Caretakers of the Latrobe Valley’s most celebrated new walking track are facing an uphill battle to secure ongoing funding for the trail’s maintenance.
While this week’s announcement of $85,000 from the State Government will go a long way to repairing flood damage at the Grand Strzelecki Track, funds for its ongoing maintenance are falling well short of what is required.
The track currently receives a joint $8000 a year from Latrobe and Wellington councils, but its volunteer committee of management predicts it will initially need about $60,000 a year to keep the track properly maintained.
“The councils have been wonderful, but we really need to get a secure source of funding,” committee president Dr Steb Fisher said.
“There’s a fair bit of maintenance and it’s quite labour-intensive because you’ve got to walk in with equipment.
“We have some rest areas which we want fixed up and we also want areas with camping facilities.”
The committee is also hoping to eventually employ a part-time manager for the track which spans 110 kilometres and links the Tarra Bulga and Morwell national parks.
It is currently lobbying state and federal governments for a long-term funding commitment, but Dr Fisher said perhaps its best chance at ongoing government grants was for the track to attain ‘iconic’ status through Tourism Victoria.
“There’s a chance we’ll get classified as one of Victoria’s iconic trails, meaning it holds its own on the world stage,” he said.
“If that happens, we’ll attract funds and then international visitors.
“There’s a real opportunity to make it quite special and put this part of Gippsland on the map.”
Dr Fisher said if the committee was unsuccessful in reaching its maintenance funding target it would just “be scraping by”.
“There’d be times when the track wasn’t in good shape,” he said.
“We’d muddle through, but we wouldn’t necessarily hire in the services we need to keep it in top condition.”
The track was opened in April last year and a few months later the committee won the Parks and Leisure Australia National Award of Excellence for Inclusive and Connected Communities.
