The clear fall plan
You may have seen coverage in the paper or online regarding plans for clear fall harvest of Kowen/Sparrow.
CANBERRA TIMES -
HERE
RIOT-ACT
HERE
There has been some chatter in social media also.
In a previous post you can see the area designated for immediate clearfall (and my visit yesterday showed that the compartment containing Beer Garden is being dropped right now.)
However the image attached here shows the trail network with the PCS harvest 5 year tactical plan overlaid so you can see the overall impact over this period – it represents a major reduction of the trail network. A quick count indicates that 106 trails (60 in East Kowen and 46 in Sparrow Hill) will be affected by clear fall and removed in the next 4-5 years (in the order of 70% of the trail network). What the image does not show is that the central pine compartments in East Kowen and the back left hand side of Sparrow (not currently coloured in) are of a similar age so are likely to be cleared in a similar time frame (such as 5-6 years for instance). Whether any trails can be preserved during this process remains to be seen. Our understanding of the process of clearfall and regen suggests it is quite disruptive so we expect more along the lines of a general reset button. If sections of trails remain after saw logs are taken then all the better.
As it stands, the current harvest plans will have a significant long term impact on trail riding opportunties in East Kowen/Sparrow, Majura Pines and the Canberra region more broadly. A loss of trail amenity of this scale may affect the bike industry, will reduce the viabilty of events and reduce the appeal of Canberra to mountain bikers (interstate and local). Personally, I don’t think Canberra should be losing trail at this rate without a clear strategy to support building of trail in new locations and to help fast track replacement of trails lost to harvest in plantation.
It certainly has become a challenging time to be a trail builder!