THE Manning Park Trail Runners are a free, volunteer-led running and hiking group who’ve been using the park since 2016. With Cockburn council’s vote on whether to close down most of the trails this week (we’ll bring you comprehensive coverage of that in the next edition) they say there’ll be physical and mental impacts on their community.
ON Tuesday night the City of Cockburn voted on a recommendation to close most of the bushland trails at Manning Park – without any consultation with park users or without evidence that biodiversity would be improved.
Manning Park Trail Runners say closure of about 90 per cent of the bushland trails would be devastating and could leave many members without the mental and physical health benefits they gain from running and hiking through the bush.
Council proposes to leave open only wide fire trails, access roads and open gravel paths.
MPTR, which has led free, volunteer-led running and hiking groups in the park since 2016, said if Council had followed its own Community Engagement Policy and engaged with the stakeholders directly affected by the closures, they would have learned that trail running is not about running on flat wide paths and roads – but is about running on uneven, natural terrain.
This type of movement is extremely beneficial for building muscle and joint strength, improving balance and cognition.
MPTR organiser Clint Slomp said the decision to close the trails was not based on any evidence that trail running had caused harm to the natural habitat.
The council proposal is to close 66 of the park’s 120 trails – effectively, almost every narrow trail in bushland areas.
Clint said running on uneven, rocky or hilly ground not only gave the best physical and mental health benefits, it was also the most enjoyable.
“This proposal closes almost every bush trail in the park – this is devastating for trail runners,” he said.
Decimates
“We lead over 100 runners, joggers and hikers through the park every Thursday night of the year and are the main user group and yet it is clear that council do not understand this sport, as their proposal effectively decimates our ability to use the park.
“It beggars belief – and completely disregards council’s own Community Engagement Policy and usual practice.”
Clint said that trail runners were nature lovers who gained significant physical and mental health benefits from being in nature while they ran, and so supported efforts to protect bushland and endangered species, however there was no evidence that trail running was damaging the park, and he called for council to re-think its approach.
Curtin University associate professor of urban biodiversity Holly Kirk criticised council’s proposal saying it was not backed by sufficient scientific evidence, and that closure of narrow bush trails would be a waste of money, with little advantage to the local plant life.
Assoc Prof Kirk also said that urban reserves are some of the most important places for people to interact with nature, and that ecological needs should be balanced with human needs.
The state government is even investing in the creation of these kinds of immersive narrow trails in parks across WA.
“While creating new trails would damage habitat, there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that use of these established trails in Manning Park negatively affects the vegetation and wildlife,” Assoc Prof Kirk said.
Protect
“Council has a responsibility to protect the endangered plant communities in Manning Park, but the best way to do this is with a clear management plan, considering multiple actions and focusing on those that will have the most guaranteed impact.
“The benefit to plant life from closing these narrow trails would be minimal.
“Council should spend ratepayers’ money on activities that will have a more significant impact, such as focusing on rehabilitating the large areas of degraded habitat in Manning Park, prevention of new trail creation and encouraging responsible pet ownership.
Prof Kirk also says that excluding communities from using urban bushland areas is counterproductive for conservation, damaging the opportunity for people to develop a love for nature, and a sense of stewardship for special places like Manning Park.
“It’s critical to engage the community when taking major nature conservation actions.
“It’s disappointing to see this proposal which has clearly not considered the needs of a large community of nature loving trail users.
“You can’t over-state the importance of this beautiful park to the community.”
From about 2013, the City of Cockburn was investigating developing mountain bike trails in the park and held community consultation into this proposal until March 2022.
After this, council’s own Manning Park web page shows that later in 2022 the council suddenly changed their focus to closing trails – but this has never been communicated nor explained to stakeholders.
New reports into the condition of the trails was not made public and was only published on the council website on Thursday afternoon, giving community members very little time to learn about the recommendation.
The Local Government Act 1995 establishes a requirement that the Chief Executive Officer of a local government gives elected members at least 72 hours’ notice of the date, time and place of an ordinary meeting of council, and an agenda for the meeting.