New pine forest and playground for Brunswick Heads

REFLECTIONS Brunswick Heads Holiday Park is embracing a more eco-friendly approach as plans for a new playground in the neighbouring park move ahead.

The park is expanding a regeneration zone for the endangered Coastal Cypress Pine forest in its southern precinct as part of a broader program of upgrades aimed at benefiting both guests and the local community.

For the past 18 months, Reflections staff have been collecting seeds from the precinct. These have been nurtured in a local nursery, producing more than 1,000 seedlings ready to be planted in the expanded regeneration zone.

Other improvements include safer access to Simpsons Creek, where erosion control matting will protect the surrounding mangroves while creating a clear, secure pathway for visitors.

The park has also installed 10 eco-friendly tents on former camping sites. While the park is licensed for 27 campsites, the footprint has been deliberately reduced to minimise environmental impact, including restricting vehicle access in the southern precinct.

The tents sit on timber decks using a special “eco-anchor foundation system”, so no tent pegs or concrete footings are needed.

Reflections is also moving forward with plans for a new playground at nearby Terrace Reserve. The park is consulting with local residents and school children to ensure the design reflects community needs.

Reflections CEO Nick Baker said the upgrades were carefully planned to protect the park’s environment.

“Our team has worked with ecologists, landscape architects and arborists to ensure that we are not just protecting and preserving the land and the Coastal Cypress Pine forest but we’re actively planning for future regeneration, including planting new seedlings propagated from seeds which our staff have painstakingly collected,” he said.

“While we could have theoretically almost tripled the camping sites in this beautiful pocket of the park, we have chosen to have a far smaller number established in a way that removes the need for any set up of equipment, or cars, to protect the existing environment, while providing a guest experience which will include education about the unique nature of the location.”

Arborist Andy Clark, who has been involved with the project for five years, said the environmental enhancement work by Reflections was exciting considering the Coastal Cypress Pine Forest was a threatened area.

“It’s exciting to see that Reflections with a few simple management practices can showcase how to retain an existing site usage of a holiday park for future visitors while protecting the trees and the environment which are important to the local community,” he said.