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It was the great paradox of 2020. In a year which will be long remembered for lockdown, “iso” and fortnights of mandatory quarantine, record numbers of Canberrans escaped to the outdoors. Shutting the city’s pubs, bars and restaurants, closing gyms and ordering tens of thousands of office workers home might have had something to do with forging this renewed – or newfound – connection to nature. New figures show Canberrans retreated in unprecedented numbers to the city’s many beloved urban parks and nature reserves after the nationwide lockdown was ordered to curb the spread of COVID-19 in late March. More than 79,930 people were counted at Canberra Nature Park – a network of parks which includes Mt Ainslie, Black Mountain, Centenary Trail at Hall, Kambah Pool and Little Mulligans – in the month of April, according to data published in the ACT environment directorate’s 2019-20 annual report. That compared to 38,041 in February, the last full month before the coronavirus shutdown. Just 52,000 people passed through the parks in December and January combined, a comparatively low number which could be blamed on the hazardous, suffocating bushfire smoke which forced Canberrans indoors through summer. Overall, visitation to Canberra Nature Park from mid March to the end of June was up 52 per cent on the period from September – when the visitor counters were installed – to February. September was by some distance the least popular month in that period, with Parks and Conservation Services’ automatic track counters recording just 16,733 people. The annual report, published earlier this month, also referenced University of Canberra research which found about 75 per cent of adults in Canberra walked at least once in week in a park or nature reserve in April and May, up from just under 66 per cent in late 2019. “Canberra Nature Park experienced an increased connection to nature during the COVID-19 lockdown, with record visitors,” the directorate’s annual report stated. “This clearly demonstrates the important role our reserves play in improving people’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing.” The increased traffic on the dirt tracks of Canberra’s parks and nature reserves coincided with a fall in congestion on the city’s asphalt streets. READ MORE: Traffic congestion dropped an average of 38 per cent from March 16 – the day the ACT’s still ongoing public health emergency was declared – to May 17, according to figures highlighted by the territory’s commissioner for sustainability and the environment. The annual report did not include figures on visitor numbers to Namadgi National Park or Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, although its safe to assume both were down after being shut off to the public after the devastating Orroral Valley bushfire. While Tidbinbilla reopened months ago, parts of Namadgi National Park remains closed and might not be fully reopened until 2023 due to the severity of the fire damage. The re-elected Labor government has promised $3.6 million to upgrade Tidbinbilla visitor centre and the nature reserves tracks and trails, which attract more than 220,000 people a year.
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Daniel Crane with Taara, Santanu, Umeya Chaudhuri and Alex Dickson of Kingston walk up Mt Ainslie. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
It was the great paradox of 2020.
In a year which will be long remembered for lockdown, “iso” and fortnights of mandatory quarantine, record numbers of Canberrans escaped to the outdoors.
Shutting the city’s pubs, bars and restaurants, closing gyms and ordering tens of thousands of office workers home might have had something to do with forging this renewed – or newfound – connection to nature.
New figures show Canberrans retreated in unprecedented numbers to the city’s many beloved urban parks and nature reserves after the nationwide lockdown was ordered to curb the spread of COVID-19 in late March.
More than 79,930 people were counted at Canberra Nature Park – a network of parks which includes Mt Ainslie, Black Mountain, Centenary Trail at Hall, Kambah Pool and Little Mulligans – in the month of April, according to data published in the ACT environment directorate’s 2019-20 annual report.
Oren, Phoebe, Hannah and John Cho of Wanniassa regularly make their way up Mount Taylor. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
That compared to 38,041 in February, the last full month before the coronavirus shutdown.
Just 52,000 people passed through the parks in December and January combined, a comparatively low number which could be blamed on the hazardous, suffocating bushfire smoke which forced Canberrans indoors through summer.
Overall, visitation to Canberra Nature Park from mid March to the end of June was up 52 per cent on the period from September – when the visitor counters were installed – to February.
September was by some distance the least popular month in that period, with Parks and Conservation Services’ automatic track counters recording just 16,733 people.
Visitation to Canberra Nature Park
- January: 25,562
- February: 38,041
- March (start of lockdown): 54,956
- April: 79,935
- May (first restrictions eased): 72,210
- June: 60,143
The annual report, published earlier this month, also referenced University of Canberra research which found about 75 per cent of adults in Canberra walked at least once in week in a park or nature reserve in April and May, up from just under 66 per cent in late 2019.
“Canberra Nature Park experienced an increased connection to nature during the COVID-19 lockdown, with record visitors,” the directorate’s annual report stated.
“This clearly demonstrates the important role our reserves play in improving people’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing.”
The increased traffic on the dirt tracks of Canberra’s parks and nature reserves coincided with a fall in congestion on the city’s asphalt streets.
The annual report did not include figures on visitor numbers to Namadgi National Park or Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, although its safe to assume both were down after being shut off to the public after the devastating Orroral Valley bushfire.
While Tidbinbilla reopened months ago, parts of Namadgi National Park remains closed and might not be fully reopened until 2023 due to the severity of the fire damage.
The re-elected Labor government has promised $3.6 million to upgrade Tidbinbilla visitor centre and the nature reserves tracks and trails, which attract more than 220,000 people a year.
Tricia Richardson bird watches from a rest stop at Kambah Pool. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
