Wildlife Road Fencing - Project Update
Published 08 June 2023
Council is responsible for a 3,700km road network, excluding the State and Federal roads in the Moreton Bay region.
Mayor Peter Flannery said while it’s impossible to fence every road, Council is working to install wildlife fencing in high risk areas to try to keep our wildlife safe from traffic.
“It is always distressing to see a koala injured or killed anywhere in our region,” Mayor Flannery said.
“Our next wildlife fencing will be at the Four Mile Creek Corridor on Gympie Road, commencing July 10 and that will take at least two months to complete.
“Council’s contractor is currently building wildlife fencing in Joyner as this is also a priority due to it being nearby to a new development, connecting a green network, and a council road.
“All locations that went to tender in February 2023 as part of the tender package are priorities for Council to deliver, and the Joyner project was always listed as commencing first.
“We have been out to tender on a number of occasions and in the end most companies said they were too busy and the work was too specialised. Only one company bid for the tender in November 2022. This contract is worth over $2 million and was awarded in February.
“Obviously no one wanted this project delayed but, unfortunately, like all sectors of the economy right now Council and our contractors are not immune to labour or material shortages.
“We know that this particular section of Gympie Road is a high strike-rate area, which is why we’re helping the State Government with improvements to their road network in the interests of animal welfare.
“We will be asking Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to install temporary fencing at this location on their road until our contractor can get works underway.
“There’s been a suggestion that Council’s already been paid for the works in Lawnton, that’s incorrect.
“This Council is doing more than ever before to take a holistic approach to our environmental planning, and committed Council to preserving a massive 75% of Moreton Bay’s landmass as greenspace.
“This is a bold but necessary measure to get the balance right between protecting our environment and managing sustainable population growth, by limiting our urban footprint to just 25% of our region’s total area.
“We’ve already seen enormous success with our land buyback program since it launched in 2020, purchasing nearly 100 hectares of land in Moreton Bay to protect the habitats of koalas and native wildlife from development.
“So this Council is proactively working to stop the urban sprawl that’s encroached on koala habitat and guaranteeing our native wildlife will have the majority of space to live safely.
“Part of our holistic strategy includes securing our very own wildlife hospital for this region, and we will need koala campaign groups to get behind this critical funding need if this is to become a reality.
“Because the painful truth is that even with fencing and underpasses on our roads, koalas and other wildlife will still come into conflict with vehicles on high traffic roads.”