_EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave sent this to us in early December, and it has been overtaken by subsequent events. I haven’t the heart to ask him for an update yet, as he is so flat out with recovery works._
The tail end of 2010 has sped past at a rapid rate. The Grampians National Park, like most of the state, has received good rainfall, resulting in a fantastic Spring flowering display and a refreshed and rejuvenated landscape.
Since I commenced in the Ranger in Charge role in August 2010, the park has experienced a number of significant weather events namely severe storm damage and flooding. The team has been busy reinstating access to the majority of the park but unfortunately the overall standard of our walking tracks and 4WD road network has suffered with these weather events. The park has been negotiating a flood recovery plan and insurance funds have been made available to repair a number of the badly affected trails and tracks. Similar to the experience of fire recovery, the process of repair will take time.
Other important achievement over the last 6 months has been:
# The Fire Ecology Strategy – which is a planned approach to manage our landscape with the use of different fire regimes and intensities. This process looks at the ecological requirements for fire across the Greater Grampians Area which will compliment the Fire Protection and Township Protection planning.
# The Spring Mammal Trapping Program was conducted again in Sept/Oct with the assistance of Conservation Volunteers Australia. A basic assessment of the results has shown that in the Predator Baited areas (ie. those areas we baited to manage fox numbers) you are 4 times more likely to find small mammals such as bandicoots, potoroos, antechinus and heath mouse, then in those areas which aren’t being baited. These results give us great confidence in our fox baiting program.
# The Grampians Ark Program continues to grow with the Private Property in the Victoria Valley now part of a Parks Victoria sponsored and Landcare facilitated landscape scale fox baiting program. Significant landholder involvement has meant 30,000 hectares of farming land is being baited which adds to the already 150,000hectares of National Park and State Forest baiting.
# The Brush Tail Rock Wallaby Recovery Team release an additional 5 animals into the Moora site in August 2010. This takes the number of released animals to 15 which is ahead of the Recovery teams targets to this point of the program. Additional good news came when a pouch young was discovered in September as part of the annual health check program by DSE.
You may have noticed that the team in the Grampians is in a state of transition as we say goodbye to a number of staff who have taken on new career challenges, retirement or long term leave, and say hello to new staff in a range of roles and functions. I encourage you to met and greet any new faces you may see in Parks Victoria uniform and we look forward to continuing the good work of those who have invested so much time and effort in this great park.
Finally, from all the staff at Parks Victoria and the Grampians Team, we hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and New Years and that a good time is had by all families and friends.
Kind Regards
David Roberts
Ranger in Charge
Grampians Parks and Reserves.