COUNCILLOR John Fry hopes to drum up enough support to save the poplar trees in Jacques Park.
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In April, peaceful protesters gathered in the South Bathurst park to stop in the removal of poplars from the Hawthornden Creek bank.
Their protests were enough to stop work for a little while, but now a report prepared by the director of Engineering Services recommends that Bathurst Regional Council continues with the proposed rehabilitation activities in the park, including the removal of the trees.
Council maintains there is good reason to remove them and said that not removing the poplars could actually undo the work that has been done to rehabilitate the area.
"The removal of the parent poplar trees that are located within the riparian vegetation zone is necessary to ensure that this invasive plant species does not continue to produce mass seedlings via suckers or seed," director Darren Sturgiss said.
"If left unchecked. these poplars have the potential to re-infest the site, degrade the work that council has achieved to date in respect to restoring natural biodiversity of the area and increase the economic costs to council in managing this invasive weed within this section, and eventually many other areas of Hawthornden Creek."
Work along Hawthornden Creek and Jacques Park has been guided by the Bathurst Urban Waterways Management Plan and the Bathurst Region Vegetation Management Plan, and council will follow best practice to remove the poplar trees.
"Council's tree removal crew are implementing a 'cut and paste' method which will see the trees felled, the application of an aquatic-safe and registered herbicide to the cut, and the retention of the root ball within the creek bank to ensure creek bank stability," Mr Sturgiss said.
Cr Fry will vote against the recommendation at Wednesday's council meeting, feeling the report doesn't offer a strong enough argument for removing the trees.
"There's platypus there, there's dragonflies, crayfish, there's frogs, so if these trees are so toxic - they've been there for 80 years - then how come all those native animals are still there?" he said.
"The report in some ways contradicts the reality that is there."
He has continued to speak to community groups, which have indicated they are against the removal of the trees.
Cr Fry said the trees serve a purpose and should be able to remain standing.
"We think [the trees] are doing an ecological job, they're cultural, they're scenic, they provide autumn colours like all the other poplars around town, they're not a noxious weed, they're not a scheduled weed, so there is no obligation to take them out," he said.
"It's just purely at the whim of council to take them out because they're not native."
Cr Fry will be lobbying other councillors to vote with him on Wednesday to save the poplars.
