42 Traverse cut back

[PeterVahry]

There are two planned cut back efforts being planned for the 42 Traverse across Tongariro Forest. One on 15 November and the other on 29/30 Nov. Check the event calendar at www.nzfwda.org.nz for whom to contact.

[PeterVahry]

If you are able to help on 15 Nov or 29/ 30 Novwith clearing the 42 Traverse it would be welcomed, as a good turnout will mean that DoC see that four wheelers have a strong interest in keeping this route open. If we're not interested, they'll just hand it to the mountain bikers as they've largely done at Pureora Forest.

If you can help on the 15th, please contact Peter Kelly at Taupo 4WD Club peterkellynz@gmail.com

[PeterVahry]

Because of poor weather, the cut back on 15 Nov was cancelled so there is plenty to do on the 29/30th Nov.

Volunteers are welcome. Email pr@auckland4wd.org.nz if you can help.

Keeping this 4x4 route cut back etc is vital to its future use.

[PeterVahry]

Well, we didn't get any support from the readers of this forum for helping to clear the 42 Traverse. .. which is sad really, as unless something significant happens, we're going to lose the 42 Traverse by neglect!

We had 16 volunteers there and cut clear around 2.5 kilometres but the reality is that there is around 10 km still to cut at a minimum. As it stands, those 10 km are such that it would be expensive to drive through in a 4x4 with good paintwork... the pin-striping effect is quite pronounced.

There are not a lot of options; either there is a major effort to get teams in there to manually cut, or enough money is donated to put a machine in to get the worst areas trimmed. Based on the numbers recorded over the past weekend, they indicate that one person over 6 hours cuts around 140 metres of track! That would mean we'd need at least 70 people to do the 10km. Given that several traveled from Auckland (my tally was 850Km for the weekend) and the costs involved, the more economic approach may well be to simply donate $200 to a fund to hire a contractor!

Now we just need to find another 50 four wheelers to do the same. If you are willing to contribute, let me know and I'll get something set up formally.

[derk]

is the lack of volunteers part of an overall decline in volunteering 16 people from the size of the nzfwda doesn't sound like a huge turn out, good work for the big effort you guys did anyway and all the best for promoting a better response in the future and retaining the track I know there's a lot of historic hard work and campaigning to get and retain access to that part of the country

[stovanovich]

I think the turnoff for a lot of people was the rumor going around that you needed to be "ticketed" in order to use a chainsaw or similar to actually help with the process. I don't know how much truth was in it, but I personally didn't want to make the long trip just to twiddle my thumbs

[Crash bandicoot]

Levin club members and friends of the club are going through on the 13th 14th of december.
If any one else wants to come along from the lower north island we will be meeting at the Mobil station at the north end of Foxton on saturday at 7am then departing at 7.15 am,

We Intend to be at the western/Owhango entry point around lunch time, camping the night along the track, then sunday finish the track and play on a few tracks on the way home south on sunday.

All trucks welcome as there will be a mix of shiny trucks modified/ non road legal club trucks/trailered etc, Only thing we ask is you bring your own food beverages, camping gear etc and that your vehicle is capable and eqipped with proper recovery points.

If you require/request recovery during the trip, the rule is all care no responsibility.
for more details PM me or ring 022 341 6395

[Gyxx]

Hi Peter.

Sorry to hear that the turn-out for the working bee was somewhat underwhelming. I haven't done the 42 Traverse yet myself but it's definitely on my list of 'must do one day' tracks. I really appreciate the work that groups both nationally like the NZFWDA and locally like ARAC do to benefit the 4WD community as a whole, both in terms of advocating for access and in actually getting out there and maintaining the tracks.

I'm usually happy to put my hand up to help out if I can when the call goes out for a working bee. I think if it's good enough for me to make use of the tracks that people work hard to maintain access to then it's good enough for me to "do my bit" when the tracks need some work.

To be perfectly honest though at this time of year money's tight and the travel cost for a trip halfway up the island and back is a bit more than what the budget can stretch to. I'm sure that there would be a few others on the forum like myself who would have been happy to volunteer their time and labour but couldn't quite stretch to meeting the expense of the travel involved.

Thanks to those of you who did help out with the working bee.

Cheers

[DieselBoy]

Sort out the HSE bollocks with DOC over the use of motorised cutting equipment and I would say you will once again have a swell in volunteer numbers.

An army of chainsaw, brush cutter and hedge trimmer weilding four wheelers would crash that 10ks out in no time.

No one wants to spend the day on the end of a bow saw and axe

[klompy]

Would any of your member clubs be interested in adopting 500 meters to a kilometre,can have the same stretch on an annual basis on draw the strips out of a hat.Or do you just run a Safari some were to raise the funds for a mower to go thru.For me personally its just the wrong time of year probably autumn would be better.Any one else got some ideas or do we just let it go, the mountain bikers will keep it open and we can sneak thru then.

[Mudde1]

. just run a Safari some were to raise the funds for a mower to go thru.

Now there's a very good idea.

[PeterVahry]

Aah, the 'rumors' are at play again... if anyone had contacted me, you would have found that a deal had been negotiated with DoC to allow chainsaw use by people with just the appropriate safety gear. There have never been restrictions on brush cutters etc... so not a good excuse.
The chainsaw arrangement for this year could not be advertised as it was a local concession and not general DoC policy, although there are pending changes by DoC to ease restrictions for chainsaws.

A cut back in autumn means at least six months of regrowth before the route reopens on 1st Dec. Mountain bikers would love to take over the track completely, which may be why we've never had any help from them to keep the track trimmed.

I note that Levin club plan to drive the track, how about taking some tools and spending a few hours clearing? There are two main criteria; don't make cuts that create spikes, they rip tyres and injure people. Clear the trimmings off the track so that they don't block the water cutouts.
It is unlawful to have a chainsaw on DoC lands without permission, so notify DoC if you intend to take one into the Tongariro Forest. I can provide a contact on request.

[PeterVahry]

The suggestions of putting a contractor in to machine cut part of the 42 Traverse has raised interest and one four wheeler has offered $1000 if work can be done before 13 December.

Nothing quite like a challenge and maybe there are others out there willing to prise open wallets and add to that offer. In the meantime I'll contact a local contractor about time frames and costs.

If you want to email directly ... pr@auckland4wd.org.nz