New bridge is under fire

THE rebuilding of a remote bridge to improve access to logging coupes on the edge of the World Heritage area was waste of money that could have been used to reopen popular walking tracks, the Bob Brown Foundation says.

The Weld River Bridge, near the Tahune Airwalk, was badly damaged by fires in 2018/19, leaving it unsafe to cross.

The bridge was recently reopened after being extensively refurbished to allow access to a small number of logging coupes on the west side of the river.

Bob Brown Foundation campaign manager Jenny Weber said the allocation of funds was strange, given that urgent repairs to tracks in the World Heritage Area are still waiting to be completed.

“The Gutwein government has allowed Sustainable Timber Tasmania to waste at least half a million dollars on this bridge to log a handful of small coupes of forests over the next three years.

“The original Weld River Bridge caused great controversy.

“It was built after the Tahune Airwalk to divert logging trucks out of the tourists’ sight.

“Tahune should be made the gateway to the World Heritage Weld Valley and native forest logging removed from the landscape. Regardless, this bridge is a white elephant,” she said.

Local member Nic Street said the bridge was a popular destination for recreational users.

“As usual the Bob Brown Foundation does not let the facts get in the way of its storytelling business,” Mr Street said. “The Weld River Bridge has now been repaired following significant damage caused during the 2018-19 bushfires that devastated the Huon region.

“This multipurpose bridge will provide access for recreation, fishing and vital bushfire fire prevention and management. It also provides access to Permanent Timber Production Zones, areas set aside by both houses of parliament to sustainably supply timber for our forestry industry and provided much needed jobs and investment in the local area.

Ms Weber said reopening the bridge had reopened sensitive areas to malicious users and there was no effective policing, she said.

“The reopened Weld Bridge will add pressure on the Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) as it struggles to manage illegal activities in the adjacent World Heritage Area.

“These activities have included a car pushed off Glovers Bluff and not retrieved, illegal off-road vehicles making the walking track to Fletchers Eddy on the Weld River a squalid mess and illegal logging for firewood,”

“The PWS is in dire need of funds – it can’t deal with the incursions in the Weld Valley.”

Comment was sought from the state government.