Mount Gambier Crater Lakes Trails Plan

The City of Mount Gambier engaged Open Trails Australia to develop a Trails Plan for the Crater Lakes peri-urban Park (the Park). The Park is a unique site that serves a diverse variety of social, cultural, environmental and economic roles for the community and contributes significantly to the lifestyle of Mount Gambier residents and visitors.

In 2022, as part of the Crater Lakes Activation Plan project, a broad trails audit was undertaken identifying that there was a clear opportunity to redefine the trails network by developing a Trails Plan that will guide the sustainable provision, management, and maintenance of the Park's trails.

Council's vision for the Parks Trails network is to provide a sustainable and high quality network of trails which enhance and complement the immersive nature of the Park, while also improving access and celebrating it's unique qualities.

The Trails Plan provides Council with a rationalized and detailed framework that is based on findings gained through a gap analysis, community consultation and key considerations eg cultural and accessibility. The Trails Plan also includes signage, maintenance, compliance, safety/risk and governance requirements.

Community and visitors were invited to contribute to the development of the Trails Plan through:

• An online survey,
• Adding comments to the trails network map, and
• Community engagement sessions.

The Crater Lakes Trails plan was endorsed by Council at its meeting held on 21 November 2023.

Work is continuing on the Cultural Heritage Assessment and the findings will be considered and incorporated into the Trails Plan. Engagement with our First Nations community will continue throughout the implementation of the recommendations within the plan.

The next step to implementation of the key recommendations in the Trails Plan is to commence the Development Approval process.

The following documents are available to view in the documents tab to the right of the page:

• Gap analysis and key recommendations
• Stage 1 consultation summary
• Proposed trails maps (with and without commentary)
• Current trails map with commentary
• Crater Lakes Trails Plan
• Crater Lakes Park Trails Sign Plan
• Crater Lakes Trails Plan - Quick Reference Guide