The past 12 months have seen Forestry Corporation of NSW implement a $46 million bushfire recovery program to repair NSW State forests, the largest in the organisation’s history

Locally, this has seen a total of $1.7 million invested to rebuild Batemans Bay State forest roads and bridges lost in the 2019-20 bushfire season.

The program has already seen two bridges and two concreted culverts replaced, and a program of work implemented to make the forests again safe to visitors, said Forestry Corporation’s Protection Supervisor, Julian Armstrong.

“The last 12 months have been challenging for the forestry industry and communities of the south coast, but we are pleased to be rebuilding forest infrastructure through the support of the NSW government,” Mr Armstrong said.

“We’ve been working closely with local industry to replace bridges and make the forests safe again, with a lot more work slated for delivery over the coming months.

“This investment has made a positive impact to both our forests and communities; where possible we have used local contractors and suppliers.”

In the Batemans Bay area, this work included:

• bridge replacements on Maulbrooks Road (Mogo State Forest) and Three Falls Road (Flat Rock State Forest)
• concrete culvert replacements on Three Falls Road (Flat Rock State Forest) and Bombay Fire Trail (Tallaganda State Forest)
• repairing the Wagonga Scenic Drive landslip adjacent to the road
• forest safety program to remove dangerous trees and repair forest roads.

Forestry Corporation will also soon replace burnt bridges on Tomboye Road and Burma Road crossings with concrete culverts and continue a program of road grading locally as part of this program.

This work is part of the $46 million equity injection and is part of the larger NSW Government $100 million COVID stimulus package, designed to directly stimulate economies in regional NSW.

This equity injection has seen investment to support the forestry industry and support recovering regional communities, said Forestry Corporation Acting CEO Anshul Chaudhary.

“The work happening across the south coast is a great example of how government and industry are working together to help regional communities recover from the 2019-20 bushfire season.

“Over the last 12 months, the equity injection has seen Forestry Corporation repair priority damaged public infrastructure, expand its Grafton and Blowering nurseries and start replanting bushfire-affected State forests.”

Find out more about Forestry Corporation’s bushfire recovery program at www.forestrycorporation.com.au

Media contact: Rodney Campbell