A Fire trail, a serious need to assist fire management

or just an excuse to knock over more trees.

North Coast Water's

Review of Environmental Factors

Southern Fire Trail and Access Way.

20th February 2010

North Coast Water, a business arm of the Clarence Valley Council, has recently

presented a Review of Environmental Factors (REF), asking Council's approval to

construct a fire trail south west of the Shannon Creek dam. The proposal has been on

the drawing board for at least 18 months since the 'walk through' environmental

assessment was made in August 2008.

The Clarence Environment Centre received copies of Council Papers describing the

proposal just one day before the matter was put to Council's sub-committee, so

because of the lack of time allowed we were unable to take advantage of the offer to

make a deputation on the subject.

Perhaps this was the reason why the information

was circulated at this late date

Now that we have assessed the REF we find that, like many former ecological

assessments presented to the public in relation to the Regional Water Supply

Scheme, not all is exactly as it is presented.

The following graphic, Figure 2, on page

12, shows the proposed fire trail (red line), and the author has used a black line to

show the supposed position of existing tracks which the proposed trail is to connect.

Note that the aerial photograph has clearly picked up the light shaded line of the

existing track from which the proposed trail is attached at its eastern end (right hand

end), then note the lack of any similar shading along the black line depicting the

supposed existing road at the western end of the trail.