City of Greater Bendigo Parks and Open Space manager Paul Gangell said the city was preparing to begin works to install additional entrances into the fernery, and shelters over park seating in May, subject to contractor availability.

Mr Gangell said work would likely be complete by July if it began in May.

He said the city installed a temporary system for cooling and roosting in the fernery last December, which did not require Heritage Victoria approval.

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This was part of a research project, involving expert evaluation of if the cooling and roosting system mitigated stress on bats and trees during summers.

Mr Gangell said once the evaluation was complete the city would consider undertaking additional works to make the temporary system permanent, if warranted.

Earlier

HERITAGE Victoria will allow Bendigo's council to install a cooling system for Rosalind Park's flying foxes in summer.

The City of Greater Bendigo can now alter the heritage-listed fernery.

The council wants to install an atmospheric cooling system to stop flying foxes dying during hot days in summer.

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At least 170 flying foxes died during one month in January 2020 during extreme heat events.

Wildlife rescuers say it is common to treat them on very hot summer days.

The council also wants to install aerial cabling for flying foxes to roost on.

The cabling would help trees in the fernery by giving flying foxes more space to rest, the council has said.

The council's push for a cooling and cabling system has caused controversy, with some members of the public saying the idea is "batty".

They have argued the fernery is not a natural flying fox habitat and that the animals' presence in large numbers creates amenity issues, especially because of their droppings.

They are also concerned by damage to trees when the bat population explodes by as much as 1000 per cent over spring.

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Other members of the public have argued Rosalind Park has become an important birthing site for flying foxes.

The animal is so central to the spread of native seeds that one conservation group recently described their decline as a central plank in a larger catastrophic extinction threat.

That is because one flying fox can spread as many as 60,000 seeds in one night, the Australian Wildlife Protection Council told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into ecosystem decline recently.

Bendigo mayor Jen Alden said last February that the animals are protected under state and federal laws.

"These acts also protect the habitat in which the animals choose to live," she said.

"They arrived in Bendigo in 2010 and have chosen to remain here, therefore the city as the land manager for Rosalind Park must reasonably accommodate them, ensure they are not damaging our heritage trees and attempt to minimise physical contact between the animals and park visitors."

Cr Alden said the bats have likely stayed in the area because of food shortages in other parts of their colony's range.

Heritage Victoria has also now given the council permission to add shelters for seating and modify two entrances into the fernery.

It can add another two entrances on the side of the fernery facing the city centre.

It hopes the changes will reinforce that the garden is always open, as well as giving more direct entry.

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