Re-framing values for a World Heritage future: what type of icon will K'gari-Fraser Island become?

K’gari-Fraser Island, the world's largest barrier sand island, is at the crossroads of World Heritage status, due to destructive environmental use in concert with climate change. Will K’gari-Fraser Island exemplify innovative, adaptive management or become just another degraded recreational facility? We synthesize the likely impact of human pressures and predicted consequences on the values of this island. World-renown natural beauty and ongoing biological and geological processes in coastal, wetland, heathland and rainforest environments, all contribute to its World Heritage status. The impact of hundreds of thousands of annual visitors is increasing on the island's biodiversity, cultural connections, ecological functions and environmental values. Maintaining World Heritage values will necessitate the re-framing of values to integrate socioeconomic factors in management and reduce extractive forms of tourism. Environmentally sound, systematic conservation planning that achieves social equity is urgently needed to rectify historical mistakes and update current management practices. Characterizing and sustaining biological refugia will be important to retain biodiversity in areas that are less visited. The development of a coherent approach to interpretation concerning history, access and values is required to encourage a more sympathetic use of this World Heritage environment. Alternatively, ongoing attrition of the islands values by increased levels of destructive use is inevitable.

Effect of clear zone widths on run-off-road crash outcomes

Current guidelines on clear zone selection and roadside hazard management adopt the US approach based on the likelihood of roadside encroachment by drivers. This approach is based on the available research conducted in the 1960s and 70s. Over time, questions have been raised regarding the robustness and applicability of this research in Australasia in 2010 and in the Safe System context. This paper presents a review of the fundamental research relating to selection of clear zones. Results of extensive rural highway statistical data modelling suggest that a significant proportion of run-off-road to the left casualty crashes occurs in clear zones exceeding 13 m. They also show that the risk of run-off-road to the left casualty crashes was 21% lower where clear zones exceeded 8 m when compared with clear zones in the 4 – 8 m range. The paper discusses a possible approach to selection of clear zones based on managing crash outcomes, rather than on the likelihood of roadside encroachment which is the basis for the current practice. It is expected that this approach would encourage selection of clear zones wider than 8 m when the combination of other road features suggests higher than average casualty crash risk.

Profiling off-road motorcycle and all-terrain riders in Queensland, Australia

The current research aimed to profile off-road riders to identify specific sub-groups in relation to their risk-related behaviours and perceptions. A total of 235 adults from the Australian state of Queensland who had ridden a motorcycle or ATV off-road in the last 12 months were recruited. A cluster analysis was applied to the survey data. Two distinct clusters of riders were identified, which corresponded with the self-report of injury from an off-road riding crash in the prior 12 months. The injured cluster had a significantly higher mean risk propensity and use of safety equipment, though did not differ on self-reported risk taking. The injured cluster as a whole included a higher percentage of males, was younger, and rode more often for recreational or competitive purposes than the non-crash involved cluster. The results indicate that the crash cluster may be both more aware of the potential risks of riding and more willing to ride in a riskier manner.

Development of an evidence-based framework to guide injury prevention interventions for off-road motorcyclists

There is little research on off-road motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle riders though injury levels are high. This thesis identified formal responsibility for monitoring injuries, targeting young male and recreational riders, promotion of family members as models, and controlled and accessible riding locations as ways to increase safety. These recommendations were based on analysis of Queensland hospitalisation records, rider personal reports and survey responses.

Off-road sampling reveals a different grassland bird community than roadside sampling: implications for survey design and estimates to guide conservation

Grassland bird species continue to decline steeply across North America. Road-based surveys such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) are often used to estimate trends and population sizes and to build species distribution models for grassland birds, although roadside survey counts may introduce bias in estimates because of differences in habitats along roadsides and in off-road surveys. We tested for differences in land cover composition and in the avian community on 21 roadside-based survey routes and in an equal number of adjacent off-road walking routes in the grasslands of southern Alberta, Canada. Off-road routes (n = 225 point counts) had more native grassland and short shrubs and less fallow land and road area than the roadside routes (n = 225 point counts). Consequently, 17 of the 39 bird species differed between the two route types in frequency of occurrence and relative abundance, measured using an indicator species analysis. Six species, including five obligate grassland species, were more prevalent at off-road sites; they included four species listed under the Canadian federal Species At Risk Act or listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada: Sprague’s Pipit (Anthus spragueii), Baird’s Sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), the Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus), and McCown’s Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii). The six species were as much as four times more abundant on off-road sites. Species more prevalent along roadside routes included common species and those typical of farmland and other human-modified habitats, e.g., the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia), and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Differences in avian community composition between roadside and off-road surveys suggest that the use of BBS data when generating population estimates or distribution models may overestimate certain common species and underestimate others of conservation concern. Our results highlight the need to develop appropriate corrections for bias in estimates derived from roadside sampling, and the need to design surveys that sample bird communities across a more representative cross-section of the landscape, both near and far from roads.