Fence to protect orchids raising safety concerns

CIRCULAR Head Deputy Mayor John Oldaker has questioned the move by the Department of State Growth, formerly DIER, to erect fences along Temma Road to protect rare orchids.

CIRCULAR Head Deputy Mayor John Oldaker has questioned the move by the Department of State Growth, formerly DIER, to erect fences along Temma Road to protect rare orchids.

The fence on the eastern side of the road is 750metres long and the fence on the west is slightly shorter.

A spokesperson from the department said there are several threatened orchid species that are only found in the Tiger Creek Flats part of the West Coast, one of the species has less than 40 known individuals in existence.

NEW FENCE QUESTIONED: People from the Marrawah region have been going to Circular Head Deputy Mayor John Oldaker with complaints about the fences along Temma Road that have been put up to protect rare orchids.

"One environmental mitigation measure is the construction of roadside post and wire fences on both sides of the road, which will minimise the opportunity for vehicles and pedestrians to access areas that contained threatened orchid species," the spokesperson said.

"The fences are located in a similar position to typical roadside safety barriers beyond the guideposts and are designed to break off on impact to reduce the risk to motorists."

Cr Oldaker said there were more safety concerns that the department did not consider when creating the fence, which he describes as similar to a bridge barrier.

"The issue will be that there is cattle running about down there and if a beast gets in on that road, and they will, at night time once you put lights on stock and they've got no way to get out then it becomes a road safety issue," he said.

Cr Oldaker said he had people from the Marrawah region come to him with complaints about the fences.

Read this article:
Fence to protect orchids raising safety concerns