Page 4936 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 November 2017
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It is estimated that no Canberran lives further than 3.5 kilometres from a nature reserve, national park or pine forest, with the average distance being only 977 metres. Our survey results suggest over three million visits annually to just the 38 units that make up the urban bushland of Canberra Nature Park. Our city can be more accurately described as the accessible bush capital, and Canberrans and visitors find ways to enjoy our green backyard in many and varied ways, the most popular being running, walking and cycling, whether as part of a daily commute, a morning stroll or a strenuous training session. Canberrans have access to thousands of kilometres of formed trail, and a good proportion of trail is contained within our working softwood plantations scattered along the margins of the urban area. Is it any wonder that cycling continues to appeal as the most popular recreational activity? Indeed, I agree with Mr Rattenbury that Canberra is Australia’s cycling capital.
The territory supports approximately 400 kilometres of trail marked as mountain bike trail, noting of course that much more opportunity exists to cycle our wider management trail network. Particularly popular with mountain bikers are the Centenary Trail, Majura Pines, Stromlo Forest Park, Bruce Ridge, Isaacs Pines and of course Kowen Forest with its 120 kilometres of purpose-built trail. These places are a mix of pine plantation areas, purpose-built recreation facility and nature reserve.
The 2003 bushfires destroyed large tracts of plantation to the city’s west, leaving the 4,500 hectare Kowen Forest as the largest area of commercial pine plantation left in the territory. The Kowen plantation returns around $5 million per annum in timber sales to the territory. In 2015-16 the territory negotiated contractual arrangements with the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales that will look to supply 70,000 tonnes of timber per annum to the market through 2019-20. Over this period, ACT pine will find its way into five regional sawmills as well as a small export market to China where it is utilised in construction. Our local sawmill, Auswest Timbers, employs 24 people at its Fyshwick facility. The mill has a high reliance on the flow of timber from the Kowen plantation. Furthermore, estimates from the forest industry suggest that for every person directly employed in forestry operations, a further three jobs are created in related support industries.
Our pine plantations are not just a renewable source of timber providing employment opportunity for the territory and the region. The operating model in place in the ACT also embraces the recreational potential of these working forests. I agree that our pine forest areas are popular across Canberra. In fact, 30 recreational groups use Kowen Forest alone and there are hundreds of organised recreational activities annually ranging from mountain biking to bushwalking, orienteering, equestrian uses, athletics, rallying and dog sledding. Each of these groups successfully works with our forest managers to fit their recreational activities around the commercial operations of growing and substantially harvesting pines.
This is an important point, as the very model that derives a return to the territory from plantation timber also funds the upkeep of the management trails, maintenance of the signage and fences and the control of pest plants. With this infrastructure funded and managed, recreation can thus be safely supported in working plantations. The land manager recognises another important role played by pine forests: they enable the
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