With poor behaviour at national parks, state forests and camping areas an ongoing concern, the question of what can be done to stop it has become more urgent.
One of the most common suggestions is the installation of cameras … and the evidence suggests that these can make a big difference.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) installed cameras at seven locations late last year as part of a safety blitz, and the results have been startling.
Tropic Now reports that people car surfing, riding in ute trays and doing doughnuts at Lake Tinaroo in north Queensland are among dozens to have been caught on camera and fined.
Also filmed were motorists illegally accessing restricted areas of the Danbulla State Forest and driving dangerously, as well as people cutting down trees and starting illegal campfires.
Danbulla State Forest Ranger, John James, told Tropic Now that the concern was that it was a matter not of if, but when, a fatality or multiple fatality incident was going to occur.
“What is clear, is that all the drivers have ignored locked gates, vehicle bollards and signage advising them not to enter,” he said. “Some of these people have been using the state forest tracks as their personal racetracks and often drive recklessly and cause damage by doing donuts or digging mud holes when they get bogged … they have to start taking responsibility for their own actions.”
Mr James said the hidden cameras took photos of vehicle number plates and some people were captured cutting locks on gates and cutting down trees to create new dirt trails.
“Illegal access in the state forest is associated with other offences including camping without permits, illegal littering and lighting unlawful fires, which has impacted on vegetation in the past,” he told Tropic Now. “There are plenty of other places in our region where people can legally enjoy four-wheel-driving and camping.”
The maximum penalty for damaging a state forest is $2,740, while the maximum penalty for prohibited acts in a state forest is $411,000 or two years imprisonment, or both.
• Would you like to see cameras installed in more national parks, state forests, and camping areas? Comment below.
Absolutely cameras installed and fines /legal action enforced for illegal behaviour.. too many people out in Shared Spaces doing the wrong thing.
Yes
Yes please.
Hell yes. !!
Yes but, they MUST follow up and enforce the penalties. One needs to be consistent when training ‘children’
Lucy your right but i can’t see this happening they are to soft on them these days and they wonder why they keep doing it
YES why should these people ruin it for everyone else. Protect our National Parks, State Forests and Camping Areas for everyone’s enjoyment.
I wish we had them in the residential/relocateable home park I live in. Some really miserable sods come in here during the holiday period.
Definitely yes. We’ve probably all ran into bogun behavior at some time on our travels.
Flat heads, dull eyes & no brains.
Yes, they should be in every national park and state forest.
Most definitely put cameras in , I know we would rather not have to do that but it’s currently the minority that is ruining it for the majority who do the right thing
Yes do it to stop those idiots and making it hard for people doing the right thing
Absolutely
Yes!!!!
They should be given community service to repair their damage and banned from all national parks for 3 years. What nature provides should be respected……
Definitely
More cameras the better. Littering, illegal camping and camping without permits is simply wrong. People will try what they believe they can get away with so cameras reduce that confidence.
It is always the new deprived 4WD population ignoring all the rules.It is time that they go overseas again.
Yes more cameras.
Yes I agree with cameras I do a bit of camp hosting in national parks and help out with campers and rangers and even with checking on things daily you still see the aftermath of damage and litter all over the place and if you say something to them about you cant drive there mate it can start a altercation and endanger yourself.
I’ve been trying to get NPWS to use hidden cameras for their land adjoining our property for 14 years. I’ve been bashed, abused verbally, threatened with a large knife & my phone thrown away several times asking trespassers in vehicles to leave. Nothing happens & police if they bother to turn up can’t stop it. Some vehicles displaying number plates that I have given to police always turn out to be wrong. Photos I have taken of these people & been able to identify & pass onto NPWS who then passed it onto police nothing has happened to them. Yet it is supposed to be up to an $11,000 fine for having a vehicle in this NPWS State conservation Area. I’ve even seen a Ranger ask people to remove their vehicles & not proceed into this Conservation Area only to be ignored. Obviously Rangers don’t have the power to physically stop these type of people if they are determined to do what they want. NPWS needs to at least follow through with fining these people they can identify with number plates. Apparently there is an App that can be used to pinpoint hidden cameras so infra red, motion activated, hidden & secure cameras mounted at an unattainable height would certainly make their job easier & safer & allow me to once again enjoy my property without fear of being attacked again.
Surveillance cameras in the forests, isolated beaches and countryside ??? are you serious?I am sick and tired of being constantly spied on, in supermarkets, on the streets, in every building including public toilets. enough is enough. If there is a behavioral problem with a minority of visitors, EMPLOY someone to patrol the problem areas.
Yes
Yes Yes Yes! Time to hit these hoons and vandals where it hurts and keep them out of these pristine areas. Fines, confiscation of vehicles, bans for misbehaviour, etc. should all be employed to keep these louts out!