Minister fails to rule out camping on revegetated river banks

A beef producer who has spent years revegetating crown land water frontage fears it will all be for nought if camping is allowed.

Mitta Valley beef producer Thomas Giltrap is fearful opening up the water frontages adjoining his land to camping will damage his family’s revegetation work.

FARMERS are demanding to know if camping will be prohibited on crown land river frontages they have spent years fencing off and revegetating to improve biodiversity and water quality.

Mitta Valley beef producer and qualified ecologist Thomas Giltrap, whose family has fenced off and revegetated most of the 3km crown land water frontage adjoining their property, said campers were likely to strip river banks of dead timber, which was vital habitat for a wide range of native species.

“I think there should be permitted sites, with good road access that are fenced off from livestock in a manner that’s not going to be an impediment to farmers,” Mr Giltrap said.

But as it stands he faces campers rolling on to the family’s property from September, with the Andrews Government refusing to rule out tents and campfires being lit on crown land the family has spent almost 20 years rehabilitating.

Thomas’ parents, Hugh and Judy, first worked with the local catchment management authority in 2001 to remove the willows that choked the Mitta River and replace them with native species, which were fenced off from livestock.

But now the family fears campers will be given access to the frontage, without any decent oversight from under-resourced government agencies.

The Weekly Times asked Fishing Minister Melissa Horn whether the Government would at least prohibit camping on crown land water frontages that farmers had revegetated.

But her office would only state “the intention is to exclude camping from areas where significant revegetation works such as plantings are underway and where the environment is being actively managed through a riparian licence”.

Her office would not be drawn on whether camping would be allowed in areas where revegetation work had been completed.

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