Vegetation Body's Call For Input

November 16, 1999 Tumut & Adelong Times

The Riverina Highlands Regional Vegetation Committee has called for more community input into the planning progress underway, and will hold a further public forum in Adelong next year.

The Committee met at McPherson's Plains Alpine Resort Tumbarumba on November 3 and 4 to progress the development of the Draft Riverina Highlands Regional Vegetation Management Plan, covering all of the Tumut, Tumbarumba and Holbrook Shires. It also covers those parts of Wagga City, Gundagai and Hume Shires east of the Hume Highway.

'Since forming in March this year, the Committee has agreed on what the Plan should include and work is well under way on the drafting of the plan," the Committee's Chairperson, Bryan Ward said.

"Our technical group has identified, and is currently mapping, three broad planning zones. These zones are based on landuse capability classes and native vegetation communities in the region," he added.

"These zone will allow the group to work out in more detail, the kinds of vegetation which will require consent to clear, the situations where they would be exempt from requiring consent and areas which have the potential to connect remnant patches of vegetation in a broader network of land uses.

"The Committee is calling for more community input into the planning process. We will be running two additional Community Information Forums in the new year. The first is to be held in Holbrook at the Byer Motor Inn on Wednesday, February 9, 2000, the second is to he held in Adelong at Beaufort House on March 29, 2000.

"We are keen to hear from members of the community on the native vegetation issues that concern them in the Riverina Highlands".

"We also want to involve children from the local schools. We hope to stimulate an awareness about the values of native vegetation and to give us a chance to hear their views," Bryan Wood added.

The chairperson said people were encouraged to get hold of the Fact-sheet and Brochure put out, providing information about the Committee and its role."

"If people answer the question at the bottom of the Fact-sheet and either send or fax it back to us, they will he in the running to win first prize: 100 locally grown native plants, or second prize: a wildlife book worth $60," said Mr Ward.