Clash over

By Bridget Brady
WORRIED residents are calling for the clearing of coastal bushland to prevent fires but some are angered by the proposal.
The argument intensified at a public meeting in Blind Bight on Monday night.
Residents have regularly discussed their safety and the need for clearing in their dense bushy towns after Black Saturday ignited calls for fuel reduction in coastal villages.
Blind Bight resident Gordon Jemson said residents had to be kept safe.
“I like the green as much as anybody else, but we’ve got to make this place safe,” Mr Jemson said.
“We choose to live where we live, that is one of hazards of living in the area, but it seems it is more important for the animals to stay alive than human beings.”
But a devoted conservationist from Cannons Creek, who did not want to be named, said the passion about preserving the environment came from some residents’ “outrageous” clearing suggestions.
“Some of them want the coastal villages made to look like farms in Clyde with a tree here and there for decoration,” he said.
“We want some prescribed burning carefully that won’t harm the environment. They proposed chopping down all dead trees, but those are habitats for our birds and animals.”
The council has completed a number of works along the Blind Bight foreshore, which it manages, including slashing bracken and exotic grasses, removing sallow wattle and sweet pittosporum.
But the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) manages much of the land, and there are strict environmental controls in relation to clearing. The council is likely to spend $50,000 to appoint a consultant to develop a fire plan for the coastal village area, but this will not be decided until after the council had finalised its budget. Mr Richardson said the council had started the first stage of revegetation works.
But Blind Bight resident Bob Wray said replanting would defeat the purpose of any clearing.