Inmates from the Beechworth Correctional Centre are set to offer their services as part of a statewide effort in regional recovery following recent fires in Victoria.
The prison has offered help to Wodonga and Towong shire councils with re-fencing and timber clearing along the High Country Rail Trail, which runs from Wodonga, through Tallangatta and to Shelley Station.
As a result of the 120,000ha Walwa fire, the blaze had touched 28 kilometres of the 46-kilometre rail trail stretch from east of Tallangatta to Shelley, damaging fencing, blackening signage and destroying picnic tables.
Almost all of the historic trestle bridges along the former Wodonga to Cudgewa railway line had also been lost to fire.
The section of the trail between Bullioh and Shelley is currently closed for safety reasons, while the 51km stretch of the trail between Wodonga and Bullioh remained opened, having not been impacted by fire.
The prison is part of the Landmate program – run in partnership between the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action – operates across Langi Kal Kal, Tarrengower, Beechworth and Hopkins prisons.
Under the program, supervised prisoner crews give back to the local community, supporting environmental management projects, maintaining local recreation facilities and supporting disaster recovery projects.
Landmate crews within 100km of bushfire affected areas will be on the ground providing recovery support over the next year.
State government Minister for Corrections Enver Erdogan thanked Corrections Victoria for their work in supporting fire-affected communities.
