft - and folks, remember that this is a draft, by a consultant for a Trust, NOT by NPWS for NPWS - is that it reads like a conservation area draft PoM which includes recreation, not a recreation area Draft PoM for an are which also has (valuable) conservation aspects as well. The reserve is dedicated for public recreation. Minimising access and banning swimming are patently absurd and I personally think that the consultants have not recognised this, and perhaps the Dept Lands has not driven the consultant this way either. It's a funny one. Banning swimming as a suggestion can only have come from a public service office (I am a State public servant in NSW who regularly commissions and reviews and publishes consulants' reports on enviro matters). Innapropriate, unenforcable, absurd.....

Andrew - you need to meet with them, ASAP.

If anyone wants a copy of my thoughts (currently in a letter layout), I'd be happy to send it to them.

A note on submissions, from a person who receives and analyses public submissisions:
*Try and reduce hyperbole and rant - it just makes it easy to extract the basis of your submission. It also makes your user group appear a bit normal (if we want this ? What is normal?).
*Give a reason for any objection or proposal you have.
*Include proposals or answers you would prefer. EG, don't say "I oppose commercial groups. They suck !". Say - "I oppose commercial groups as this is a reserve for public recreation. Commercial groups over size 20 people reduce the capacity of the public to recreate in a public reserve as there are only 15 routes they use. The last three times I was there I couldn't climb them due to commercial use." or something. For the record I don't mind commercial groups but they are BELOW the rec user, not ABOVE, in a use heirachy.
*Land managers DON'T have all the answers. So give them some to work with. Use successful previous examples.
*Form letters are OK, but it's usually ISSUES that they are interested in, not sheer weight of numbers (unless it's like 300 000. Even then...)
*Pick up issues others have raised but put them in your own words. It's not that they are given extra weight but by putting them in your own words you may find a better solution or nuance the issue in a new way.
*Telling the land manager they are wrong is fine. But it offers no solution. It gives them no-where to go. So offer a solution.
*Don't assume they have covered all the angles and are fixed in their view. Good exhibition and public consultation is about finding out new things from your public that only they can know. They may be very keen to know how people use this reserve, and use that to influence their future management.

For my illumination - can someone sketch out the proposed access ? If a plan is sent in with an alternative access and parking plan we can begin to let the managers know what our access needs and issues are.

Could the SRC include a bit in their sub about the long and ongoing access issues to the freezer ?