Great Walks highlights the real cost of entering a closed national park.
Checking National Parks closures, it’s sometimes easy to get frustrated with walking areas that are off-limits. While bushfires are an obvious reason, tracks can also close due to landslides, increased risk of rockfall or cultural reasons. But the reasons we shouldn't enter closed areas on public lands (national parks, forests, Crown or council) go far beyond the obvious, and with fire seasons extending, they're increasingly relevant.
The financial hit
Each state has their own National Parks Legislation that outlines substantial fines that can be issued for breaking its rules, but this isn’t the biggest hit to your wallet: According to the Insurance Council of Australia, insurance policies are void if you enter a closed area. All that slumber-inducing fine print in the product disclosure statement is taken seriously if you need to claim.
So while Medicare doesn't cover ambulance costs (including helicopter evacuation) at any time, private health or ambulance insurance won't cover evacuation or injury costs suffered in a closed area. In 2019, a tragic incident near Cairns saw a local couple die in a fall within a closed area. Had they been tourists on travel insurance, all evacuation, medical treatment and repatriation costs would have been left to their families in the middle of their grief.
Hidden physical dangers
Bushfires create and reveal risks previously hidden. Burns and smoke are obvious immediate dangers, but for months afterwards, falling trees and large branches can become widow makers that drop without warning. Less obvious risks include old asbestos structures or illegal dumping sites, which can become visible and compromised after fire. When there's little feed or visible cover after a fire, land managers may undertake feral animal control including baiting or culling. The ecological impact
Ecologist Roger Lembit explains the less visible damage: “An important reason for maintaining closures post-fire is the risk of soil erosion. Following intense fires, there's very little ground cover and rainfall has a more damaging effect. Soil erosion leads to sedimentation and pollution of waterways as soil nutrients are mobilised and transported into streams. This can cause toxic algal blooms.”
Walking track infrastructure helps stop erosion, but when this is damaged in fires, areas may need to close for repair. Canyons become far more dangerous after fire, as heavy rainfall and increased runoff lead to flash flooding, with newly submerged fallen trees appearing in jump zones.
Weeds and pathogens
Off-track exploration in post-fire conditions can easily spread phytophthora - a root-rot pathogen. It devastates grass trees, waratahs and the banksia family, which provide nuts and fruits for black cockatoos, wattlebirds, lorikeets, honeyeaters and spinebills.
During the 2019-2020 fires, we watched teams fight to protect the Wollemi Pine from fire, but thoughtless access had already brought this pathogen to the area, demonstrating how unknowing visitors can carry devastating effects on their boots.
Where to walk when areas close
When our favourite spots are closed, it's time to dig into research, pore over maps and explore bits of green we've never noticed before. Nature reserves, state forests, green corridors managed by councils – they could be places you've discounted in the past.
But there's the harder question this raises: as climate change extends our fire seasons year after year, what does this mean for us as nature lovers? Longer fire seasons inevitably lead to more frequent and extended park closures – for active fires, recovery periods, and ecological restoration.
Will our summer bushwalking windows continue to shrink? How do we balance our deep need for wild places with the increasing reality of necessary closures? These are questions we'll all be grappling with in the seasons ahead.