Coastcare Trust members have recently met with Local Board Chair and Council officers to look at the issues on the dunes at Lion Rock Corner. We are pleased to report that buried accessway fences will be reinstated, and that there will be remedial planting of Spinifex in the degraded areas.
It was most helpful to have a dune specialist at the meeting. He gave an excellent account of how dunes are formed and should be maintained. A smooth low dune with a relatively even toe is the most resilient form, and dunes will naturally take this shape if they are not trampled.
We will keep you posted abut when the work will be done, and when we will be able to plant.
URGENT ADDITION: Since I wrote the report above, I have received the following disappointing further response from the Council officer in charge of the project. I note that the Local Board Chair showed nothing but encouragement for the fencing and planting maintenance plans on the day of the meeting.
Regarding the planting I’ve been advised that the Local Board have a previous business decision (Resolution number WTK/2014/149) that no further planting is to be undertaken on the seaward edge of the dune system and that any future proposals for planting on the dunes will need the prior approval of the local board.
Based on the above and given the timeframe I’ll need to look at the physical works excluding the planting as part of the initial brief. We can work together with our contractor before any works commence to see how this may impact the brief.
It is very disappointing that after waiting years for this maintenance work to be done, Council may now only be able to implement the fence restoration without the planting. This will diminish both the visual effect and, more importantly, the resilience of the dune.
Pat La Roche (CoastCare Coordinator)
Leave a Reply