FoCC update

April 3^rd 2013

Hello Friends,

Friends of Canadian Forest Update:  A quiet month of March but underneath much work was going on!

Please feel free to pass this update on to friends and interested people. To add your email address to the mail list please email: Jeff Rootes jeffie1952@hotmail.com or contact 0408509591

DSE

Linda Zibell and Mr Greg Leece Group Manager at the DSE have been in contact in the past few days and there is some good news and some startling new developments.

• Hancocks Plantations have now indicated they wish to relinquish their plantations on the western side of Geelong Road also. These plantations run south from the Gold Mine in the North down along the Yarrowee River almost to Buninyong. There are major implications in land use due to the mine.

Map of Western Plantations – Left hand side F1, Canadian Forest – Right Hand side F1

• With regard to the Canadian Forest Regional Park notion – bushfire management remains the key issue in light of the Black Saturday Royal Commission.   A reality check is the DSE is receiving applications and phone calls from people whose land is adjacent to the plantation land asking to keep it cleared because it limits their development capacity.
• The City of Ballarat is the major player now: What is appropriate development for Ballarat East and South? What is the viability of the land? How could  it be  developed and strategically planned? What rezoning becomes necessary? What areas contain saleable land? What is the necessary infrastructure? If land is relinquished and the City of Ballarat gets involved – who will manage it, and how will it be managed? and so on! Far more questions here than the Canadian Forest side.
• DSE and Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) have to work out how a deal can be done between them in relation to all this land now. The processes have to be identified: how can it occur? The policy has to be made clearer before things can proceed.
• Mr Leece has told DTF of our interests and anticipates that we will be included in correspondence regarding the plantation land.

This now means the Canadian Forest is now tied up with the future of these new plantations being relinquished.

The FoCC is now contacting ward Councillors to set a meeting to discuss these developments.

Ballarat Imagine

The City of Ballarat is running the “Ballarat Imagine” website for residents to put in their ideas for what Ballarat should look like in 2040. What would the Friends of the Canadian Corridor want to see in the corridor in 2040? A large number of residents supporting a Regional Forest Park along the eastern flank of Ballarat from Elsworth St to Greenhill Road could have quite an impact!

You can put your thoughts to Council via their website at www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/haveyoursay

Or you can reply using the response forms in the COB’s March newsletter.

Learning More about the Forest

The Canadian Forest is a full of surprises and is a real asset on the eastern edge of the City. The Friends are proposing a gathering to be held off McCarthys Road in the centre of the Forest and old plantation area on Sunday afternoon May 19^th. The gathering will feature a nature walk lead by experienced locals followed by a cuppa. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the forest and how it is already regenerating. More details soon.

Bulldozers in the southern blocks

In the past couple of weeks the East Victoria plantation company have had bulldozers in the blocks removing blue gum stumps. This is part of their contractual arrangements with the DSE. The FoCC would prefer that the dozers stayed away. All the stump removal is doing is flattening the regrowth on the  blocks. The plantation company is however obligated to remove the stumps.

Regards

Linda and Jeff for the FoCC.