Tractor group

By Shaun Inguanzo
ORGANISERS of Tooradin’s Tractor Pull have been given a push to clean up a mess deemed harmful to migrating birds.
Rutter Park, the site of the tractor pull, was the focus of the Casey Conservation Advisory Committee report tabled this week before council.
The group expressed concern at the damage at Rutter Park and recommended that the Tractor Pull Association not be permitted to use any council land for activities until they completed an approved bush restoration program at Rutter Park.
Tooradin Tractor Pull organiser Mark Milligan said the group did not bulldoze a strip separating the mangrove area from nearby sea, after the Advisory group and council were notified earlier this year.
Advisory group members, who wished to remain anonymous, told the News the removal of the natural wall meant dirt and other unwanted materials posed a threat to nearby sites where birds migrated.
“It removes the screen between the tractor pull and the sea,” one said.
“Along the edge of Rutter park is a very narrow strip, we’re talking three or four metres, and for some reason or rather, somebody bulldozed a lot of bush.”
The Advisory committee then took action.
“The damage was pointed out to us by council officers, you could see it from the road, and a couple of members who live in the coastal villages took pictures and then took it to a meeting.”
But Mr Milligan said no one involved with the tractor pull “had a clue” who bulldozed the area, but said a proposal was in the works to replant indigenous trees and shrubs.
“The recreation reserve committee is working on a proposal for the council,” he said.
“We have no objection; we want to revegetate the area as it is.
“It is full of overgrown weeds.”
The Tractor Pull draws over 5000 people each year, and has become one of the largest events on Casey’s recreational calendar.