Stunning remnant roadside vegetation on the Western Highway near Mt Langi Ghiran will be destroyed if the local residents’ campaign is successful. They are trying to save trees on their farms, a perfectly acceptable aim.
Worryingly, residents are also calling for a so called “alternative” route that could only lead to the loss of the continuous, very high conservation value roadsides at the foothills of the mountain (a State Park), over more than a 6 km stretch. That must not happen. The roadsides extend the vegetation from the mount which is essential for maintaining a vibrant habitat. The roadsides are home to a large population of Sugar Gliders – and are replete with other animals, birds, insects and reptiles.
- The locals are calling for a “narrow road” in the powerline easement
- But the veg there is unique and valuable in numerous ways and should under no circumstances be removed
- DELWP insisted the vegetation in this area be protected. The approved alignment is further away from the mountain – within the residents’ properties
- There is an unnamed species of Melaleuca there (recognised by the Melbourne Herbarium), a rare Grevillia and significant populations of the rare Emerald-lip Greenhood
- VicRoads wouldn’t build a narrow road – they are under obligation to build to a freeway standard
- Residents didn’t allow for the need to manoeuvre materials and machinery etc
- The “northern option” was only ever proffered by the residents, in the hope VicRoads would agree to a swap
- The entire southern roadside would have to be wiped out if the highway duplication were to occur here
- A faulty accounting technique makes people think the farmland is actually more significant ecologically than the roadside in question. That’s because the damage to the environment of a hoped-for and impossible narrow two-laned roadway (in the powerline easement) is compared with the full four-laned freeway on the approved route
- The residents fail to mention that even if their land were to be spared impacts by a freeway, it has no environmental protection and subsequent owners would be free to pursue normal farming activities with the attendant losses of biodiversity as can be seen on surrounding farmland
Many motorists visiting Halls Gap in the Grampians prefer to take the scenic route. (They visit the Grampians because they happen to like its natural beauty – so they like beautiful tree-lined roadsides as well). One such road takes them via Cathcart and Moyston from Ararat. There are often people parked at the Cathcart picnic spot – where there is a shed, toilets and a picnic table. (Plus tennis courts – for the locals). It is very picturesque, and now also gives some respite to travellers from the east who have confronted the shock of the recent Western Highway tree losses.
Save Roadside Trees 