Curious western grey kangaroos near Kepwari walk trail last week. Photo: Geoff Vivian.
Esperance bushwalkers and bird watchers have expressed repeated frustration as Kepwari walking trail around Woody and Wheatfields lakes remains closed, more than half a year after a bushfire.
The track is cordoned off at the entrances, and weeds grow up through the boot cleaners installed to help hikers remove potential dieback contaminated soil.
DBCA district manager Justin Black said they decided to close the trail when they found two plastic pipes passing under the track were fire damaged at one point.
“Then we had machines on the walking trail where we were trying to contain the fire,” he said.
Mr Black said this created a public hazard for people if a pipe had collapsed underfoot, with potential to trip and also slip on the machine damaged section of trail.
“We made the decision to close from the start and finish of the walking trail rather than part closing in between, because that was clear then to visitors that whole section of trail was closed,” he said.
“The machine tracks screwed up the walking trail as well.
“We’ve got a plan to replace the gravel on the walking trail, rebuild the tracks, replace the pipes, and our challenge has been over from early June and July to August with how wet it’s been.
“We’ve been unable to get machinery in to do that work.”
Mr Black said they hoped to re-open the track to walkers in a couple of weeks’ time.
