The Happy Valley bridge is complete and ready for use!
From the Centraltablelands Local Land Service office:
“Happy Valley Swamp has suffered for many years as a result of 4WD and trail bikes driving and riding along the powerline track and trying to cross the swamp, creating a lot of damage. Over time this damage has widened as trail bikes (4WD access was blocked by a gate) have had to ride around standing water through the more accessible parts of the swamp. There is a long history of trying to manage vehicle access to the site and we have finally managed to implement what we are hoping is the final piece of work to enable trail bikes to safely cross the swamp and not damage it.
We are hoping over time that as trail bike access is restricted to a single crossing that the damaged sections of swamp can regenerate. Over the coming years we will be working to keep regenerating sections of swamp where access has been restricted. We are hoping to work closely with trail bike groups like Pensioners Express to restore the swamp. The reasoning behind the bridge was to stop the degradation and facilitate regeneration. This is the most important message.
This project is supported by central tablelands local land service and forestry corporation with funding from the Australian government.”
From our perspective as riders, it’s great that a solution was achieved that had the side-benefit of providing trail riders with a way across the swamp. We know it was never done specifically for us, but we’ll take it! 🙂