by Marwood » Fri 19 Aug, 2011 1:29 pm
As a Bush Buddy owner, I've also pondered this. I seems the basis for the fuel stove only rules (versus total fire ban rules) are to stop people making campfires due to the bushfire risk and environmental damage from firewood collection, making fire pits, fire scars, ash deposition, wood smoke, etc. Obviously the bushfire risk with a Bush Buddy is mush lower than with a campfire, and the environmental damage from a Bush Buddy is negligible to non-existent. Having said that, I doubt you could successfully argue that the current rules don't apply to Bush Buddy use - and I think it would be difficult if not impossible to write the rules in such a way that they forbade campfires but didn't apply to lighweight wood stoves.
What I find really frustrating though is the lack of information here in NSW about which areas in which NPs are fuel stove only and where fires are allowed. There's almost no information on the NPWS website, and the signage in parks is often non-existent or contradictory. From the number of fire scars I see around campsites in supposedly fuel stove only areas, it seems that the regulations aren't well respected or strongly enforced in any case.
Come on lads, let's get home. The sky's beginning to bruise, night must fall, and we shall be forced to camp.