[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – Two new nature parks will add to the green glow of Bukit Batok and will be part of a natural corridor connecting the Central Network of Natural Parks and the future Tengah Forest Corridor.
The first, the Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park, will be located between Bukit Batok West Ave 2 and Bukit Batok West Ave 5. The 8.9ha facility, roughly the size of 12 soccer fields, is scheduled to open in 2024.
The second, the 16 ha Bukit Batok Central Natural Park, will be in the forested area alongside the Civil Service Club @ Bukit Batok, but its launch date will be announced later as plans for it are still in the works.
The two new parks will be part of the recently announced Bukit Batok Nature Corridor, which will consist of more than 125ha of natural parks and 10 km of trails.
said National Development Minister Desmond Lee on Monday (December 7).
Bukit Batok Municipal Park and Bukit Batok Nature Park, which opened in the 1980s, will also be part of the corridor.
The National Parks Board said it has been working with other agencies to link Tengah and the Central Basin since 2014, with other features in the corridor, such as Bukit Gombak Park, which will open next year.
Lee said the parks “act as key stepping stones within the existing network of green spaces between the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Tengah, providing food and shelter for our native flora and fauna to thrive.”
He cited the appearance of the Malayan colugo, a gliding animal, in Bukit Batok Nature Park as an example of how existing park connectors and natural pathways between Bukit Batok and the Central Basin have improved connectivity for native species.
He also acknowledged that there have been concerns about the impact of upcoming developments in Bukit Batok and Tengah on biodiversity in these areas, and said the Government aims to strike a balance between development and nature conservation in its planning approach. .
“While we need to develop to meet the housing, infrastructure, healthcare and employment needs of Singaporeans, we also aim to protect as much green space as we can,” said Mr. Lee, adding that “any decision by cutting down the forest cover is done only after careful study of tradeoffs and alternatives. “
One result of this approach is the upcoming Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park. The Ministry of National Development (MND) said in October that it conducted an environmental impact assessment to guide the development of the site, and involved members of the nature community in August 2019 in the development of the Bukit Batok Hillside Park area, and that “their comments and suggestions were instrumental in shaping the study’s findings and recommendations.”
“For example, the study recommended retaining a natural stream running through the site, as well as its catchment area, which nature groups supported,” the ministry said.
He then added that both the stream and the catchment area will be conserved in the future park. The two features are in an area that was rezoned from residential to park use in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan.
The two new parks “will remain rustic and wooded, and NParks will undertake habitat improvement to further support our biodiversity,” said Mr. Lee.
He also announced improvements to the Dairy Farm Natural Park, which is part of the Central Network of Natural Parks. These will provide “ecologically interdependent habitats for flora and fauna” of the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment nature reserves.
Mr. Lee opened a new exhibit Monday at the Wallace Education Center, located in the Dairy Farm Natural Park.
It is the largest permanent exhibition in Singapore on English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that introduces visitors to Wallace and his theories of evolution and natural selection, NParks said. It also touches on Singapore’s biodiversity and the board’s Nature Conservation Master Plan. One section of the center is equipped with tools such as magnifying glasses and microscopes that visitors can use.
Also part of the improvements is an extension of the Wallace Trail within the park from the original 1 km to 2.2 km. The extended trail extends to the Hillview MRT station and includes a new platform that provides visitors with an unobstructed view of the secondary forest at Dairy Farm Natural Park.
Along with six other nature parks and the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment nature reserves, the Dairy Farm Nature Park is part of the network of Central Nature Parks which, according to Mr. Lee, “act as buffers to protect our nature reserves. plants, which are some of the richest sources of our natural capital, in the face of the impact of urbanization ”.
An eighth park, the Rifle Range Natural Park, will join the network when it opens in 2022.
In addition to enjoying the parks, the public is encouraged to contribute to the green spaces and corridors.
Opportunities include tree planting and habitat improvement activities under NParks’ One Million Trees Movement, which launched in April 2020 and aims to plant more than one million trees in Singapore over a decade.
To support the propagation and rearing of the young trees planted in the movement, at least 10 community nurseries will be built across the island over the next three years, including one in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
The first such nursery opened Monday at the Dairy Farm Nature Park, where volunteers can grow plants that were collected as seeds or wild on the trails here.
When they reach adequate maturity, the young trees are replanted in the forest.
The first nursery was installed with the support of a $ 160,000 donation from HSBC to NParks’ registered charity, Garden City Fund.
Tony Cripps, Executive Director of HSBC Singapore, said: “HSBC is proud to be a partner in this initiative, which aligns with our own global climate ambition to support the transition to a net zero future.
“We believe these nurseries of learning and community involvement will allow for a greater appreciation of the importance of the ecosystems and biodiversity that surround us.”
Want to explore more of Singapore? Check out ST’s picks for the top 5 heritage trails here.
[ad_2]
