Category: Activity Report

2014 ACTIVITY CALENDAR

FEBRUARY 8 Two short walks in Halls Gap, looking at the flood recovery work.

10.30 start (after the jazz festival parade).Meet at the tennis court car park on School Rd to walk up to Venus baths. Return and drive round to Silverband Rd to walk there. Return for picnic lunch near Lake Bellfield. Contact: Margo 0429 201139

MARCH 2 Clean up Australia day. Site yet to be confirmed. Contact Wendy 0429932065 and watch newspaper ads.

APRIL 4? (to be confirmed) Meeting with Dave and Ryan at park office 4.30 pm.

 In MAY or JUNE, PARKS are organising a celebration of 30 years of our Park. Details next newsletter.

 SOME IDEAS FOR LATER ACTIVITIES

 Maybe a presentation by DEPI staff about the decision making behind the ecological planned burns.

Talk by a ranger during July school holidays.

September: AGM

October,November: Threatened Species surveys

December: Social lunch somewhere

 

 … Read the rest

QUOLL SIGHTING

 

NEWS FLASH – QUOLL PHOTOS

 

You may have heard or read about the exciting news that there is photo confirmation of at least one live quoll in the Grampians national park. One of the remote cameras set up near the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby release site has captured a clear image.

 

Among the many questions is: is this a lone male come from a known population to the south (eg Mt Eccles) in search of a female, or is it part of a local group? The former seems possible, but unlikely, as it is over 100km. The possibility of a local group is great news, and there’ll be more camera work of course. By the way, they did check whether the local zoo had had any escapes.

It is also good to have it confirmed that the fox baiting programme does not affect quolls.

 

quoll image002 quoll image001

So many congratulations … Read the rest

McKenzie Falls Garden Project

After the floods FOGGs had been asked if we could help plant up a small area near the kiosk at McKenzie Falls. In December last year we put in a grant application to the Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants for Community Groups. We asked for $2800 and in May this year received word we had been successful in obtaining $425 so we will be modifying our original plans a bit and intend to plant the area next autumn. The plant out will be advertised in future newsletters.… Read the rest

Ryan’s Talk On The Bioscan

Wendy Bedggood

On 4th July Ryan gave a talk on some of the results from Museum Victoria Bioscan which was carried out last November. The talk was held during the school holidays in the hope we would get more people along. This worked well as we had 27 attendees and ¾ were visitors to the park or non member locals. The bioscan was done in the Grampians because it was an opportunity to do a rapid fauna survey as well as collecting an oral history of the area.

A team from Museum Victoria spent 14 days in the park recording, photographing and collecting data. A lot of work had been done back in the 1970’s but with the changing landscape and climate there was a need to do a snapshot of where things are at today.

Herpatologists set up reptile traps and took DNA samples from trapped animals. They … Read the rest

Celebrating 100 years of Zumsteins – 22 September

The 100 Year celebration of Zumsteins will be held on Sunday 22 September 2013 at Zumsteins Picnic Ground in the Grampians National Park. The day will be also a celebration for the restoration works that have happened since the 2011 flood and storm event.

A small group have come together from the local community, the Horsham Historical Society, Wartook Tourism Association and Parks Victoria to plan for this special day. They would like to invite anybody who has enjoyed or has a strong association to the area, to come and celebrate this much-loved place created over one hundred years ago by Walter Zumstein. The celebrations begin at 10.30am with a number of speakers and displays bringing to life the many memories of the area, and of Walter Zumstein and his family. There will also be many activities such as a community bike ride from Rosebrook, a community picnic and children’s … Read the rest

The Impact Of Fire On The Ecology – Both Short Term And Long Term

Prof John White of Deakin University. ( He was Mike Stevens supervisor in 2007,8 as Mike started his honours thesis on small mammals after the 2006 fire. He currently has quite a few different honours students following up the research.)

Climate change will most likely cause more frequent and more intense wildfires, bringing significant alterations to fire regimes and the potential for more loss of flora and fauns species. Also predicted is an increased chance of drought, punctuated by extreme rainfall events.

There are big knowledge gaps. Most research is on prescribed burning and small fires. The critical gap is large fires, which are going to come more often.  Who survives a fire, and why? Where do the recolonising animals come from? What is the role of the climate conditions post fire on the recovery?

What they are doing: Monitoring 36 sites set up post the 2006 fire, but … Read the rest

FOGG DATES FOR THIS QUARTER:

 

Please bear in mind that changes may need to be made, and some dates couldn’t be settled before going to print.. Always ring the listed contact person to find out any changes and to let them know you are coming.

 

July 4: Bioscan report at 5.30 Mural room , Parks Office Halls Gap. Ryan Duffy, Team Leaser Natural values will talk to us about the recent Bioscan, and projects arising from it. This is in the school holidays and we plan to advertise it to the public. Contact Margo. (5356 4524 or 0429 201139 or ).

 

 

July : Fungi Frolic (date yet to be fixed after it had to be postponed ). We are planning to combine with Jallukar Landcare for an afternoon excursion led by Bruce Fuehrer, followed by a meal then a talk with photos. If you wish to be informed as to … Read the rest

April 13: Rock Art activity

A good turn-out on a cool autumn to walk into the wilds and try to find some rock shelters with Aboriginal art. Despite getting lost on the way in … purely because the old fire line from 30 years ago, that somebody said you could drive a Corolla along, was now completely overgrown … we found ourselves together again and we met up at one of the sites. Crowded around a small overhang where nobody could see anything, a bearded bloke said we were looking at Aboriginal rock art. Where? …but when we looked, sure enough there were a few red marks….Yes, and possibly even stick figures. Hard to see but, although it looked as if some of them could fall off any minute, we were assured it had been like that for that same 30 years. Stained into the rock, it had been there for nobody knows how long, … Read the rest

Keep Australia Beautiful Clean Up March

Sunday 3rd March – a fine day for collecting the disposed excess of our overflowing society.

12 Foggies met at the Ian McCann Reserve. This was named after the late Ian, an honorary life member of FOGGS, a chief instigator in the Declaration of the Grampians National Park, and a vocal conscience for Stawell’s environment.

The Reserve itself was a disused block of land on the Pomonal (Lake Fyans Tourist) Road just beyond the town limit. Despite being dug over by miners in the early days of Pleasant Creek, and used as a general rubbish dump by lazy Stawellites, the block still holds a wealth of native vegetation and spring wildflowers. It is a great asset for the people of this area.

With plastic garbage bags the intrepid twelve meandered into the scrub, collecting small rubbish (bricks, bottles, piping and tin cans) and two bicycles, and feeling derogatory towards … Read the rest

THREATENED SPECIES GROUP ACTIVITIES December 2011

Spring is always a busy time for the TSG as it is so much easier to monitor rare species when they are in flower. As can only be expected,some searches were successful, others not. But it is always a good experience to walk slowly, concentrating on the vegetation, with others there to help you learn the not-so rare plants as well. You certainly don’t need to be an expert. Plus you get out to see different parts of the Park. Only two of the excursions are written up here, but there are a few more photos on the website.

GRAMPIANS RICE FLOWER SEARCH 27/10/11

It was a very small group who went looking to see how this unusual rice flower (Pimelea pagagophylla) was faring on Mt William. But the three of us had a great day. We started near the car park and looked along the road and on the … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd