Data is king. It helps us make informed decisions.
Now there is data to share and talk to. We are able to better understand the degree of visitation to Kennett River…
Earlier this year, the Colac Otway Shire conducted a traffic count which lasted 28 days from 21 March - 18 April 2024. 17,612 total vehicles were recorded entering and exiting our precinct during that period. March/April is not generally considered the busy summer period, rather the 'shoulder' season. The ADT (average daily traffic) was 629 vehicles divide that by two, to factor that vehicles were recorded entering and exiting so, it was 146 vehicles per day x 2.7 passengers (Parks Victoria's standardised count) = 849 people per day conservatively. If 2.7 passengers per vehicle is a valid average - then 309,939 annual visitors are expected (not factoring in peak volumes). A fraction of this volume includes campers and residents.
Tourism Research Australia, showed visitation to our region at year end Dec 30 2023 was 6.6 million, of which more than 1 million travelled the Great Ocean Road. Seemingly, many are stopping at Kennett River due to the strong online narrative to see koalas in the wild for free.
Following a palpable uptick in poor visitor behaviour (when those expectations are not being met), residents kept a 'visitor impact logbook' to report matters of concern to the relevant agencies, to raise the issues further ‘up the line’. The agencies involved included DEECA - Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action, the Colac Otway Shire, Parks Victoria, GORCAPA - Great Ocean Road Parks and Authority, and Victoria Police.
104 entries were recorded. More than 3/4 of the entries are wildlife welfare related. The logbook is extensive with photos, videos and licence plates captured where possible and safe to do so. Incidents may well far exceed the 104 recorded - these are the incidents that made it in to the logbook. Concerning behaviour include the throwing of rocks and gravel at koalas to wake them, spotlighting, trespassing into private gardens looking for wildlife, visitors making their way onto residents decks to try and spot animals, shaking branches and climbing trees, a private tour guide (stopping daily) using a loud whistle to get kangaroos to hop for his guests, a family approaching Eastern Grey kangaroos to feed them broccoli, drones over residential areas looking for wildlife, dogs off lead pursuing kangaroos, groups patting a koala that was trying to move between trees and licensed tour operators feeding birds - ignoring their obligation for responsible tourism, which is part of their licensing agreements.
What you don’t measure you cannot manage -
how many people are we talking about?
The original intention of the Nature Walk was to disperse visitors from Grey River Road. This has created unintended consequences, and an untenable new set of problems for a vulnerable zone that was previously a refuge for local wildlife, especially the Eastern Grey kangaroo mob.
As requested by KCAG, counters were promptly installed by new land managers GORCAPA on June 13th 2024 along the river bank in two separate locations to start monitoring visitation to that area. This followed a significant wildlife event on the June 8th long weekend where a large crowd of 60-70 people cornered a joey so close to a fence, it could not clear it. The joey repeatedly jumped into the fence, while onlookers crowded around it taking photos. A resident helping a visiting couple safely get their dog on a lead. Large male bucks in fight or flight mode were pursued by the crowd into private gardens raising safety concerns for residents.
The first counter #E14479 (located on the wetlands gate) is monitoring users of the 250m Kennett River Nature Walk, marked with 14 interpretive signs and no formal end. The walk is advertised as being open 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.
The second counter #E14480 (located at the base of the easement on Hazel Court) is to assess the number of visitors continuing on the informal track, where visitors continue up the river.
In 161 days:
39,275* passes were made on counter #E14479 or 19,637 people.
33,268* passes were made on counter #E14480 or 16,634 people.
The latest counter data from December, 6 2024 to January, 24 2025 can be viewed here.
The Nature Walk received 13,810 visitors in 7 weeks. A total of 35,573 visitors in 7 months. Visitors arriving before 7am and still coming at 8.30pm in search of wildlife - the local mob no longer having safe access to forage at dawn, or dusk - the human-animal conflict over land use a significant challenge needing to be addressed, if we are serious about responsible tourism and maintaining healthy wildlife populations for generations still to come.
The previous projections were for 44,530 visitors on the Nature Walk within 12 months. That number is now tracking to over 61,239 on the Nature Walk, of which 53,370 will continue along the informal track into the back of the community.
What we need to be understanding, as a community wanting to preserve and protect the environs is the cumulative effect going forward, to local wildlife and to the valuable **riparian zone. A quick walk of the area and one will see the degradation that is occurring. The images below show the comparison of the riverbank 2 years ago and how it looks now.
Is in excess of 300,000 visitors appropriate for a small, residential hamlet of just 160 homes and 50 permanent residents? One would have to say no.
The ecological health of the environment is something we should be openly talking about, along with the biodiversity challenges we are already facing, and will continue to face.
Further to this, DEECA has acknowledged there is no bushfire management plan for those walking into the back of the community along the riverbank. While the tour operators can be called and diverted, what happens to the self-drivers who make up more than 60% of the current visitation and may have little understanding of Australian bushfires? We have nothing in place, not even a warning siren to assist. The numbers raise justifiable concern about public safety, especially when the authorities don’t have a plan.
For our committee, who have been driving these talks this year, this data shows that ***carrying capacity is an indisputable issue for this small area. It will continue to be an issue and human-animal conflict over confined land use will be inevitable. What used to be a safe foraging corridor for the mob, is now shared with visitors who arrive early in the morning and are still coming well after dusk. Locals seeing worrying behavioural changes; clucking, tail thumping and foraging after nightfall unusually close to homes. Signs that could mean the animals are under undue stress…
When did you last hear the bellowing and grunting calls of koalas mating?
Or how often are you seeing a koala these days?
If you are thinking ‘good, let the animals move on, then so will the visitors’ - you’ve missed the real problem we are facing. Native animals not being here, or not being in healthy populations IS the problem. Lost biodiversity. We need to be doing everything in our power to address this, and with haste. Education is going to be key and will be critical to maintaining healthy wildlife populations. For example, in January of this year there were 3 koalas along the riverbank, now there is one - and one cannot make two.
We saw what that Google pin did to the koala in the triangle. It was unable to move freely for changed food or shelter conditions. An animal welfare issue, plain and simple. One that made us united, uncomfortable and motivated to act, and it worked!
We are sharing this data so that everyone (directly impacted or not) will get behind the efforts and actions required to encourage responsible tourism going forward. If we don't, what will Kennett River be like in 3, 5 and 10 years from now?
The best maths you can learn is how to calculate the future cost of current decisions
If you would like to have a cuppa, anyone on our committee of ten, would welcome chatting. Maybe you have some ideas of how we can continue to tackle this beyond the 12 months of lobbying our group has done. Beyond reclaiming the triangle, removing a Google pin, proactively working to repair our riparian zone, and our efforts to create an education campaign that will engage others in responsible tourism to Keep The Wildlife Wild.
This campaign is not only designed for future generations to enjoy and experience Australian wildlife, but for wildlife to have future generations of their own.
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*Passes are walking west up the riverbank, then returning east to the car park
**Riparian zone refers to the land that borders our river. It's a transitional area between the aquatic environment and the land, where the two ecosystems interact. Riparian zones are vulnerable and can be easily degraded. An essential feature of a healthy riparian zone is vegetation. Vegetation provides key ecological functions such as channel bed and bank stability, reduced sediment and nutrients entering the waterway, habitat for wildlife and other biodiversity benefits
***Carrying capacity means the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors' satisfaction
