Regeneration burns near Maydena leave town ‘blanketed’ in smoke, force bike park to provide refunds

Tassie tourism businesses have been left frustrated their busy Easter period was tarnished by smoke, with a popular bike park forced to hand back much-needed money.

Smoke at Maydena Bike Park during a nearby regeneration burn. Picture: Supplied

The popular Maydena Bike Park was forced to provide refunds to some of its customers over the Easter holiday period due to the town being “blanketed” in smoke from nearby regeneration burns.

Simon French, the managing director of the park, said burns were undertaken within “a handful of kilometres” of the town, located in the Upper Derwent Valley.

“People rock up and they can’t see more than 50 metres in front of them and the whole town’s just blanketed in smoke and they are there to engage in an outdoor fitness-based activity,” he said.

“So it definitely had an impact where we had a number of customers asking for refunds and simply leaving.”

Founder and owner of Maydena Bike Park, Simon French. Picture: Chris Kidd

Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s (STT) annual planned burning program is designed to improve community safety by reducing fuel loads on Permanent Timber Production Zone land and other areas and to regenerate harvested forests.

Three burns were conducted north-west of Maydena last Thursday, according to an alert issued by STT.

Mr French said he understood that regeneration burns were important but that STT’s timing of the activity was having a negative effect on tourism operators in the area.

“I don’t think it’s a good time and a place to conduct several burns directly surrounding a major tourism town the day before one of the busiest tourism periods of the year,” he said.

“That, in my view, is not good practice and that needs to be much better considered going forward.”

It’s a view backed by the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania, whose CEO Luke Martin wants STT to “contemporise” its burn schedule to lessen the impact on tourism businesses.

“The tourism industry respects the professionalism of our forest managers and the science behind regeneration burns,” he said.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania CEO, Luke Martin. Picture: Linda Higginson

“Yet, every autumn, like clockwork, we hear the same frustrations from our tourism operators in the Upper Derwent Valley and see the same comments from our interstate and overseas visitors frankly aghast about the scale of the smoke.

“It’s just embarrassing and not what we’re about as a destination in 2023.”

STT general manager conservation and land management, Suzette Weeding, said no regeneration burns were carried out over the Easter long weekend and that the organisation only undertook planned burns when weather conditions were favourable, which happened to be the case prior to Good Friday.

“As a result, there was some residual smoke across Tasmania and in local communities like Maydena,” she said.

Ms Weeding said smoke from STT’s regeneration burns was “mostly visible” but that “dispersal is planned away from populated areas wherever possible so that impacts from smoke are minimal”.

“[STT] welcomes the opportunity to discuss its planned burning program and smoke management,” she said.