Watching the recent fires, I began to wonder what would happen if we had a serious fire on Willans Hill, or any other near-city location.
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Could firefighting helicopters dip into Lake Albert to quickly obtain water?
We all know the answer - Lake Albert evaporates until it becomes an algae-ridden health hazard.
Apparently it is now only one metre deep in the middle.
So for fire emergency reasons, environmental concerns, as well as preserving one of Wagga's premier tourist magnets, why do we continue to allow this to happen?
We've all seen the phenomenon of the Murrumbidgee running a banker during this drought.
On occasions it has been a release of irrigation water, but the truly concerning "mini floods" have more often been to flush the river for "environmental" purposes - to replenish distant wetlands, which we used to call swamps.
Swamps were once seen as the cause of mosquito outbreaks - Ross River Fever - and the like.
Now they take precedence over food production and public recreation water features like Lake Albert.
I do agree that preserving fish and bird life in the river is important, so an occasional minimal top up to preserve life is commendable. I'm very aware that council has considered water from the river. I'm aware that Cr Funnell was concerned that we'd be taking water from irrigators. I share his concerns.
But I'm simply asking, why aren't we entitled to an environmental flow?
Would there be any argument from basin authorities?
Surely they believe that the wildlife in Lake Albert is as worthy as birds and fish somewhere down the river?
Establishing a koala habitat would not be cheap, but would give Willans Hill a purpose.
We should also mount the public safety argument. If a really serious fire on Willans Hill escaped into homes, wouldn't we want fire authorities to have a full Lake Albert in case firefighting helicopters arrived?
Firebugs attack Willans Hill regularly. Last Monday's DA reported another fire, this time a poor attempt on Baden Powell Drive. We even had incidents during the recent fire season. But someday soon, on a very hot, dry, howling windy day, a fire bug will burn a car in the scrub. Disaster!
Have a really close look at Willans Hill. Once Wagga's premier lookout area, the main lookout is now gated, and the view along the ridge to Beauty Point is simply distressing. The mural on the water reservoir has been vandalised. Fallen and dead timber disrupts the view to the east, and is waiting to fuel this city's ember showers, threatening homes from Beauty Point to Springvale.
Suburban Wagga houses will be burnt not by the spread of fire, but by ember showers starting fires in gutters and backyards.
We need to clean up Willans Hill not only for aesthetic purposes, but for safety. I'm not suggesting a burn-off, rather a clean-up to remove trash.
Judicious tree planting of koala leaf varieties would extend the "30 trees" planted on Willans Hill during Kerry Geale's time as director of recreation and cultural services.
Establishing a koala habitat would not be cheap, but would give Willans Hill a purpose.
Queensland's experience in re-establishing a koala habitat after the Moreton Bay Rail Link was built, could act as a guide for a koala park in Wagga.
The chlamydia problem, which destroys koala populations, has been conquered to some extent by vaccines developed in Queensland for their tagged koalas,
However, we shouldn't be blind to the cost. Fencing is needed to keep out cats and wild dogs.
Drip irrigation would help establish the newly planted trees.
Then there's treating the koalas - Moreton Bay Council spends $1 million a year!
Apart from bushfire koalas needing a new home, in the longer term there are over-populated koala habitats which surely would rather donate koalas than euthanase them.
The colony at Cape Otway in Victoria ate themselves out of house and home.
In 2013, a koala cull was under way with diseased or starving animals being humanely euthanased.
Willans Hill and Lake Albert should be Wagga's jewels. But would you take your visitors sight-seeing right now?
It's hard to argue that Wagga is "the garden city of the south", as the sign once used to say.