Visitors to Queensland’s national parks are being asked to stop leaving ‘surprises’ in the bush that leave rangers dealing what they call a ‘crappy’ situation.
Carrying out routine patrols and maintenance work, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers are finding toilet paper – and worse – scattered across the countryside.
Ranger-in-Charge, Lindie Pasma, said bush toileting was prevalent in national parks in the central Queensland region, and was visually undesirable as well as being a potential source of pollution.
She asked national park visitors to keep the environment clean by following a few basic guidelines.
An all too common sight in some of Queensland''s national parks. PIC: QPWS
“Toilet facilities are provided in many of our camping areas and at the beginning of many of our walking tracks,” she said. “There are usually no facilities on long walks or hikes through our protected areas, and this means when nature calls, people have to go in nature.”
Ms Pasma said anyone taking a long bushwalk should take a small shovel with them, and she asked people to bury their waste at least 15cm deep or 50cm deep in sand.
“It helps keep the area clean for all users, reduces the number of flies and doesn’t attract other animals such as dingoes,” she said. “Toilet paper left scattered on the ground is littering, and it can pollute the environment. It can also be a fire hazard.”
Ms Pasma said that while most people move away from walking tracks for privacy reasons, the QPWS wants people to stay away from creeks or rivers, as human waste can pollute water by overland runoff or through the soil.
“Where possible, human waste should be bagged along with all personal hygiene products and disposable nappies,” she said. “They can then be taken from the park for appropriate disposal in rubbish bins.”
Ms Pasma said there were several popular locations in the region that were particularly prone to bush toileting.
“This includes Battleship Spur lookout on the Carnarvon Great Walk, which provides amazing views over the Carnarvon Gorge,” she said. “Other locations notable for bush toileting are the beach camping sites and Freshwater day use area in Byfield National Park.”
The Lonesome Lookout in Expedition National Park and Salvator Rosa and Ka Ka Mundi Sections of the Carnarvon National Park also require regular clean-ups.
“We’re asking people to go before they go on a long walk or hike, and to protect the natural and cultural values of our parks by cleaning up after themselves,” said Ms Pasma.
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Should be mandatory for backpackers to be issued with a shovel with their hire vehicle with stick figure instructions of what to do with it..
AND..thats no crap..!!
Its not just backpackers. There are lots of other grots around, some of them older types.
Having been travelling for a number of years around the country, we have free camped most of the time and am no longer surprised by the behaviour of our fellow travellers, 90% of whom don’t litter or leave behind a mess, but we can also assure you it’s a very wide variety of travellers that are responsible for leaving behind their crap and rubbish
We free camped between Broome and Kununurra and the free camps were immaculate because the water tanks were filled weekly for flushing toilets, toilets were gurney gunned cleaned and there were large rubbish bins at the enterence to the parks. From Perth to Broome the free camps we stayed in were filthy, toilet paper every where because the toilets were filthy and had overwhelming sewage odour. Small bins were overflowing. This is the reason for excessive toilet paper left on ground. We were taught if you couldn’t bury the paper at least 6 inches you bagged it and took it with you to dispose of later.
If National parks provided toilets it would not happen. All rest stops should have toilet facilities.
It’s the most disappointing thing we see allover Australia. Some people are just lazy and no respect for their fellow travellers
Grubs……should be law for self contained only for everyone.
Hire companies need to step up as well as the grubs that do this kind of S$%#
It’s the same at most truck bays, rest stops and parking areas. Brown butterflies as they are called, used nappies, portable toilets emptied,
it is not only backpackers but other travellers who are passing through.
Councils and Main Roads should put up portable cameras from time to time and heavily fine offenders.
Unfortunately some people simply don’t care and a just pigs.
I wonder what these grubs would think if I crapped on their front lawn and discarded “paper daisies” in full sight of their visitors!
At least dogs don’t use toilet paper and we pick up after them!
That’s what I was thinking too yet they still are not allowed in National Parks.
I’ve not ever left any thing behind but after reading this post and finding that if someone’s cut short on a walk then they can go in the bush as long as they take a shovel and bury their refuse comes as a surprise, but that’s where I see a fault. The rangers are aware of the sites which are an issue and there are a number by the read, so maybe it’s time to put those self contained toilets in that dispose of the refuse and it doesn’t need emptying , composting ones I think they call them . . In this day and age there will always be people breaking the rules because we have unfortunately got people who do not care about the environment or that other people will be coming across their pile of poop . To me it’s absolutely an obscene filthy thing to do and to leave it for others to find is nothing short of disgusting.
So my answer is , there is no excuse if facilities are readily available and are environmentally friendly. We cannot keep implementing rules that are not going to be adhered too. We cannot rely on all people to do the right thing all the time, but if the facilities are there then the excuses become null and void and people generally are happy to use them. In saying that each facilities will need a water tank there to maintain hygiene and cleanliness and they should be cleaned daily by cleaning services with environmentally friendly products . I get the expense , but we are no longer living in Australia the bush , we are living in Australia the tourism country . So it should be logical that amenities need to be provided even in national park areas remote to car parks to keep Australian national
Parks in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner.. after all visitors here are not always coming from countries that are of modern thinking or are in step with hygiene and health standards… there should also be security cameras in the area to keep an eye in facilities for vandalism , I mean outside the toilet itself please.
Hope this helps in some way, we can’t keep condoning bad hygiene habits of those who know no better …
We use to camp up on the Murray near Cobram where they use to have drop toilets.
Parks Vic removed them due to miss use.
Now, the area is like a sewage farm, so we have moved on.
The paper l see along walking tracks and at roadside stops is mostly tissue paper left by women and is not used for solids.
A common zip bag kept in a pocket and used to store wet tissue paper would help alleviate the problem.
It always amazes us on how some people can be so disgusting and disrespectful to nature but must admit I have seen how some people live and ‘all I can say we all live differently’
I work in a shopping centre and with the state of some toilets i can tell you now it not only happens in the bush and not sure anything would help.
During our travels most toilets were cleaned on regular bases and where others were not but found most of the national park facilities were maintained regularly.
‘Education is the key but keep in mind you cannot put brains in a monument’
Try to catch the grubs and send the details to the NP Admin.
Its mostly tenters and backpackers that are the culprits.
William
Yes I have, I have also cleaned up around my campsit of others filthy rubbish. At Sofala I had to scrape nappies etc into a pile and I burnt it, there was to much for me to remove. I’m disgusted at how people can even do this. They just don’t care. Very sad. Us travelling often get the blame but it’s not always the case.
Travelling through the WA outback, stopping at roadside rest areas for morning tea/lunch. We have noticed a lot of toilet paper blowing in the wind. It’s hard to fathom how lazy some can be. It’s not that hard to dig a hole and bury your waste. Free camp sites are just as bad.