Parks Victoria vastly overstated damage at Grampians sites

In yet another gaffe, Parks Victoria was found to have majorly overstated the damage at multiple Grampians National Park sites, casting fresh doubts on the controversial climbing bans.

Rock climber Kerrin Gale scales a permitted climb in the Grampians, after climbers were banned from other parts of the national park. Picture: Simon Carter

Parks Victoria has vastly overstated the impact of environmental damage at eight Grampians ­National Park sites amid fresh doubts about the department’s stance on rock-climbing in the popular area.

Parks Victoria’s chief conservation scientist, Mark Norman, has wrongly claimed that damage at eight key sites covered 7.425ha during a summit with stakeholders affected by the department’s sweeping climbing bans.

The figure was repeated in the official report of a December 3 rock-climbing roundtable but will be corrected after a climber spotted the discrepancy, with the real figure just 0.7ha and the damage caused by a variety of land users.

The gaffe is the latest error by Parks Victoria over the handling of its bans.

While climbers accept that some in their community have caused environmental harm, they believe the impact has been overstated by Parks Victoria in justifying bans on climbing over 500sq km in western Victoria.

Parks Victoria also has banned climbing at a rocky outcrop at nearby Mt Arapiles.

Parks Victoria said the initial figure provided to the roundtable had been revised downwards.

A ministerial briefing signed by Parks Victoria CEO Matthew Jackson on March 19 last year almost certainly exaggerated the role of climbing in damaging the park.

In a Freedom of Information request submitted by a climber, Mr Jackson is revealed sending a series of photographs to Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio that claim to be “impacts of climbing activity within the Grampians National Park’’.

But only one of the eight pictures shows definitive evidence of climbing activity having caused damage.

Simon Carter, a renowned climbing photographer, said Parks Victoria had wrongly vilified climbers.

“I believe climbers have been scapegoated to distract from far, far more serious impacts that are occurring to the cultural and environmental values of the park, appalling mismanagement and a sneaky move towards the commercialisation and commodification of our national parks,’’ he said.

Ms D’Ambrosio would not be drawn on whether she had been misled about the climbing impacts.

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“Parks Victoria is undertaking cultural heritage assessments and environmental impact assessments and has committed to ongoing engagement with rock climbers, other recreational users and traditional owner groups about current and future use of the Grampians National Park,’’ she said.

Mr Jackson said, “Parks Victoria has continually provided updates on direct recreational impacts in the Grampians to members of the Rockclimbing Roundtable, including updates from independent experts of the impacts of rock climbing at sensitive rock art sites.’’