Works to strengthen new turf to temporarily close Lake Albert dog park

Council is about to embark on work to strengthen the durability of the turf at the recently refurbished Lake Albert Dog Park at O’Halloran Park, and ensure the grassed area is maintained through the winter months and into spring.

The popular facility at the northern end of Lake Albert will be closed for up to five weeks from Monday 5 May, as the turf improvement works are carried out.

Council’s Team Leader Parks Operations (Open Space) Ben Nimmo says the works will involve over-sowing the large, turfed area of the dog park with a cool-season grass type.

“Since we finished the major revamp of the dog park in December last year (2024), we’ve received lots of feedback from the community about how much they and their pets love the new turfed space,” Mr Nimmo said.

“However, the kikuyu grass goes dormant and dries out over winter, which makes it more vulnerable to wearing away under constant paw and foot traffic.

“None of us want it to go back to being bare dirt, so we’re going to be over-sowing the turf with a rye grass, which thrives under cooler conditions.

“We’re trying to bolster and protect that popular patch of green as we move into the cooler months of the year and ensure there’s still grass for the dogs and their humans to run around on.

“It’s similar to what we do with our sportsgrounds between the football and cricket seasons and at some of our parks and playground areas, to maintain the health of the fields and lawns for those who use those spaces.”

Staff will start over-sowing the existing turf with the cool-season grass type on Monday 5 May.

The dog park will be temporarily closed to all users to give the new grass time to properly establish, which is expected to take between four to five weeks, weather permitting.

“We couldn’t add the rye grass when we originally installed the turf last year as it was too hot and the seeds would not have germinated,” Mr Nimmo said.

“We had to wait until the temperature started to drop in early autumn to do the over-sowing.

“We’ve timed the start of works to coincide with the new school terms, as we didn’t want to impact on the ability of residents and their fur-friends to use the park over the school holiday break.

“The dog park will be reopened once the new grass is strong enough to handle the level of paw and foot traffic this popular park experiences.

“We appreciate your cooperation and patience as we carry out these improvement works, which will benefit everyone, especially when the turf comes out of dormancy in spring and you have a lush green lawn to enjoy.”

For the location of other dog parks and off-leash areas in the Wagga Wagga Local Government Area, visit our website.