Battered bikes, broken shovels, old clothing and plastic waste were just some of the dumped items collected by volunteers in bushland near Miners Memorial Park in Balgownie on Sunday, June 25.
A team of 16 nature-lovers, trail runners and treasure-hunting kids joined the TRACTION (Trail Action) clean-up event organised by For Wild Places, an environmental activist group led by outdoor sports enthusiasts.
For Wild Places co-founder and chair Tim Seigenbeek van Heukelom – who is a passionate trail runner with Seacliff Coasters – often runs the Lower Escarpment Trail and was troubled by rubbish accumulating in the bushland next to the park.
The area known as 'Possums' is an easy access point to the trail – popular with runners, hikers and mountain bike riders – so the amount of rubbish here tends to increase fast. Tim said local areas like this make for an ideal TRACTION clean-up, allowing for people of all ages and fitness levels to lend a hand.
“The problem is if there are a few things on the ground, it's a lot easier, I think, especially for kids, to just throw bit more," Tim said.
“There were a few kids coming out [asking] ‘What are you guys doing?’. ‘We're just cleaning up the rubbish.’ ‘Oh, that's good!’… so, you saw it kind of click – they recognised, in their heads, that it's a mess here.”
Tim and a group of fellow trail runners met at the Bob Brown Foundation’s takayna Trail ultramarathon held in Tasmania's Tarkine rainforest. Inspired by this ultramarathon – Australia's first trail running event to integrate the protection of the wild terrain on which it takes place – they formed For Wild Places, intending to replicate the concept on the mainland.
They started TRACTION at Sublime Point in 2021 and developed it through a partnership with Parks Victoria. Their clean-up and trail maintenance events aimed to help manage and improve the ecosystems they traverse.
“We set up well, COVID hit [then] we had to take a bit of a break,” Tim said.
“There was a grant in Victoria to help us develop the concept more … it was Community Grants Victoria …
"And now that [For Wild Places member and Seacliff Coasters trail runner] Chris Williams and I have a better idea of it and how it works, we can easily start it here at pretty much no cost and develop that over time further.
“The idea is that we'll talk to our runners to find spots across the escarpment that [have] rubbish, [are] polluted, whatever there is.
"For now it's just clean-up, but over time we hope that we can work out some opportunities for bush care.”
For Wild Places has hosted several successful TRACTION days across Victoria, including in the Great Otway National Park, the You Yangs mountain range, Yarra Bend Park and Gariwerd (Grampians National Park).
Tim expects the initiative will develop further in the Illawarra.
“It's a nice outing – to be out there with a purpose – I think that's what we're trying to do,” Tim said.
“It’s mostly connecting people, finding initiatives… to connect people with opportunities and get them out there, do something, feel good about it, and it's also a community thing.
“It's nice for people to get to know each other a bit better… it's as much connecting with nature as community.”
You can find out more about TRACTION here. To keep up to date with events, visit their Facebook page.