Providing an environmental assessment and approvals for mountain bike trail upgrades and instalments after bushfire impacts

Coondoo Mountain Bike Trails - Environmental Assessment and Approvals

Located 15 minutes South of Nowra, New South Wales (NSW), Coondoo is the original home of the South Coast United Mountainbikers (SCUM). When their six-kilometre- (four-mile-) long mountain bike (MTB) trail network was destroyed during the 2019–20 bushfires, SCUM received funds from the government’s Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program to upgrade infrastructure and accessibility of local trails. SCUM approached us to provide environmental assessment and approvals for the Coondoo MTB trail upgrades.

We worked with Forestry Corporation NSW to mitigate the impact of the proposed upgrades on the environment and local ecology, while also satisfying mountain biking enthusiasts in the area. This effort also included access road upgrades, trailhead infrastructure, and new trail alignments within the Nowra State Forest and Currambene State Forest. We delivered our findings in a review of environmental factors (REF) and an ecological impact assessment (EIA).

Today, the Coondoo course has now extended to enable various configurations and loop lengths from anywhere between 3 and 10.5 kilometres (2 and 6.5 miles). The access road and trailhead upgrades support events and local competitions, and the trails are a local hotspot on weekends for the Shoalhaven community.