The fires of 2019/20 burnt huge areas of north eastern Victoria. The remaining unburnt forests are more important than ever. One of these areas lies in the headwaters of the Little Dargo River, just south of Mt Hotham. It is a pristine area, without roads, and containing mature forest, much of it dominated by Alpine Ash. It is an area of state forest that lies right next to the Alpine National Park.

The state government logging agency, VicForests, intends to log a total of 11 “coupes”, or sections, of mature forest in the upper Little Dargo River, probably this spring. These coupes are located in a series of clusters, where separate sections of bush will be harvested, creating a large zone of cleared land over time. Extensive roading networks will be needed to access the coupes.

One coupe has already been logged. The remaining coupes have not yet been scheduled for harvesting. There is still time to stop this ecological disaster – if we act now.

Join us for a walk to experience the beauty that is the Little Dargo.

Saturday, January 14, 9.30am for a 10 am start. Finish time around 3pm.

We will be hosted by the Treasure family, who have grazed cattle on, and looked after, the Dargo High Plains for five generations. Christa Treasure will tell us some of the historical and cultural significance of the area to her and the Treasure family and how logging will devastate this history.

We will then walk in to the Upper Dargo via the recently recut Mailman’s Track. This used to be how mail was delivered from Harrietville in the gold mining days. There is a steep descent to the River. You will visit areas which are due to be logged and see a pristine mountain river before walking back out.

Details on the walk

This is a free trip, open to anyone with a moderate level of fitness.

Numbers are limited so you will need to rsvp.

A full gear list and details on where to meet will be sent once you rsvp.

Please note that there will be two options for the trip:

• a shorter walk, roughly 2 hours on flat/ undulating terrain, and
• a longer, more strenuous walk to Fred's Flat on the Little Dargo involving 4 - 5 hours of walking, half of which is of a steep to moderate grade on a rough track. You will need moderate fitness to be able to do the trip.

You can nominate on the day which walk you want to do.

This is about a 6 hour drive from Melbourne so you will need to come up and camp on the friday, or travel from a local community (Bright, Harrietville, Mt Hotham, Dinner Plain) on the saturday. There will be free options for camping on friday and saturday nights.