The Latrobe Valley Sustainability Group is protesting VicRoads’ proposal to remove 90 Endangered Strzelecki Gums plus acacias and wattles (including 24 old and very old trees) as part of a road safety project on the Tyers/Traralgon Road in the Latrobe Valley. Latrobe City only has 23% remaining native vegetation.

Irene Proebsting from the Group does not object to the permit’s intentions to alter the Bluff Causeway Bridge or the new road alignment on the south side of the river but instead asks the road authority to lower the speed limit and replace safety barriers.

“Wouldn’t it be possible to increase safety by placing Armco steel or cable barriers on the existing road on the north side of the river, and reducing speed limits, thereby negating the need for road alignment of 15 large gum trees?” she asked.

Another Sustainability Group member, Jim Stranger, said the proposal was environmentally damaging. “They say they’re trying to minimise the damage, but we think there is a way this can be done where the damage is negligible,” he said.