Take only photographs, leave only footprints is an established bushwalking and 4WD principle.
Unfortunately, instagramming your bushwalk has led to many people building tiny cairns of stones so they can photograph their “artwork”.
But it is not art, it’s vandalism.
Rock stacks mark that someone has been there and decided to build a stack to show they were there.
But most people visit parks to be somewhere with little human influence.
By stacking rocks a person is showing there has been a human influence.
Moving rocks from their resting place means they are no longer slowing the flow of water across the land.
They are no longer helping that water soak in.
It also destroys habitat for many tiny and often invisible animals and plants.
Everything in a national park, whether it is living or dead, is protected.
So, to help nature stay natural and for you to avoid fines from park rangers:
Leave natural areas natural and just as you found them. This allows others to discover and enjoy the area after you.
Never collect sticks, rocks, leaves, shells, feathers, fossils or plants. They all have a place in nature.
Don’t move rocks and stones around for any reason including rock stacking for a “great photo” for your social media. It’s unsightly for the next visitor and unnatural.
Do not disturb or touch cultural sites such as rock art or middens; they are protected too.
And to a non Indigenous eye they may just appear to be rocks, not something created over possibly thousands of years.
Leave what you find in the same state as you found it.
Rock cairns have been used for thousands of years as navigational aids when there is no obvious track to follow.
This use is well accepted and no new cairns are needed if you use suitable navigation software and hardware (maps, compass, GPS, satnav and so on).
And there is no need to mark trees or hang pink tape and the like.
National parks authorities across the country encourage you to practise good bushwalking behaviour on your own or in a group.
This article appeared on indyNR.com in June 2022.
