17 February 2012
Work is expected to start within weeks on pruning and thinning mangroves along the City Reach of the Mary River.
Council has received approval to carry out mangrove removal, pruning and hedging on the river bank between March Street and the Brolga Theatre.
“The final site inspections were carried out this week with staff from Council and the Department of Fisheries,” Fraser Coast Mayor Mick Kruger said.
“It has taken a long time for Council to get to this point and at long last we are able to move forward and start the work.”
Mangrove management is a key component of the Brolga to the Bridge Concept Plan which guides Council’s plans to re-invigorate the Maryborough CBD.
“We will have to wait until the threat of flood has eased,” Cr Kruger said.
“Some of the work will be carried out from the river using boats, so it is important that it is undertaken when there is no flood water in the river to reduce the risk from current and debris.”
In order to work on the mangroves Council developed a Mangrove Management Strategy which had to be endorsed by the State Government.
Council’s Mangrove Management Strategy recognises the environmental values of mangroves and the need to actively manage them in high-use public areas where they have re-established since historical uses of the river bank stopped.
Council then developed an operational plan to implement the strategy which also had to be endorsed by state government departments.
The pruning will improve views of the river, allow public surveillance of the boardwalk and public jetty and maintain clear areas for existing and potential future activities Cr Kruger said.
As part of the work, sections of river bank near the Maryborough airport and the city’s waste water treatment plant at Aubinville will be restored and revegetated to offset the lost vegetation.
The restoration and revegetation work will start after March once the risk of further flooding is reduced.
“There is no point in replanting areas if the seedlings could be damaged by floodwaters,” Cr Kruger said.
