Help save this wonderful bushwalk!
Access to the spectacular views from the summit of one of the biggest ancient shield volcanoes in the southern hemisphere - Mt Warning in northern NSW - is under threat. The summit is visited by over 100000 keen bushwalkers annually. Many walk up to catch the sunrise - the summit is the first place to catch the sun's rays each day in eastern Australia. The views over the caldera complex, subtropical forests and to the coast are outstanding. The walking track to the summit of Mt Warning was established in 1909. It has not been well maintained by NSW NPWS over recent years and NPWS are now using safety, environment and culture as excuses to close the summit track.
Similar to the unjustified reasons used to ban public access at Ayers Rock, those excuses do not stack up. The safety excuses are rubbish. NPWS claim the the summit chain is unsafe but it's not actually required to complete the walk and it could be easily repaired or upgraded for a small cost that could be funded by charging a small fee for access. The environmental problems to do with visitor's rubbish and toiletting are exaggerated and manageable. And the cultural claims are contested and do not make sense in a rational world and need to be balanced against the wishes of others whose culture exalts in walking to the tops of mountains.
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