A MULTI-year plan to upgrade and preserve one of the Riverland’s most prominent locations is continuing to progress after a new manager took over the project recently.
Renmark Paringa Council environmental officer Myles Fauser was named as project manager of Berri Barmera Council’s Lake Bonney Caring for Country Management Plan, taking over from Myles Somers who left the council earlier this year.
Berri Barmera chief executive officer Karyn Burton said Mr Fauser was the ideal person to take over as project manager.
“We saw that it was advantageous to resource share between the two councils, and we took the opportunity to use Myles’ expertise in that area,” she said.
Mr Fauser, who is a qualified environmental scientist and developed the framework for the plan, said work had begun on several day sites on the eastern side of the lake.
“Two sites have been constructed of the seven that are planned,” he said.
“At these two sites you can park your car and have a sit or a fish or a picnic, and the remaining five sites will be mixed-use camping sites with options for people to camp with tents or bring in caravans or RVs.”
Mr Fauser said draft plans currently show 40 total sites are to be constructed around the lake. He said the plans needed to go through extensive consultation with local Aboriginal organisations before works could begin.
“There’s quite a large consultation process to approve these works because they will be considerable, and the plans are outlining the essence of what this project is,” Mr Fauser said.
“In terms of other works that are going on at the moment, we are preparing to commence fencing and access rationalisation around the lake.
“We want to have people utilise the sites rather than just having the whole place be a playground for recreational vehicles and people just camping wherever they want and it leading to long-term ecological disaster and significant damage to cultural sites.
“We are also putting out a request to quote to develop a vegetation management plan that will outline how we go about our revegetation efforts around the lake.”
Mr Fauser said there had been some issues with the plan including one of the day sites being vandalised and people driving through cultural sites in four-wheel drives.
“We’ve had some issues with a minority of the public not respecting what we’re doing,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a constant battle there, and we need to be persistent in our measures and just keep learning and adapting and try to work with people and educate them.”
The five-year management plan is expected to be completed in 2023.