Prue Daley – Acting Ranger In Charge
h4. Staff News
I am pleased to announce the appointment of David Roberts to the position of Ranger in Charge for the Grampians RIC Area. David comes to us from the Parks Victoria Central Region where he is Ranger in Charge at the You Yangs RIC Area and currently Acting Chief Ranger for the Geelong District. He has extensive experience in park management gained in the Dandenong Ranges, Box-Ironbark country in Central Victoria and the You Yangs. David is currently making arrangements to move to Halls Gap and hopefully will start in the position in the very near future.
h4. Research and monitoring
The third year of the Grampians fire and fauna Research Partners Project with Deakin University is well underway. Two students are continuing the work that was established in 2008 investigating the recovery of fauna after the 2006 Grampians wildfire. This takes the total honours students contributing up to 5 over three years. Recolonisation of the fire affected area has started to be seen with Dunnarts and Southern Brown Bandicoot detected in study sites known as ‘peripheral’. There are severely burnt areas adjacent to large contiguous areas of unburnt habitat however, little evidence exists of recolonisation at severely burnt, isolated areas.
h4. Cultural Site Protection
Suzie Skurrie has been working with Dave Lambert who has been a rock art conservator for over 30 years. Dave will be working with us to do a rock art site action plan. This will address the protection and management of all rock art sites in the Grampians National Park and the broader cultural landscape. This will also include field trips and consultation with Traditional Owners groups. A works schedule will also be put into place so that these vital protection works can be carried out.
Over the last few months Megan Berry, a Masters student with Flinders University SA, has been doing some research work in the Grampians. She is doing her Masters in rock art archaeology and will be providing us with a review of all published literature, articles/reports and any survey works that have been carried out in the Grampians National Park and the broader cultural landscape.
h4. Fire operations plans
The 2010/11 consultation period for the Horsham District Draft Fire Operations Plans will be open for the month of August. This plan sets out the proposed fire protection activities that will be carried out on public land in our district over the next three years. It also provides maps and outlines the fire management activities scheduled for the next twelve months.
Fire management activities include proposed fuel reduction and ecological burns, slashing and track works and additions to the permanent network of strategic fuel breaks.
You can view the plan at the Parks Victoria Halls Gap office or the Horsham Fire Management office. Interactive maps are available online by visiting www.dse.vic.gov.au.
h4. Recreation Sites and Roads
The Facility maintenance crew assisted the Friends of the Grampians in the installation of a replacement red gum table at the Red gum walk. The original table was stolen from the site just after the 2006 fire. The new table was constructed by the Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd and the programming of the works was a combined effort by both Parks Victoria staff and the Friends of the Grampians.
The Facility maintenance crew has also been kept quite busy with various repairs being carried out at a number of recreation sites throughout the park, some of these repairs have included signage replacement, toilet repairs, picnic shelter repairs and fencing.
The road resurfacing project on the Mt Zero road near Mt Zero has now been completed and the new surface will provide a safer experience for drivers. The entire length {36.5 km} of Mt Zero road has been regraded. Maintenance grading has also been carried out on the many roads and tracks around the park.