Unauthorised trails continue to cause ‘high-level’ damage while City of Albany awaits department approval

The City of Albany is confident that once its planned trails within the Mounts Precinct are approved and constructed its staff will have to spend less time dealing with damage caused by the creation of illegal trails. More than 10km of mountain bike trails, 2.5km of walking trails and 1.1km of dual use trails are planned for construction within the Mounts Precinct, which will meet the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ guidelines. City infrastructure, development, and environment executive director Paul Camins said unauthorised trails caused ongoing damage to native vegetation and wildlife habitat as well as a variety of risks for users. He said the high-level damage to flora could take “years to rehabilitate” because it was difficult to prevent human and natural disturbance while vegetation regrew. “This is because they are not normally built to the same safe standard of those that are authorised,” he said. “A well planned and authorised trail has a number of approval layers, design analysis and risk factors that are taken into consideration before the trail is constructed. “New authorised trails will be constructed to the DBCA’s eight-stage trail development framework, making them sustainable and built to have positive impacts on erosion and water run-off through detailed technical design.” An application for a clearing permit to develop the trails within the Mounts Precinct was first submitted by the City in 2020. The application currently sits with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, which requested more information and granted a 12-month extension in December last year. More than $3.2m of funding to develop the trails was committed in the 2021-22 State Budget. Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington expressed his frustration with the slow approval process to The Advertiser in October and said more than $200,000 had been spent conducting surveys as part of the application process. Mr Camins said the illegal trails were created within many City reserves for various activities, but were most prevalent close to residential areas. “We know that those creating illegal trails are doing so because they have nowhere else to go,” he said. “Providing well-planned, well-constructed and safe trails will aim to mitigate the need for illegal trails to be constructed at all.” Mr Camins said the City “intends to progress the trails project as soon as the relevant approvals are received”.