After the 2013 fire: what visitors still need to know

Visitor info still tells you that fire-impacted trees may fall without warning. Assessed visitor areas and walking tracks are the places built for you. Areas outside those precincts without safety notices should not be entered.

That is why “just camp under that big shady tree” is a bad improvisation here, especially in wind.

Recovery vegetation, contrasts between burnt and unburnt patches, and rebuilt visitor infrastructure. Photograph the story without leaving the signed track for a “better” charred snag.

Rebuilt tracks and camps can look “new” and still sit under trees that were fire-affected. New timber on a boardwalk is not a cancellation of the tree-fall note.

Pick sites away from large unstable-looking trees and overhanging dead limbs, especially if wind or rain is forecast. Official campgrounds are still the only legal camps — recovery is not a reason to freestyle.

Signed tracks are the assessed product. After strong wind, treat the next morning as an alerts morning. Do not step around a closed sign to “see if the ramp is fine.” Coonabarabran Area office 02 6842 1311 is listed for more tree-safety information. We do not publish NPWS email addresses.

It does not cancel Fans Horizon or Whitegum. It does change picnic and camp choices: shade is not automatically safe shade. It does change a windy morning: check alerts before you commit to a Grade 4 ridge.

Heat plus dead limbs plus a late start is the stacked failure. Fix the start time and the camp site first.

Do not invent a “the forest is fine now” story that cancels tree safety. Do not invent a “the park never recovered” story that scares people off assessed walks. Do not invent off-track routes through unassessed country — official text says do not enter those areas.

Do not invent an NPWS email for “just checking the trees.” Use the published phones: Visitor Centre 02 6825 4364 or Coonabarabran Area 02 6842 1311.

Local alerts the morning you travel. Visitor info tree-safety paragraph. Official after-fire program page for the conservation story. This article goes stale; those pages are the live ones.

Official heading Open as of 25 Sep 2026 snapshot. Tree-fall risk is independent of pest-control windows — still do not camp or sit under large trees in wind.