DSE literally spying on mountain bikers.. WTF?

[S.]

So we were riding DH at a reasonably well known location east of Melbourne today, when someone spotted one of THESE strapped to a tree in a less-than-obvious location facing the carpark/turnaround. That little bugger is a motion-sensor camera that photographs anything that gets within 15m of it. On the bottom was a sticker that said simply "Sustainability & Environment" which would point to it being a Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) item.

Has anyone seen this before? Anyone care to guess why they'd be doing this? The trails in this location are well known to the relevant authorities and to mine and the track builders' knowledge, there has never been any issue in the ~10 years the trails have been there, though the trails are not "approved" officially. There is one resident nearby who is on reasonably good terms with the builders, so I doubt he has complaints. The camera has apparently been there since the 11th (4 days ago).

 

[jp4294]

Wow that's sad/scary. I'm keen to hear if anyone else has found these. Well spotted to :clap2:

 

[SuperSix]

OK to disconnect teh batteries?

 

[Bjorn]

I suggest getting naked in front of the camera S. That'll fix 'em.

 

[my02]

Send them an email and just ask them. No need to mention Mtb. They could be there for illegal dumping or other.

If they do respond with something anti bike well at least you will more of a heads up over just a sign going up and an outright ban and you can also best plead your case.

 

[AngoXC]

These devices have been used for a while for feral cat and native bird surveys.

There were no other devices in the area surrounding? Wires leading to it? Trampled ground?

 

[muskimo]

My02 may be on to something. Maybe dumping? Also could be to monitor traffic flow foot vehicle alike.

 

[dcrofty]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's aimed at illegal dumpers either, there is a heap of surveillance out there for that kind of thing. When I worked in bush regen we found council rangers in a hide in the bush staking out a carpark where people used to dump asbestos.

Perhaps a wildlife survey also, been there done that. Perhaps looking for antisocial behaviour in the carpark. And perhaps they are also looking at MTB, perhaps trying to gauge usage, perhaps something else. Why not call them and ask them.

 

[nskz]

NPWS use them a lot in NSW to track illegal dumping as mentioned above and to monitor other misuses of the environment. I doubt whether they would be solely aimed at MTB'rs...it would surprise me. Best thing about them is they record to SD card. So...replace that badboy with an SD card full of entirely random shit, hilarity can only ensue right?

 

[S.]

NPWS use them a lot in NSW to track illegal dumping as mentioned above and to monitor other misuses of the environment. I doubt whether they would be solely aimed at MTB'rs...it would surprise me. Best thing about them is they record to SD card. So...replace that badboy with an SD card full of entirely random shit, hilarity can only ensue right?

Yeah somebody has already suggested reloading the memory card (which I currently have, it contains images of me and the guys I was riding with among many others!) with gay porn or something and slapping it back in there. Would be pretty funny. Illegal dumping is a REMOTE possibility but knowing the area and having seen where shit actually DOES get dumped, I don't think so. It's aimed directly at the carpark so not a wildlife thing, and it's not on the commonly used walking trail that comes out 10m away - it's right next to where the downhill track comes out.

 

[jonozrx]

ACT parks & wildlife have these in the hills behind my house to monitor wildlife and catch dumpers. They are well hidden (I'm up there every day and have never seen one) but they have signs notifying park users.

 

[indica]

So you have stolen the memory card and then posted on here saying so? And they probably read this?
Odd course of action.

 

[cam-o]

If it's aimed at the carpark I reckon they are hoping to get a carpark shaggers compilation going.

 

[harmonix1234]

If they are facing the carpark they could be there for numerous reasons.
People dumping rubbish, stolen cars getting burnt out or dumped, drug deals, people loitering/drinking/smashing bottles/vandalism/burnouts, to document habits of fauna or any other number of reasons.

I'd send them a polite email with a please explain and see what response you get.

By the way, I have never ever seen anything like this on a trail head, and it does seem odd.

 

[harmonix1234]

Yeah somebody has already suggested reloading the memory card (which I currently have, it contains images of me and the guys I was riding with among many others!) with gay porn or something and slapping it back in there. Would be pretty funny. Illegal dumping is a REMOTE possibility but knowing the area and having seen where shit actually DOES get dumped, I don't think so. It's aimed directly at the carpark so not a wildlife thing, and it's not on the commonly used walking trail that comes out 10m away - it's right next to where the downhill track comes out.

Stupid idea.

You could be ruining someones Uni project, or a gov funded fox watching program. Foxes as an example because they will try and raid bins and get food scraps which are often left in carparks.

Why would you do that?

If you don't have anything to hide, and you havn't done anything wrong, why do you feel you have to sabotage this equipment to protect your image?

Just smile and wave and go ride your bike.

 

[pistonbroke]

Are there any facilities there? If so they may be looking for vandals. They have had quite a lot of trouble with things like toilet blocks being destroyed.

 

[jhb]

Yeah if it was me I would pop the SD card back in there asap. You've seen the camera so just make sure that the footage shows that MTBers are a respectful bunch that don't leave rubbish around, or ruin any vegetation etc. If they are filming something else then you never know - it could end up making MTBers look good! Stolen equipment at the top of a MTB trail can only look bad.

 

[S.]

Stupid idea.

You could be ruining someones Uni project, or a gov funded fox watching program. Foxes as an example because they will try and raid bins and get food scraps which are often left in carparks.

Why would you do that?

If you don't have anything to hide, and you havn't done anything wrong, why do you feel you have to sabotage this equipment to protect your image?

Just smile and wave and go ride your bike.

There are no bins there, there is no rubbish dumped there. There are plenty of other places near that carpark where placing that kind of camera MIGHT make sense but this is in my opinion specifically directed at mountain bikers. The fact that the camera is camouflaged and put in a tree not 5 feet from where the DH track came out makes me think it's simply aimed at us. There are/were photos of myself and my riding group on there, taken without our permission or any reasonable chance to know we were being photographed which I wasn't really happy about, hence taking and clearing the memory card. If anyone thinks that's unfair or unreasonable, tough shit! If they feel the need to hide the camera from us then they're clearly trying to collect some kind of information that they don't think riders will be happy with. We haven't damaged anything, just removed the memory card.

 

[dain2772]

There are no bins there, there is no rubbish dumped there. There are plenty of other places near that carpark where placing that kind of camera MIGHT make sense but this is in my opinion specifically directed at mountain bikers. The fact that the camera is camouflaged and put in a tree not 5 feet from where the DH track came out makes me think it's simply aimed at us. There are/were photos of myself and my riding group on there, taken without our permission or any reasonable chance to know we were being photographed which I wasn't really happy about, hence taking and clearing the memory card. If anyone thinks that's unfair or unreasonable, tough shit! If they feel the need to hide the camera from us then they're clearly trying to collect some kind of information that they don't think riders will be happy with. We haven't damaged anything, just removed the memory card.

The fact that the camera was camouflaged only suggests that they didn't want to make it too obvious - because if you do, people will vandalise or steal the camera or the memory card.

Plenty of good reasons for it being there aside from spying on DH'ers. If they were, maybe they are trying to ascertain numbers to figure out whether more facilities are warranted??

 

[mudmav]

If your that paranoid about it wipe the card then put it back, would you like me to call my contact as dse to find out what is going on tomorrow morning