Wendy Bedggood
The last Grampians Roundtable meeting for the year was in December. We reviewed the original purpose and role of the roundtable and decided it was still relevant and a worthwhile group to keep going.
It aims to:
- Improve communication between stakeholders, land management agencies and the community
- Develop a shared understanding of complex land management issues, including fire management
- Provide information that can contribute to DEPI and Parks Victoria’s decision making procedures, practices in relation to land management in the Grampians
- Provide information that can contribute to government policy without being an official or formal source of advice to government.
I represent FOGGs, other members of the group represented are Hamilton Field Nats, CFA, Landcare, Wine growers, Apiarists, tourism industry, rockclimbers, the VFF, CMA’s, councils and the indigenous community, some of these groups are not regular attendees and we will be looking at ways we can help improve their attendance. Of course Parks and DEPI staff are also present and we have an independent facilitator. Some people wear several hats as they are members of more than one group. We are all struggling with ways to disseminate the information we gain by being on such a group and at present I use this newsletter.
Some of the suggestions discussed in earlier round table meetings have been taken on board during the past two large fires, leading to better response from the community.
Dave Roberts gave an update of the recovery works from the January 2014 fire and how many of the areas where infrastructure is being replaced will be better than before the fire. While many popular sites have been reopened to the public there are still many where the vegetation has been slow to recover and which will hopefully be reopened by Easter next year.
Horsham Rural City Council and Northern Grampians Shire each employed a co-ordinator to assist with activities to help communities from the January fires. We had a report from these two ladies on the activities they have been running and where some of these communities are at with their recovery process. These positions will end in June 2015.