In the Central Western Daily (October 14), ‘Trail Will Desecrate Mountain’, Allan Reeder on behalf of Orange City Council stated that construction of mountain bike trails in the Mt Canobolas State Conservation Area will increase visitors giving national parks (NPWS) the budget they need to deal with the weeds.
Where will this increased income for NPWS come from? There is no guarantee of increased income – and this is a fundamental flaw in OCC logic.
Track construction would simply result in existing operational funding being stretched further, or being reallocated from other conservation budgets elsewhere.
Under legislation any trail that is created in a SCA becomes the responsibility of NPWS, not council, nor a mountain bike club.
So NPWS is left with picking up the pieces afterwards, and in the meantime the reserve gets trashed.
Sarah Lyons
Published in ‘Your Say’, Central Western Daily, 20 October 2021
CCA - Save Mt Canobolas 