2021-03-09 P&E Agenda - Item 5 - Attachment 1 - Noosa Trail Masterplan

                          Each of these bodies typically has an interest in both   Volunteer Trail Management
                          trail advocacy and events. They have or aspire to
                                                                                   Trail users are passionate about building and
                          have formal structures and are capable of assisting
                                                                                   maintaining trails, and typically ‘custodian’
                          the trail development process. Trails in a number of
                                                                                   communities naturally form around popular trail
                          locations rely heavily on volunteer trail bodies for
                                                                                   networks and parks.
                          sustainable development and management of the
                          activity. There is opportunity to improve governance     Good facility management is key to ensuring a
                          structures supporting trails within the Noosa            sustainable and consistent product which can be
                          region by combining representatives from relevant        promoted confidently. Whilst the responsibility for
                          organisations based on geographic distribution of        management generally lies with the trail owner, it is
                          trail development.                                       possible to create partnerships to involve volunteers
                                                                                   in some of these activities, such as:
                          Existing Management
                                                                                   •   Trail auditing inspections and condition reporting
                          Many trails in Noosa have a simple management
                                                                                   •   Trail building initiatives
                          structure where the landowner is also the operator.
                          In these cases, insurances are held by the owner,        •   Event support
                          maintenance is carried out as required, and              •   Incorporating clear roles and responsibilities for
                          resourcing comes from ongoing maintenance                    volunteer bodies in the ongoing management of
                          budgets.                                                     trails can yield a number of positive outcomes,
                          Within the region there are a few situations                 including:
                          where the owner and operator may be different            •   Reduced management costs through using
                          entities. For example, the majority of mountain bike         volunteer resources
                          singletrack trail networks on QPWS estate remain         •   Creation of stewards for the environment
                          under QPWS ownership but rely on maintenance
                                                                                   •   Creating a fun and vibrant community
                          from mountain bike bodies who are the trail
                          operators. QPWS have invested in building capacity       •   Strengthened relationships and networks
                          of volunteers and contractors through formal
                          agreements and guidance to create structured
                          maintenance schedules. Mountain bike bodies who
                          are trail operators have or are working toward having
                          formal Trail Adoption agreements in place with
                          QPWS. Some case studies of volunteer management
                          programs are detailed below.




NOOSA TRAIL MASTERPLAN | APRIL 2020                                                                                                   26