The Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary redevelopment has been a terrific success, and the City has received a number of awards over it. Predominantly these are for the wetlands management, water management and general project delivery; not necessarily in creating a better bird sanctuary. Let’s do that by planting more trees; hundreds of them.
There is a huge amount of vacant land around the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary. Riverside Gardens needs to be left clear for the many events which the City hold there, but I am not sure why the land to the right of the Bird Sanctuary needs to also be left clear.
Community consultation with the visitors and nearby residents would obviously need to occur, but I personally would like to see the green portion in the map be transformed into a dense forest. Not only would it act as a lung for the City and provide habitat & food for the birds, but I also believe it would make a much more interesting journey for the walkers and park users. The general ratepayers would benefit as well from not having to pay for the lawn maintenance.
“Let’s put trees and woods back at the heart of people’s lives”
What are your thoughts?
— Update —-
On the 12 December 2017 I submitted the following motion which was passed by council:
On 17 April 2018, the requested report came back to council (via a committee meeting, pp. 150-162 – it’s worth a read). Unfortunately the soil depth is not sufficient to create a forest due to the clay capping of a rubbish tip being close to the surface. So to achieve the vision, significant soil would need to be added and this comes at a cost. As such, outside funds are required to make this a reality, and the following was decided:
Since then I have continued to raise the wonderful benefits of an urban forest whenever I can. WAtoday have covered the story, and I have spoken with Oliver Peterson on 6PR 882.
Ultimately though, there needs to be someone at the State or Federal level who also shares the vision.
—- Update —-
Bingo.
On 23/04/2019 Patrick Gorman MP brought the Shadow Minister for Environment, Mark Butler MP, down to the subject area and announced a $200,000 Federal Labor commitment towards the project. This is great news and is the catalyst required to start making things happen.
They share the vision!
