Burnside Mt Osmond Fire management plan response

A strange one this; supposedly a fire management plan, yet enough references to recreational trails - with negative MTB slants - to make you wonder.

This is a draft and may or may not yet be use by IMBAA...

Given the dramatic events of the 2009 Victorian bushfires, it is re-assuring to see council are looking for ways to pro-actively reduce the bushfire threats posed around the Mt Osmond area, using the recommendations and research resulting from the enquiry into the causes and handling of those events.

Safety of the CFS/MFS crews and local residents that would be directly affected by any fire in the area has to be the number one priority. The plan appears to take many positive steps in this regard.

However, we note that the plan also makes reference to the track and trail network within the area and the recreational opportunities that it provides. Yet there is a recreational trail plan which council has not released for public comment or officially adopted and those opportunities are not directly linked to fire management – the focus of this plan.

That said we are concerned with the language and attitude displayed by those comments within this plan towards Mountain Bike (MTB) use of the trail network. Their seems to be a lack of understanding of the wants and needs of the MTB community and a consequent dismissal of those wants and needs, despite the apparent amount of MTB traffic currently using the existing network.

With Eagle Mountain Bike park nearby and DENR adopting IMBA trail building and management techniques with a vision of creating and allowing for MTB experiences within neighbouring Cleland Conservation Park, as well as other parks across the State, there will not be an end to MTB use of the Mt Osmond reserves simply by saying “No” to MTB use. The current already usage shows this.

We would suggest that a pro-active, shared-use management approach is observed. Locally, Mitcham has turned just such an apparent “problem” into a resource, with volunteer help provided by the MTB community in particular, and has thus had success in reducing unauthorised MTB use in other reserves within their remit.

We would strongly advise council to maintain separation between this plan and the recreational trail plan; furthermore, it should be high on the list of council’s priorities to review the recreational trail plan that was drafted in 2004 and open it for official public consultation. The current situation of incrementally implementing a plan still in draft – and thus without any public feedback - displays a lack of understanding of the wider community desires by council and will only maintain the current, less than ideal situation for all trail users, which has potential to need more drastic actions to rectify in the future, as MTB use continues unmanaged.
We are more than happy to offer specialist advice and expertise to council with regards to shared use trail networks in order to provide a sustainable outcome for all trail users, whilst still maintaining the management practises that council is proposing within this fire management plan.