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National parks authorities have vowed to crack down on illegal motorbike riding and horse riding in the Mooball National Park as part of a plan to protect the reserve.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said police will patrol the reserve to deter illegal joyriders whose bike exhausts pose a serious fire risk.
NPWS Tweed area manager Leonie Walsh said the move would also reduce erosion in the park, which leads to destructive soil run off.
‘This has been an ongoing issue and has had significant environmental impacts due to erosion,’ she said.
‘Law enforcement, regulatory signage and cooperation with the police will be used to help combat this problem.’
The crackdown is part of a draft plan of management developed for the park, which also covers the protection of wildlife habitat and cultural sites, the management of fire and weeds and recreation use.
In the draft plan, the NPWS said it had unsuccessfully tried to identify potential safe horse riding routes in the reserve, which is dominated by steep slopes and winding roads.
Cudgera Creek resident Rhonda James said banning horses and motorbikes was welcome.
‘I work in native vegetation and I see the damage these bikes do to our natural areas,’ she said.
‘It is a really positive outcome. Even as a horse rider myself, who likes riding through natural areas, I understand the impact and can accept the NPWS decision.
‘This reserve is a real asset to our area and has got to be protected.’
Under the plan, camping will also be prohibited but cycling will be encouraged on roads open to management vehicles and on management trails.
The NPWS is seeking submissions from the public on the draft plan before June 1.
Copies of the draft plan are available by calling the NPWS office on 6670 8600. It can also be accessed by visiting Hear.
source doc
FORENSIC investigators were hard at work yesterday along the section of disused railway line which runs under the Pacific Highway at Tyagarah.
Their grim task was to try to piece together the final moments of a woman whose body was found next to the track early yesterday.
By midday the investigators had found five or six points of interest, highlighting them with bright yellow numbered markers.
Clad in their blue Forensic Services overalls, their job was to record even the smallest detail - anything that could help lead to the prosecution of those responsible for the woman’s death.
Despite their meticulous work, the bald facts of the case were apparent almost as soon as the woman was found.
About 7am, a motorist alerted police at the Byron Bay police station, handing in to officers part of a badly damaged pushbike wheel and some clothing found on the motorway about a kilometre south of the Tyagarah Airfield.
Police were the first to locate the woman. Her body was lying next to the tracks about 20 metres below the highway, apparently thrown over the bridge railings by the impact of the vehicle which struck her.
The police immediately declared a crime scene in the area, about five kilometres north of the Byron Bay interchange.
Orange cones narrowed the flow of southbound highway traffic to one lane to allow police to do their job.
A short time later police discovered a pantech truck with ‘significant damage’ to its front end parked in Woodford Lane at Ewingsdale.
The 18-year-old driver of the truck and another male passenger were yesterday taken to Byron Bay police station for questioning by the Ballina Crash Investigation Unit.
By late yesterday afternoon the men had been released without being charged.
The police were continuing to investigate.
Police said it appeared the collision which killed the woman occurred about 6.45am.
Police are urging anyone who may have witnessed the accident to contact them or phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Police will not be releasing details of the woman’s identity until all her family have been contacted.
Addendum:Teen driver's micro sleep proves fatal for cyclist
* Georgina Robinson
* May 11, 2009 - 11:25AM
A woman flung from her bicycle after a young driver fell asleep at the wheel of a truck on the NSW North Coast yesterday "didn't have a chance", police say.
The 41-year-old woman was cycling south along a narrow road shoulder on a bridged section of the Pacific Highway just north of Byron Bay yesterday morning when the hire truck hit her from behind.
She was thrown off the bike and over the side of the bridge into thick scrub near an old railway line, dying instantly.
Police today said the 18-year-old truck driver told investigators he fell asleep for a moment, causing the truck to veer left.
"He appears to have started nodding off with fatigue and veered to the left hand side of the road into the guard rail and she was in front so he's hit her from behind," Senior Constable Mitch McMullen, from the Ballina crash investigation unit, said.
"She got ejected off the bike and over the railing."
Police have interviewed the driver and his 22-year-old passenger, who was asleep when the crash occurred.
The men told investigators they had hired the Pantech truck to make a pick up on the Gold Coast and were on their way back to Sydney about 7am, Senior Constable McMullen said.
They had been on the road for about an hour and a half and had not driven through the night.
Senior Constable McMullen said the woman, from the small town of Tyagarah about eight kilometres north of Byron Bay, was cycling on a narrow section of road shoulder - about half a metre wide - and would have died instantly from the truck's impact.
"All the evidence points to the fact that she was to the far left as possible and the truck is actually scraping along the safety rail prior to the impact, then the impact (occurred)," he said.
"She didn't have a chance."
The men stopped twice following the smash, once in a road bay about 100m south of the accident and then again, about five kilometres away, after turning off the highway onto Ewingsdale Road to wait for police, who found them "in a state of shock".
The truck's front end was badly damaged, police said.
No charges have been laid. Senior Constable McMullen said police were waiting on the results of routine blood tests.
It was not known if the woman had children or was married. Her parents had been informed, he said.
SMH
"The body of a cyclist has been found next to the Pacific Highway near Byron Bay, on New South Wales north coast.
The woman's body was found by police shortly after someone went to Byron Bay station and handed in part of a bike found badly damaged beside the highway at Tyagarah.
Police are examining links between the woman's death and a truck found a short distance away with significant front end damage.
Officers are speaking to the truck driver."
ABC News Story
