Beginnings 5
The area of the park has not changed significantly since, and now is quoted as 16,977 hectares. There are no significant commercial pressures on the park at the moment and, indeed, it has become so established that both conservation groups and researchers admit that it is somewhat overlooked.
(It should be remembered that this article was published in 1984 so the many of the following references relate to that time)
The Chief Ranger , Chris Eden, is not complacent, however. He is concerned about the effects of logging on park boundaries and particularly the threat of fire from regeneration-burning of felled areas. Although he admits that there has been little research carried out, he is convinced that small mammals in particular are suffering from the pressure of feral predators and, rather more surprisingly, that over-grazing is occurring because conservation of the larger mammals has been too effective.
Head of Chris Eden's list of concerns is the increasingly prevalent problem of over-use. The park's proximity to Hobart has resulted in a current level of 150,000 visitors annually. Seventy-five per cent of those visitors concentrate their activities in the camping, caravan and picnic area at the park entrance. As a result this has been turned into an alien, grassed parkland and regeneration of the surrounding bush has been severely affected.
Although bushwalkers comprise only some ten per cent of total visitors, their impact on tracks, particularly in wet areas, has been great enough to require significant lengths to be protected by manfern 'paving' or duckboards, which both compromise and conserve the quality of wilderness experience available in Mt Field.
The remaining 15 per cent of visitors comprise the group who have the biggest visible impact on the heart of the park - the skiers; and there is a simmering controversy about their activities. The slopes are covered with a discordant scattering of accommodation huts and dilapidated ski tows. Some would have all skiing facilities removed, others would like substantial development. Chris Eden rejects both extremes. Skiing on Mt Mawson is a traditional part of the Mt Field scene, but efforts are in hand to limit environmental damage.
It would be wrong to over-emphasise the problems faced by Mt Field. The park is largely unspoiled and one doesn't have to be a fantastically fit bushwalker to appreciate its pleasures. A night or two in one of the government huts at Lake Dobson can be most rewarding. They are old, rustic and provide only the most basic facilities, but as long as one is properly prepared, they can be very cosy.
The huts look out over a wet heathland surrounded on three sides by forested hills and the mood and rich colour of the bush changes with the weather and time of day. The birds are unceasingly active during daylight hours and the clinking of the yellow-throated and strong-billed honeyeaters echoes constantly across the valley.
At the first sign of cooking, a currawong is likely to perch on the windowsill, cocking its head to fix with a bright, yellow eye any potentially available morsel.
As the light fades, the wallabies and pademelons appear and start quietly cropping at the grassy areas just in front of the cabin doors. When the light has faded completely, another predator of human provisions appears. Indeed, it is very wise to ensure that the door is securely closed, or jammed shut with a chair, otherwise it is odds on that one will be awakened deep in the night by a mother possum, complete with a baby on her back, in the midst of tomorrow's breakfast sausages.
Despite the cosy atmosphere engendered by the potbellied stove, it is well worth braving the outside with a torch. Along with the more placid nocturnals already mentioned, the native cat is also likely to be. spotted and luck may also provide a Tasmanian devil. If the night is fine, the mountain air is itself justification for being outside, as is the unusual spectacle of the stars and planets going out like lights as they cross the high, sharp horizon. Sometimes the sky may even be ablaze with the aurora australis.