Staged return planned for Yarralumla Dog Park

Yarralumla Dog Park has been closed since late October. Photos: Ian Bushnell.

The popular Yarralumla Dog Park is expected to partially reopen later this month after a temporary three-month closure to take down dying trees and make the area safe for use.

Transport Canberra and City Services is also taking the opportunity to upgrade the park and improve facilities.

Last October, TCCS was forced to close the park when it was discovered that several pine trees had reached the end of their lives and posed a risk to the public.

TCCS arborists inspected the trees and decided that they needed to be removed for safety reasons.

The closure has been a blow to dog owners who valued the park’s established treed terrain and the shade it offered.

A TCCS spokesperson said the upgrade-works underway at the dog park would be staged to allow sections of the park to open to the public as soon as possible.

Ageing pine trees need to be removed because they were a safety risk.

The works include improved irrigation for greener grass and a shade sail to protect people and pooches from the sun.

The spokesperson said new trees were also being planted so the park could continue to be a shady haven for dogs and their owners.

”Following consultation with Heritage ACT, around 50 radiata pine trees will be replanted in early 2021 in those parts of the dog park that are located in the Weston Park heritage area,” the spokesperson said.

”Additional evergreen and deciduous species will be planted in autumn 2021 in the southern section of the park, outside the heritage area.”

The dog park’s layout, including separate play areas for large, energetic dogs and smaller, elderly and frail dogs, will remain the same.

While the Yarralumla Dog Park is closed, the public can use one of the other dog parks across Canberra:

• Belconnen (Diddams Close, Lake Ginninderra)
• Greenway (Mortimer Lewis Drive, Lake Tuggeranong)
• Yarralumla (Bank Street, Weston Park)
• Forde (Amy Ackman Drive)
• Casey (Springbank Rise)
• O’Connor (Fairfax Street)
• Duffy (Warragamba Avenue).