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Meet Martin ...
He runs a community walking group in his neighbourhood, mostly made up of retirees or stay-at-home parents. The group meets three times a week and they walk between 5km - 10km around the local parks and riverfront are in their neighbourhood with the occasional trip further afield to a national park walking trail.
What types of permissions or permits did you need to obtain for your group to use public outdoor spaces?
Initially, we didn't have any, because the group was very informal. It mainly consisted of six friends getting together to go walking. However, as more and more people expressed an interest in joining us we decided to formalise the group. We developed a charter and started taking membership information, for safety purposes, and we even took out an insurance policy.
Someone suggested we check with the local council to see if they required us to get a permit. I'm glad we did because in our shire it is required that organised community groups have formal permission to utilise council public areas for any meetings, gatherings, or events. It's not a permit or a license as such because we are not a commercial enterprise, but we have an official letter from the relevant department and they know that we have all the proper insurances and other safety-related information in place to reduce risks.
Are there any specific rules or regulations that you are required to abide by from an environmental sustainability perspective?
Yes, the council provided us with a booklet on environmental sustainability and our responsibilities. It's not too complicated, mainly in regards to cleaning up any areas where events are held, not damaging gardens or removing plant life, and respecting native animals and their habitats. Our group is fairly low-impact, we're just walking along established paths and trails, however, we always ensure we take all our rubbish items away and we always follow the directions of any signs or guidelines.
How does your group charter address environment sustainability?
We have a short section on it, mainly covering the information that the council provided us with. We also have a limit on individual outing group size when we visit national parks and more natural environments, the maximum number is 20 people. This is to help reduce the impact on certain natural environments, too many people traipsing through delicate areas can be harmful, plus the group can get a bit too noisy and hard to manage if it's too big. We always stick to designated paths or trails and we only use specific picnic areas for our rest stops.
Do you ever seek the guidance of park rangers or other officials in regards to environmental sustainability?
Occasionally we schedule our walks to coincide with a guided tour of a local area. These are usually run by park rangers or other people like local Indigenous Elders. The information they provide usually covers environmental sustainability as it is a very important aspect of their jobs or lives and we tend to learn quite a bit about the local area, its native flora and fauna, challenges they are facing, and tips and tricks for enjoying the area in a safe manner. It makes the walk that much more enjoyable.