In November 2021, Parklands invited community feedback on plans for public pedestrian access to the Kiewa River in Baranduda via the Chapples Road reserve.
Parklands extend our thanks to all who responded to the survey. 88 responses were received, of which 27 included additional written comments.
Twenty one people also expressed interest in joining the Friends of Kiewa River stewardship group.
The survey set out the four key elements of the proposal and invited respondents to rank their level of approval/disapproval of each element.
Key elements as set out in the survey:
1. Pedestrian access is proposed with boardwalks across two unnamed waterways. These will involve the hand digging of ten footings.
2. As this area is seasonally inundated, it is proposed to only have a sprayed earthen trail, similar to the popular Kiewa River trail at Killara, which is inaccessible during floods.
3. Restoration works include revegetation along the river with a mix of local provenance species and these same species with provenance from hotter drier climates, as a climate adaptation measure.
4. Maintenance and emergency vehicle access is proposed to be established along the closed section of Chapples Road. It is proposed to minimise impact by installing 200mm deep rock mattresses over the two unnamed waterways for this purpose. Safe access for timely spraying and slashing will save volunteer time with mowers and brushcutters, and ensure restoration efforts are maintained as blackberries are controlled efficiently.
Results are shown on the figure below. Green = strongly approve, blue = approve, yellow = no opinion, light blue = disapprove, orange = strongly disapprove:
In summary:
Works include public pedestrian access: More than 82% approval overall, with 70% strongly approving.
Two boardwalks will be installed to allow pedestrian crossing of minor waterways: More than 82% approval overall, with 69% strongly approving.
Pedestrian track will be a sprayed earthen track (ie unpaved): More than 79% approval overall, with 59% strongly approving.
Revegetation will use native plants indigenous to the area: More than 81% approval overall, with 70% strongly approving.
Some plant stock will be sourced from drier climates as a climate adaptation measure: More than 73% approval overall. This proposal had the largest ‘No opinion’ response at 10.34%.
Revegetation and all other works will be sited to allow for maintenance and emergency vehicle access: More than 81% approval overall, with 57% strongly approving.
Rock mattresses will be installed to create maintenance and emergency vehicle ford points across 2 minor waterways: More than 77% approval overall, with 52% strongly approving.
Please view the full report below.
