Cambridge farmer’s battle to save priceless natural heritage taking emotional toll

Cambridge farmer Robyn Lewis is approaching exhaustion, waging a five-year battle to save her property’s ecologically rich Milford Forest from the impacts of a proposed highway upgrade.

Cambridge farmer Robyn Lewis is approaching exhaustion.

For nearly six years, the sole parent has been fighting a one-person battle to save her property’s ecologically rich Milford Forest from the impacts of proposed State Government roadworks.

Land adjacent to the dual-carriageway project is home to an array of endemic Tasmanian wildlife, including two species of critically endangered native flowers – the Milford leek orchid, and sagg spider orchid.

While Ms Lewis is fully supportive of a plan to widen the Tasman Hwy between Hobart Airport and the Midway Point causeway to help ease the region’s traffic congestion, she claimed alternative routes that did not impact her property’s environmental values were not fully considered by the government.

Milford Forest custodian Robyn Lewis at Cambridge. Picture: Chris Kidd

And Ms Lewis was scathing of a bureaucratic process that she said had not only left stakeholders in the dark, but failed to adequately recognise an endangered Tasmanian species.

“The first time I was called into the Department of State Growth was in August 2018, when I was told they were going to put in a dual carriageway,” Ms Lewis said.

“The guy from DSG said about Milford Forest ‘Oh, it’s just bush’.

“And I said ‘It’s not just bush, this is a listed, protected habitat.

“Then I heard almost nothing from them for nearly a year.”

Last month in State Parliament, Minister for Infrastructure Michael Ferguson blamed federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) laws for the delays to a road-widening project which was originally slated for completion in 2021.

Mr Ferguson said the government had recently decided to duplicate the highway further into land located on the opposite side of the highway to Milford, which is owned by the Tasmania Golf Club.

Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson. Picture: Stephanie Dalton

Ms Lewis said the government had failed to provide her with the latest road designs, and that she remained uncertain about exactly which areas of her land were required for the project.

Ms Lewis said Milford Forest was the last remaining habitat for particular species of flora, and represented a unique time capsule of the island’s indigenous heritage.

“The Lewis family have been custodians of Milford since 1829, and prior to that it was under Aboriginal custodianship,” Ms Lewis said.

“This bush is old-growth, remains unlogged, and is protected for its habitat.

“But it’s not just plants, there is listed fauna here as well, including Tasmanian devils and masked owls.

“We even had a researcher who described Milford Forest as ‘Manhattan for birds’, because of all the nesting hollows in the old-growth trees.”

Ms Lewis remains perplexed why the government did not take the opportunity to purchase the golf club when it was previously up for sale, saying it would have been a more cost-effective option and allowed the new road to follow a safer, faster straight line.

Milford forest custodian Robyn Lewis at Cambridge. Picture: Chris Kidd

And she worried that any impact on Milford’s biodiversity could affect her diversified property’s ecotourism operations.

“This is the UN Decade of Ecological Restoration, and Australia is a signatory to that,” Ms Lewis said.

“We’re not supposed to be randomly clearing or degrading land.

“The first principle under the EPBC Act is avoidance, and we’ve got to start taking this sort of stuff seriously.

“I’ve been in limbo for five years over this and plus the huge cost of time and energy in dealing with many, many contradictory things that have come to us.”

Mr Ferguson told The Mercury that the Department of State Growth had acquired land from both the Milford and the Tasmania Golf Club properties to facilitate the duplication project, which is now expected to commence in 2025.

The Minister said that the department had engaged in constructive discussions with Ms Lewis “at all times”, including on the design amendment.

“Recently, in order to avoid environmental impacts, a minor amendment was made to the design that requires an additional strip of land from the golf club and less of the land already acquired from the Milford property,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Final designs will be shared publicly when finalised.”