Thark Ridge has had extensive work done by the FOWP, including three sections rerouted
The Friends of Wellington Park began work on Thark Ridge following a request from Parks and Wildlife to help them put marker poles on the track. These Poles were flown in and left at about 4 locations along to route, after the saddle on the ridge so it was just the southern part of the Thark Ridge. The work on the stakes took several trips in there starting in 2009 and finishing 2010. It involved carrying the poles along the route and dropping them off at appropriate locations and then others hammered them into the ground with especially built tool to thump them in the ground. Once all this was done coloured markers were screws on the poles to make it easier to follow.
Parts of the track were slightly overgrown and closer to the old Montague firetrail it was really quite thick, especially with Bauera. The FOWP then did some clearing of that in 2010 and 2011.
All this work was on the southern half of the Ridge, a distance of 3.7k, but the northern half of it was quite degraded at the start with multiple tracks going across the wet moorland. Various options were checked out for potential rerouting and approval gained for the selected way. On ground work in rerouting the track began in 2012 (stage 1) and several days work was done to clear vegetation on harder ground. Further along there was another section that was very boggy and this was also rerouted to higher Ground in 2013 (stage 2). A final section (stage 3) was investigated and done in 2014 and finished in early 2015.
From 2014 onward the FOWP have also done maintenance on the track but haven't got to the far southern end again, although we we have been there to look and it's quite overgrown again where it crosses wet areas close to the old Montagu Fire Trail. Plans to clear this section were made for March 2020, but the park closure to volunteers because of virus problem has forced a postponement.