Happy trails again

THE red, green and amber equine flu zones remain, but things are starting to free up for horse riders, says David Somerville, the southeast Queensland co-ordinator of the Australian Horse Alliance.

Later this month, equestrians will be able to obtain permits to venture beyond their properties and use specified local roads and areas, and by March-April, they are hoping that horse movements within restricted areas will be eased even more.
Somerville expects horse owners in certain areas may then be able to meet and compete in local gymkhanas, endurance and trail rides, cutting futurities and other horse sport events.
This dovetails with on-going negotiations over horse riders' access to roads and tracks through Environmental Protection Agency-controlled bushland.
Until then premier Peter Beattie's abrupt state election eve backflip on horse access to traditionally used State Forest trails, the recreational horse riding lobby were battling against regional plans which would have placed horses close to busy roads and railway lines.
But just before Christmas, the Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, Andrew McNamara, announced 547km of horse trails have been approved in five areas of southeast Queensland.
Through a special amendment to the Nature Conservation Act, horse riders would now be able to enjoy an integrated network of trails across southeast Queensland, centred on the Noosa, Kenilworth-Mapleton, Caboolture-Bellthorpe, Western Brisbane (Brisbane Forest Park) and the Gold Coast areas.
Even though this allowed 200,000 hectares of state forest to be declared national park, riders would still be able to use management roads adjoining these proposed national parks.
"Horse riders will be restricted to formed management roads which will be clearly signposted," he said.
"It will be an offence to ride anywhere other than the identified trails, and on-the-spot fines will apply."
Somerville said: "This announcement is the culmination of years of negotiating with relevant government departments.
"The breakthrough came after horse riders were able to prove conclusively that horses do not spread weeds nor are they responsible for any greater erosion than other users."
A Freedom of Information investigation unearthed an EPA document which confirmed this point, he said.
After another 15 months of negotiation, "this decision approves 95 per cent of the trails identified by local horse riders," Somerville said.
However, the AHA was seeking further negotiations over other areas.
"One glaring example of intransigence is in the Tamborine area.
"Children from the local pony club will be forced to ride beside a 100km/h major road to access the state forest instead of riding along a powerline easement.
"Due to an oversight this easement is within the boundary of a national park and the EPA will not grant permission.
"It has had all the chemical sprays which keep the ground denuded under the power lines.
"It is just bureaucratic stupidity when all they have to do is move the national park boundary.
"Such bureaucratic decisions will endanger lives of children, horses and motorists."
Another problem was a short section of EPA-controlled track near the Gold Creek Reserve.
It was the only part of the track not owned by the Brisbane City Council and, if riders cannot use it, they face a 25km round-trip to access roads within Brisbane Forest Park, he said.
To conserve riding tracks well into the future, riders had "pursued a co-operative communication with the relevant government agencies".
Suggestions under review include a code of conduct for all users of forestry tracks, and a trail grading classification system, similar to colour-indexed ski-runs, to identify the difficulty of tracks for all users
Riders also wanted to be the "eyes and ears of the forest"; a system where horse riders could report to the local ranger dangerous situations, such as trees blocking trails or illegal activities.
Detailed maps of the horse trails are on the EPA website www.epa.qld.gov.au