Raglan residents accuse shire of 'overreach' in bushfire clean-up

On February 22, a fire beginning near Mount Buangor blazed through Mount Cole, Raglan and parts of Beaufort, burning for more than a week and destroying more than 22,000 hectares of pasture.

Crews of council arborists have since been busy in the area tagging and cutting down trees along the roadside which they deem a threat.

For many of the residents who spoke to The Courier, they say seeing patches of bare earth where forest once stood has been re-traumatising following painful weeks of survival and recovery.

It has led residents to call into question Pyrenees Shire Council's tree clearing practices, and a volunteer effort to save what they deem healthy.

In response to the tree cutting, a group of local volunteers has been out in the bush placing little pink flags on trees they say are healthy or do not pose a risk to the road side, but have been nominated to be cut down regardless.

The group is led by Alex Corona, who lives on a Ditchfields Road property in Raglan where he keeps cattle and plants native trees.

Walking through the fallen remains of roadside trees on Glut Road, a site where council arborists have worked well past the road envelope, Mr Corona said many of the cut down trees showed signs of good health.

This includes scorching only on the surface bark of a trunk, root systems untouched by fire, and small rhizomes growing out from the roots.

"When I saw them in person, I realised what the extent of the cutting was and the level of compaction with the excavators," Mr Corona said.

"They are trees that are really old that we need somebody to have a second look at. They are probably pre-colonial times, and they are just the most valuable in terms of habitat for the area that have all been tagged."

Mr Corona said the shire was unable to provide a clear answer when it came to the removal of trees, and has called for an independent expert to come and assess which trees need to go and which can be saved.

Pyrenees Shire Council is clearing trees on the roadside with funding from the federal government's Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements scheme, which reimburses councils for works done after a disaster.

The scheme provides details for which trees are eligible for federal funding, with funding only available for trees that are at risk of falling onto the road envelope itself.

The document was provided to concerned residents at an emergency meeting held by the shire on April 8, where the shire agreed to pause the tree felling.

Pyrenees Shire chief executive Jim Nolan recognised that some of the trees felled by the council's arborists were outside the eligibility for federal funding, but said the council would seek funding through other streams to make back its costs.

"It is critical that every effort is made to ensure council's ratepayers are not financially impacted by this event, and to contain works within the eligibility criteria set out in the guidelines," Mr Nolan said.

"Many activities in our recovery plan that are not eligible through DRFA are subject to gap funding being provided by the Victorian government, which have not yet been provided."

Mr Nolan said the decision on which trees would be felled was left solely to the arborist.

"We are taking advice from a range of sources, and importantly, a qualified and experienced lead arborist that we've contracted," Mr Nolan said.

"Council will only be looking to remove the minimum number of trees necessary that pose a danger to road users."

Although paused after the April 8 meeting, arborists returned to work the following day with "limitations in areas where some further review is needed".

To Mr Corona, it is unclear what such limitations look like. He said the arborists had simply moved on to cutting trees unassessed by his volunteer group.

He wants an independent assessor, knowledgeable in conservation, to assess the area prior to any further tree removal

"Only one arborist is deciding what should be cut down in that area, without any knowledge of conservation, ecology, or the guidelines he should be following," Mr Corona said.

Mr Corona said shire staff were also unable to provide which guidelines they were working off for the tree clearing at the April 8 meeting, solely giving the residents the diagram in the DRFA documents.

He has requested to see a rapid risk assessment team final report completed following the fire, but to no avail.

The concerned residents group have also found a 2014 roadside management strategy from the Pyrenees Shire, which they say provides details on how council should be conducting roadside tree management, but are ignoring.

Property owner and AirBnb host Larry Watson has a deep and emotional connection to his land, which was scorched by the fire.

In 2002, Mr Watson's son Jake died at the age of 18 in an on-field collision while playing football in the SANFL.

Mr Watson and his wife Sally bought their Raglan property in 2014, and scattered their sons ashes among the farm's vistas and lush greenery.

When the Bayindeen fire tore through their property, it burnt about 95 per cent of their land.

The property's house and shed were saved by firies, who on the first night of the fire were boxed into the property, as the fire had blocked off access through the nearby Elmhurst Road.

Mr Watson said his work had been cut out for him in the weeks since the damage, so he hadn't paid much attention to the surrounding bushland until he was met with shock by the extent of clearing undertaken by council arborists.

"When I first saw them down there I thought they were just trimming and mulching. I wasn't keeping an eye on them because we were doing stuff, pulling down fences and so on.

"There was no real transparency about it. No contact from the council about it as well. This affects our whole boundary. Our property pretty much borders the affected road.

"It affects us emotionally more than anything. It felt like we had been stabbed in the back really, by going through what we had been through and having to deal with that as well on top of that.

"If they had consulted us and gone through the issues it may not have been as bad, we may not be here at this moment."

Both Mr Corona and Mr Watson are concerned the continued felling of trees across Raglan will permanently affect the "character" of the area, and have detrimental impact on its ecology.

Mr Corona said much of the sites being targeted by arborists are roadside preservation areas, which animals such as the Powerful Owl use as habitat to move to and from urban areas.

There are also concerns the felling of trees will make way for invasive weeds to grow in the bare earth, once the top canopy is cleared, or that the compaction caused by the arborists machinery will jeopardise the seedlings of native vegetation beginning to take root.

"This whole area is full of people who are passionate about the bush, about the trees," Mr Corona said.

"They are living here because they want to be surrounded by trees. That is what gives this area character and what attracts people to this area."

Mr Watson said he was "disappointed" by the conduct of Pyrenees Shire Council, for their lack of correspondence with residents and "overreach" in clearing the area.

"It is really hurtful. It is really quite depressing. This was a haven for us," Mr Watson said.

"To see that down there, I think it is an overreach, and I think it is spoiling the environment and spoiling the beauty of the landscape."

Mr Nolan said he acknowledged the impact the clearing had on residents affected by the bushfire, and had taken on board residents' concerns.

"Council acknowledges that the removal of these trees can exacerbate trauma that some residents have already experienced with the fire event," Mr Nolan said.

"Council has also agreed to engage additional personnel to assist in the engagement, communication and dissemination of information to ensure we're working alongside the community and affected residents."