If you've ever thought about climbing Mount Taylor in Canberra's south, now is an ideal time to give it a go, with the bush bursting with wildflowers, butterflies and greenery after the rain and 1.5km of its trails recently updated and strengthened against erosive downpours.
ACT Parks and Conservation Service executive branch manager Daniel Iglesias said $200,000 had been spent in the last two months upgrading the Summit and Zigzag tracks on Mount Taylor, one of Canberra's most popular walking spots.
Canberra company Iconic Trails was engaged to do the work, which had to stop and start due to COVID.
"The contractor did a great job in being flexible with us because of all the interruptions we had with lockdown and COVID but in the end, we got there," he said.
Mr Iglesias said a lot of technical work had gone into the alignment of the tracks to ensure heavy downpours - like the one seen on Monday - did not erode the trails while also ensuring their were safe and environmentally sound.
"This trail network is one of the most popular in Canberra. It accesses the highest point in the south, being Mount Taylor summit, and it gives people access to some pretty amazing natural habitats, right on our doorstep," he said.
"For example, there's a plant called the small purple pea of which Mount Taylor has 10 per cent of the known global population, remarkable for a small, neighbourhood reserve. But it also goes to show how precious these remnants are.
"And in a year like this one, which has been a bumper year [for rain], we're seeing an amazing response from the environment.
"People can observe that first hand by sticking to the walking trail and going right to the top. There's hundreds and thousands of butterflies and when you get the insects doing really well, it's a sure sign that the chain will soon fire up.
"So, we're going to get lots of birds, we're going to get lots of reptiles that are going to take advantage of the bonanza in the next six months or so."
Mr Iglesias said COVID and lockdowns had contributed to people wanting to get outside.
"We've seen a dramatic increase in people using their parks and reserves and it was obvious to us that was the case because when we started building [the tracks], there was a lot of inquiries, 'What are you doing? Closing our favourite trail'.
"But we had to say, 'We're doing this to maintain the asset and make it bigger and better'."
The work included formalising an alternative track to reaching the summit from the Sulwood Drive side, which veers to the right from the main track as it reaches the main clearing close to the top.
Mr Iglesias said the contractor and government staff had included subtle design features to manage the run-off of water on the trails to withstand storm events.
"What the contractor and our staff have done is build elements into the walking trails so that when the water hits, it's encouraged to come off the trail really quickly so it doesn't build a head of steam," he said.
"If we get rivers of water running down the trail, it erodes the trail out. So, the trick is to get the water off quickly, so that it can withstand heavy downpours.
"And by hardening the trails as well it means, of course, it will take foot traffic and the wear and tear."
