The AG met in April. Once again much of our time was spent on discussion of the flood and landslides. As well as the obvious work needed on tracks, bridges, roads and other infrastructure, there’s going to be a lot of work needed on the environmental impacts. For instance, weeds have just loved this weather – blackberry seedlings are everywhere. And as you’ll read elsewhere, fox numbers have exploded, with serious results. Fox baiting had to be suspended while roads were closed, then there has been plenty of food around, but unfortunately they seem to prefer our fauna to the rabbits! On the positive side, funding for the Grampians Ark project is now ongoing, rather than needing to be reapplied for each four years and fox control will be able to be extended to more of the Park.
We also discussed the first stage of the long distance Grampians Peak Trail, which will be a 3 day circuit from Halls Gap, to Mt Rosea area, to Borough Huts area, and back to Halls Gap (route under discussion). New walk in camp sites will be established, separate from the existing ones. They will probably consist of pads for BYO tents, toilets, fire places, and a basic shelter. There are no plans for private investment partnerships. FOGG members will have an opportunity to hear more and to comment at our meeting on August 12.
The next AG meeting is in August where we’ll be looking at several strategic issues: Fire ecology, cultural heritage, mountain bikes. We are also starting to look at a heritage event for late next year with the theme of Forestry.