East Gippsland Rail Trail information and map brochure
The fourth edition of the East Gippsland Rail Trail information and map brochure is now being prepared. Local businesses with products or services which can be promoted to potential visitors to the Rail Trail are offered a limited opportunity to have a four line text ad included
on the A3 map page.
All advertisers will also be included on this Rail Trail web site. Shelf life for this is up to two years.This Prospectus includes further details for selecting an appropriate
category for a business, and an application form.
Download Prospectus
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or Mastercard or Debits through PayPal. Select Friends Subscription from the
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June 2009 Trail Mail Newsletter Download
Green Corps team plant new Kilometre marker posts.
A Green Corps team have been working on the Trail between Bairnsdale and Nowa Nowa installing routed timber kilometer marker posts. Routing of these posts was donated by T & L Carved Signs (www.tandlcarvedsigns.com ). The posts are every kilometre each side of towns and at 5 Km intervals elsewhere. A GPS unit is being used to mark the locations.
Planting at Burn Rd
The Shire Council has again assisted the Friends Group by supplying mulch and slashing weeds for the recent plantings by the Friends of native plants. We are attempting to improve the presentation of the Burn Rd Trail Head and linking trail into Orbost. Maintaining and weeding even a small part of the rail trail takes a lot of effort and we are always keen to gather new helpers. Why not joins our Friends Group? 5 year plan for management & development
Thanks to funding from the Shire Council under their Community Strengthening Demonstration Projects program, the Rail Trail CoM has begun work on developing a working plan to assist in handling the very big challenge involved in keeping this Rail Trail in good condition and attractive to visitors over the next five years. With guidance from a professional facilitator, the Committee, supported by representatives from the Friends Association, held a one day workshop on May 9th. A draft strategy is being prepared based on that work. It will be shared around with interested business and other stakeholders for comment before being finalised.A second part of this process will be an update of the Fire Management Plan, through consultation with CFA's,DSE and interested land holders.With no allocation from the State government of funds to either pay for maintenance or towards even a part time paid trail manager position, the work mainly depends on the time, energy, skills and commitment volunteers,except for valuable support from DSE, and occasional assistance from CFA groups.
Road side signs update
The Committee has ordered replacement panels for most of the large road side signs between Bairnsdale and Tambo Upper Road, to add Orbost where relevant. When these signs were installed the idea of getting the Trail all the way to Orbost was just a dream. Instead of changing each whole sign a new sheet steel panel is being made which will be fixed over the existing names panel.
Kilometre marker posts
The installation of kilometre marker posts has been a project a long time coming. It seemed an easy thing to do but rather complicated in reality. Markers will be at one Km intervals for 5 Kms each side of towns and then at 5 Km intervals. Routing of the numbers on each post has been generously donated by T & L Carved Signs (Louise & Tony McCarthy). The '0' mark will be the east bank of the Mitchell River. The new Green Corp team have expressed interest (with assistance from Andrew Sharpe) to establish the GPS reference points onto a map and then install the markers.
Green Corp tackle some Trail jobs
The first job of the 2009 team was a 2 day clean up on the Trail between the entrance and Phillips Lane. They removed woody weeds and cleared rubbish. The Shire Council assisted with free tip access. Thanks team!
Forestec students planning to use the Trail
The Rail Trail is a wonderful stretch of land with a rich biodiversity. Discussions are taking place with Forestec with a view to students studying conservation management to use parts of the rail between Bruthen and Nowa Nowa as resource material. This would be a multi year program, with important benefits for the Trail.
Trail counters come out from the trees.
Since May 2006 there have been four infrared sensing counter units dispersed at key points along the Trail, to track visitor activity and help build a 'picture' of how it is being used. This is essential data to help in getting funding support, and to prove to the doubters that the Trail is a worthwhile investment. These were all positioned on trees. Earlier this year the unit just east of the Nicholson Bridge was stolen, with the cable from the small hardware container ripped from the back of the sensor. This mindless vandalism was both an expensive loss of the counter but also of nearly four months data.
More recently a fuel reduction burn near Waygara resulted in the unfortunate loss (it was incinerated) of a second unit (and 3+ months of data); it had not been anticipated the fire would have been at the counter location. DSE offered to replace that unit and the Committee has now ordered two replacements .To avoid further damage to the counters they are now being installed in steel posts, with a specially designed removable but locked container section. Data from counters each side of Nowa Nowa has been used to assist a funding application for the new mountain biking trails project "40 x 2010".
Visitor activity at the western ends of the Trail system (including both local and intourist visits) is at about 10,000 a year. This might surprise many people, but what to a casual observer might look like low numbers of users, when actually counted and added up over months, becomes really significant.
Don't believe rumours. Get the facts
. A report has come to hand claiming that parts of the Rail Trail between Bruthen and Nowa Nowa are not rideable. No information is available to substantiate this assertion but comments can be made about several places where visitors do need to take special care. The access points each end of the Stony Creek bridge are steep, especially the eastern side but that was last year treated with a roughened concrete screed to ensure stability and stop erosion. It should be obvious to any visitor that these inclines are to be taken with care. The other potential 'problem' location on this section is at Drivers Break, a large cutting just west of Nowa Nowa which had collapsed several years ago following the laying of the interstate gas pipeline. A great deal of cost and effort has been expended to try and halt the erosion and provide a reasonable path. It is just a couple of hundred metres long. At times here it can mean walking bikes rather than riding.
Just east of Nowa Nowa the present road works are also adding some difficulties. At any time if a problem is encountered on this Trail the details can be reported to the Committee via the email Comment facility on this site. Meanwhile, winter is a great to be visiting this Trail
Burn Road Trail End gets a new shelter.
Thanks to a grant from East Gippsland Shire Council, the Friends Association has been able to install a visitor shelter which includes a seat and notice board. With great support from Garry Watts (East Gippsland Shire Council) the site has been prepared and the shelter installed. A planting of suitable local species will be added to enhance the parking area which is located at the start of the shared (off road) pathway that starts at the end of the Trail and leads visitors across the Snowy River into Orbost.
