The best thing about a walk around the lake is the trees and natural environment.
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It is very easy to suggest more exercise furniture and more lighting but thinking about it more deeply shows that it is the natural environment that attracts walkers.
Do you find people walking down the main streets in equal numbers for exercise and relaxation?
The natural environment imparts benefits we don't realise are happening.
Forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments.
Leave the lake environment alone, support the trees and lake edge to be as natural as possible, the ongoing benefits are far greater than from man-made interventions.
The big picture is that we need the beauty of the trees just as much as we need sunshine.
The dark night is important to many bird and insect species as well as humans, just as the bright daytime is important.
We need to protect the night and not impose unnecessary extra lighting. There is already sufficient ambient light around the lake for walkers.
The benefits from keeping the edge of Lake Wendouree as natural as possible are far greater for the walkers than any other interventions into the natural environment. Better for humans and wildlife.
Judith Bailey, Clarendon
Friends of Lake Wendouree Natural Environment.