Proposed Mountain Bike Skills Area - Brookfield

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The Shire of Augusta Margaret River is planning to establish a low-key mountain bike skills area in Public Recreation Reserve 48184, Brookfield on a twelve-month trial basis from January 2023.


Background

Mountain bike trails and jumps have been built informally in this reserve over recent years and receive heavy use, particularly by school-aged children. In principle, informal trail building is not permitted in Shire reserves, due to environmental impacts and risks to public safety.

In highly sensitive environments, or where informal trails pose a safety risk to users, the Shire will remove the trails, rehabilitate the site, and take measures to prohibit any further trail building. However, trail removal is not always a feasible option. Removal can be costly where trails are well established and may not reduce trail building as the activity is likely to move to another location. Given the significant level of building and use of trails in the Reserve and its semi-degraded condition, the Shire will trial an approach of allowing trail use to continue, while managing the environmental and safety risks.


About the project

A twelve-month trial of a sanctioned mountain bike skills area at the Reserve has been supported by Council, and will involve the following features:

  • Marking out of a 0.25 hectare formal mountain bike skills area within the existing trail area in Reserve 48184, using natural features such as rocks and logs as a border to distinguish between the trail use area and the remaining native bushland.
  • In collaboration with the local community and professional trail builders, repairing, remediating, and re-working already established trails and jumps to provide a small network of trails for all abilities that meet Australian Mountain Bike Trail safety standards.
  • Undertaking increased reserve inspections and maintenance of trails.
  • Implementing conservation work within the bushland portion of the reserve to improve biodiversity values, including weed control and revegetation.


Trail building workshop

It is planned to incorporate residents and the community in the implementation of the project, particularly the work on trails, through youth workshops and volunteer events. Local youth aged 11-17 are invited to attend an on-site workshop on Friday 6 January 2023 led by Magic Dirt Trailworx to learn about sustainable trail building and to help construct the trail area. Register your interest to attend here. Please note that there will be a limit on the number of attendees. Read more about the Workshop on the event page.


Consultation

The Shire is notifying nearby residents about the trial and providing an opportunity to provide comments on how the project will be implemented. To assist with this process, we have compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions which may answer any immediate questions or concerns. We will also invite the community to provide feedback on the trial at the end of the twelve-month trial period, along with undertaking broader consultation with the community and key stakeholders.


If you have any additional questions or comments that have not been addressed in the FAQs, you can contact the Senior Environment and Landcare Officer on 9780 5218, or email environment@amrshire.wa.gov.au

The Shire of Augusta Margaret River is planning to establish a low-key mountain bike skills area in Public Recreation Reserve 48184, Brookfield on a twelve-month trial basis from January 2023.


Background

Mountain bike trails and jumps have been built informally in this reserve over recent years and receive heavy use, particularly by school-aged children. In principle, informal trail building is not permitted in Shire reserves, due to environmental impacts and risks to public safety.

In highly sensitive environments, or where informal trails pose a safety risk to users, the Shire will remove the trails, rehabilitate the site, and take measures to prohibit any further trail building. However, trail removal is not always a feasible option. Removal can be costly where trails are well established and may not reduce trail building as the activity is likely to move to another location. Given the significant level of building and use of trails in the Reserve and its semi-degraded condition, the Shire will trial an approach of allowing trail use to continue, while managing the environmental and safety risks.


About the project

A twelve-month trial of a sanctioned mountain bike skills area at the Reserve has been supported by Council, and will involve the following features:

  • Marking out of a 0.25 hectare formal mountain bike skills area within the existing trail area in Reserve 48184, using natural features such as rocks and logs as a border to distinguish between the trail use area and the remaining native bushland.
  • In collaboration with the local community and professional trail builders, repairing, remediating, and re-working already established trails and jumps to provide a small network of trails for all abilities that meet Australian Mountain Bike Trail safety standards.
  • Undertaking increased reserve inspections and maintenance of trails.
  • Implementing conservation work within the bushland portion of the reserve to improve biodiversity values, including weed control and revegetation.


Trail building workshop

It is planned to incorporate residents and the community in the implementation of the project, particularly the work on trails, through youth workshops and volunteer events. Local youth aged 11-17 are invited to attend an on-site workshop on Friday 6 January 2023 led by Magic Dirt Trailworx to learn about sustainable trail building and to help construct the trail area. Register your interest to attend here. Please note that there will be a limit on the number of attendees. Read more about the Workshop on the event page.


Consultation

The Shire is notifying nearby residents about the trial and providing an opportunity to provide comments on how the project will be implemented. To assist with this process, we have compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions which may answer any immediate questions or concerns. We will also invite the community to provide feedback on the trial at the end of the twelve-month trial period, along with undertaking broader consultation with the community and key stakeholders.


If you have any additional questions or comments that have not been addressed in the FAQs, you can contact the Senior Environment and Landcare Officer on 9780 5218, or email environment@amrshire.wa.gov.au

Page last updated: 01 Dec 2022, 04:23 PM