[ Letter of the Issue ] Draw the line

Hi James,

Congratulations on including Craig Pearce's Walls of Jerusalem article (Wild #199) for its fine narrative text, and for airing a position contrary to your own!

I specifically refer to the facilitation of commercial operations in a previously remote area. The author effectively argues the Walls of Jerusalem should be a 'sacrifice area' (my words), leaving other areas untouched. (Ed: Note, to avoid misunderstanding among those who didn't read Craig's piece, he specifically excluded some private infrastructure, like huts, from being "tolerable".) Unfortunately, such compromises are never-ending, and the line is never drawn to stop the spreading degradation. I visited the Walls of Jerusalem in 1983 and it appears there is now much more infrastructure. This is a pattern recurring across our finest bushwalking areas, particularly along Western Tasmania's best-known routes.

I also challenge the argument that to protect areas, we need lots of people visiting them, because they will become conservation advocates. The internal tension here is obvious. More importantly, an unfortunately very small proportion of bushwalkers become such defenders of the bush. It appears bushwalkers become active conservationists in very limited circumstances. I think the key factor is being within a group with an activist mindset (or reading Wild!). Such a perspective is highly unlikely on a commercial tour.

Jonathan Miller
Curtin, ACT

The writing was on the walls

Hi James,

As a longtime and regular visitor to the Walls of Jerusalem, I read with much interest Craig Pearce's article in the last edition of Wild. I first walked into the Walls nearly forty years ago; in those days, it was indeed a wild and highly rewarding experience. There were days without seeing another walker, few tracks, no designated camping areas and not a toilet to be seen. Since then, its popularity has boomed. A walk there in summer now is almost akin to walking to the MCG on Boxing Day! With all those visitors doing cumulative damage to the fragile environment, it was inevitable that tracks had to be hardened, tent platforms and toilets built, and a bit of 'corralling' of walkers encouraged. That being said, the park is huge, and the nature of the landscape lends itself to countless multi-day, off-track walking experiences in gorgeous sub-alpine wilderness. The Walls themselves might be somewhat tamed these days (although walking there in winter is sometimes not for the fainthearted), but as Craig outlined, the broader park offers plenty of outstanding wilderness challenges for the well prepared walker. Hopefully that still includes me for a few more years yet!

Peter Beaumont
Moonee Ponds, VIC