Category: Activity Report

Student Presentation at February Meeting

Susannah Hale, a PhD student from Deakin University, spoke to us about the findings of a study on ‘The Effect of Fire and Climate on Small Mammals’. The study started after the 2006 Bushfires and has been running nine years. There were 36 study sites established and each are of 150 square metres. When surveying the sites, baited Elliot traps are used and are checked twice daily, captured animals being tagged, weighed and measured before release. Populations go through a boom and bust phase which are affected by the previous 18 months rainfall and the ‘time since fire’. In the years straight after fire, exotic species predominate. In the first year of the study, 85% of captures were exotics. The house mouse occupies areas quickly after fires and then declines. Four years after fire, 91% of captures were native species.

Small mammals respond strongly to ‘time since fire’; native species … Read the rest

Cleanup Australia Day

2016-02-5 _116On Saturday March 5th FOGGs held their contribution to Cleanup Australia Day.

Our event was a combined activity involving Park Staff, Wimmera 4wd club, Horsham bush walkers, Conservation Volunteers and some expert rock climbers. The aim was to collect rubbish and clean up the beauty spots within the park. As the day was a FOGG innovation we were given our choice of location.

12 FOGGs and Matthew (a volunteer from Macau), met at the Reids lookout car park at 9 am. We were met there by Ranger Matt White from Parks Vic, and his partner Stephanie.

Although the view was partially hidden by fog, the day was forecast to be warm, and the sun was already showing its strength. A rollout awning, washing water and chilled drinking water were set up for our amenities. Kitted up with high vis vests, gloves, bags and pickup sticks we were ready to be … Read the rest

Cultural Arts Site Excursion

I don’t get to enough FOGGs activities because I live in Melbourne and get caught up in activities there. However, as a passionate student of the Aboriginal story of Gariwerd, I made sure I could be at the cultural sites excursion run by Ben Gunn on April 9th. We 2016-04-08 FOGG_29met up at Buandik and I noticed a few keen non FOGGs members also turned up, having found out by various means (thanks to the wonders of the internet) that this rare opportunity was being offered.

Twenty of us set off up the Goat Track – some by foot and some by car to the location Ben had chosen for our adventure. As we tramped through the bush to visit three sites in all, Ben generously filled us in on many aspects of the archaeology of Gariwerd art sites and discoveries. We learned about the changing nature of interpretations … Read the rest

Advisory Group Report

As usual, the March meeting of the AG had a very full agenda, which we struggled to complete. The main discussion was an update on the Grampians Peak trail.  Dave has mentioned in his piece just what a huge task this is, and now here is the somewhat more detailed presentation the AG were given. The money for the trail ( $30.2 million)  has to be spent by September 2019 so there is a real urgency now. The finished track will be 144km long (61km existing track, 83km new), with 10 hiker camps, 1 new school camp, several trail heads and carparks, with waymarking, interpretative signage, link and maintenance tracks. In addition an online booking system and phone apps need to be developed. A massive task. At this stage no funding has been set aside for maintenance equipment and facilities (such as quad bikes to service the camp sites) and … Read the rest

Fire Recovery And Related Issues

Management of grazing animals in the burnt areas is a problem (goats and deer). They are using Judas goats, but would prefer to be able to shoot from helicopters. Deer management remains a real difficulty because of their protected status still.

Several research agreements are in place to study fire and fauna relationships, and sallow wattle is part of this.

Both the Stapylton campground repair and the work at Zumsteins are expected to be complete by the end of June. McKenzie falls is on track but won’t be complete until next year. The picnic area and bridge at Golton Gorge may not be repaired, as the Peaks trail in that area is likely to open up other beauty spots. They plan to close the existing Troopers creek campground and move it to dead Bullock Creek, but the Management plan would need adjustment.

New cultural heritage sites found after the fires … Read the rest

Honour For Ranger Pru Daley

In the Australia Day honours list, Pru Daley was awarded the Australian Fires Services  medal, and received it in person at Government House in Melbourne this week.

Quoting from the nomination: “Ms Daley has devoted 22 years of service with Parks Victoria, and its former agencies, working as a Park Information Officer, Ranger, Team Leader and Program Coordinator Tourism. She has participated in numerous incident management teams for major bushfires and demonstrated exceptional liaison and communications skills in dealing with the community, both during the bushfire and recovery stages…….Additionally she has contributed to training course content and supported delivery of training. She is known for building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with local media organisations which have resulted in more accurate and timely information on incidents being transmitted. Ms Daley has also been involved in the development and delivery of the Halls Gap Community Safety Project which has championed the importance … Read the rest

Picnic at Mt William

Rodney

On Saturday 21st of November, the FOGGs started gathering at the Mt William car park at 6.00 pm. Over the next half an hour we transferred picnic chairs and tables, Eskys and picnic baskets into the back of the ute (it was well filled). Those who felt unable to walk the last 2km to the summit climbed into a couple of cars. The young and enthusiastic, the active and the determined set off up the hill on the balls of their feet. The cars waited for stragglers, and then after finding out Margo was on her way, Ranger Tammy Schoo opened the gate and the vehicles (enjoying a very rare privilege) set off up the hill. The walkers were strung out depending on their physical abilities. It might be a sealed road, but it is steep. It has to be to reach the highest peak in the park. The … Read the rest

Parks Victoria Staffing

Margo

Did you see the article in the Age on January 5? “State’s parks suffer after budget cuts”. The numbers are most distressing. “ direct funding from the state government has collapsed by37% over the past 3 years, from $122 million in 2011-12to $76.8 million in 2014-15. “ The Age report then discusses the effects of this, not only on the services and infrastructure, but on the morale of staff. It is so depressing for them.

Locally, although the money the new Peaks Trail brings in is helping with improving some of the existing tracks, the lack of funding for other important tasks, such as monitoring, rubbish collection and more is a real problem. It is something groups like ours must speak up about.… Read the rest

Sallow Wattle

Wendy

At one of our meetings with parks staff last year Ryan suggested a possible project for FOGGs would be to photo monitor some areas of Sallow wattle. In the northern Grampians there has been an explotion of Sallow wattle since the January 2014 bushfires. There had been a survey for Sallow wattle in this area back in 2013 before the fires. From this survey we had photos and GPS points that had had been taken during the survey. It was hoped we could use some of these spots to continue monitoring. However the knowledge and technology to find these spots again proved beyond my capabilities so we decided to find new points in the same areas, Rodney and Wendy went out in early December and hammered in star pickets and took photos to get the project started. People who indicated last year they wanted to be part of this … Read the rest

Fungi Day (24 May2015)

Wendy Bedggood

fungi posterfungi geoff layAs this was a joint event with Laharum Landcare group quite a crowd turned up, which was good. The day originally had been planned to have a presentation and some field walks, however with practically no rain since last year fungi are few and far between in the Northern Grampians bush this year, the walks did not proceed. However Geoff Lay the guest speaker was staying with the Pykes and they went hunting in the morning and managed to find a nice collection to display.

fungi day wendy, geoff fungi craftGeoff gave a very good presentation describing the different types of fungi, Saprotrophic (living on dead material), Parasitic (living on organisms) and Symbiotic (where there is an association between the fungi and the living organism which benefits both). He also showed what to look for when trying to identify fungi. Fungi are neither plant nor animal and are in a kingdom of their … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd