Parks Victoria – Update – Spring 2023: William Playne – Visitor/Community Ranger
Thank you for the opportunity to connect, contribute and share vital information about the park. I hope you enjoy the range of brief reports/project updates. They certainly provide understanding and comprehension concerning the diverse range of ongoing tasks needed to manage the scope of Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park.
In the past month, it was exciting to see the pulse of the park rise as perfect spring weather drew large numbers of visitors. The Mackenzie Falls track counter topped the popularity stakes with 590 visitors per day over the two weeks of the school holidays! Zumsteins welcomed many picnickers and day walkers headed for Fish Falls and beyond. Out on the trail, Grampians Peaks Trail Rangers met good numbers of walkers, with many journeying over the full 12-day experience. Each with their own personal take on the challenge and … Read the rest
Category: From Parks Victoria
Official Park Update 17-01-2025 Pest Control Operations
Grampians (Gariwerd) aerial pest animal control operation
20th – 24th January 2025
Parks Victoria is conducting a conservation program to respond to the ecological impacts of the Yarram Gap fire.
An aerial shooting operation will be undertaken between Monday 20th – Friday 24th of January 2025 to target pest animals and to support the recovery of the park and its native species.
The fire affected over a third of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park impacting native plants, animals, aquatic species, and invertebrates.
Urgent action is being taken to reduce predators (foxes and feral cats) and introduced herbivores (deer and feral goats), threatening the survival and recovery of vulnerable native plants and animals.
Foxes and feral cats’ prey on Grampians native animals such as the Brush Tailed Rock Wallaby, Long Nosed Potoroo, Southern Brown Bandicoot, Smoky Mouse, Heath Mouse, and Grampians Mountain Dragon. These native animals are now … Read the rest
Grampians Ark Landscape-scale fox control for threatened fauna recovery. June 2023
Friday 7th June: Parks Info night presented by Kailee Savoia, Grampians Ark Landscape-scale fox control for threatened fauna recovery.
The July gathering of FOGG was a presentation by Kailee Savoia, PV Coordinator of the Grampians Ark project.
Kailee provided an overview of the project work thus far and outlined some of the plans for the future. We also had William (Bill) Playne, PV Ranger – Visitor and Community, join us to listen to Kailee’s presentation and he assisted with some of the questions raised. Kailee explained that Grampians Ark is a state government funded project from the State Government’s Weeds and Pests on Public Land Initiative. Funding was allocated over four years with this project ending in 2025. It supports herself and two other ranger roles as well as funding the materials and equipment required. Foxes are listed as a threatening process for several species in the Grampians Gariwerd, namely: … Read the rest
Parks News from the Chief Ranger June 2021
From Rhonda McNeil M 0498 441 433 E
It is with great sadness that last week saw the passing of Graeme “Shonky” Sherger. Shonky was a long standing member of the Halls Gap team as was his father before him. He was involved in many aspects of park management but in particular he was involved in machinery use in the park, whether building campgrounds, grading roads or incredible work on the fireline. Our thoughts are with Danielle and family at this time.
Work on the Grampians Peaks Trail is continuing as we get closer to a Spring opening and it was great to have the Grampians Advisory Group out on site at one of the new day walks and to a campground to share what really was part of their vision for this park.
The management plan is in finally stages of reviewing all the feedback and providing a … Read the rest
Gariwerd Black Range News June 2021
From Hannah, Community Engagement Ranger
Parks Victoria has shortlisted the Black Range Conservation Survey, led by the Black Range Land Management Group and NGT, for the funding through the Volunteer Innovation Fund. The votes of the Victorian public will decide which projects are successful, so read on for more info!
The Black Range is a granite uprising east of Gariwerd/The Grampians near Ararat that formed 400 million years ago. The Range is of cultural significance to its Traditional Owners, and includes Bunjil’s Shelter. Following recent poor land management and significantly reduced annual rainfall, the Black Range Land Management Group is working to increase habitat and biodiversity, control invasive species and erosion, and to conserve more areas of the dry and rocky Range. We have partnered with the Land Management Group to support this project which aims to engage our local community in actions that learn about and address climate … Read the rest
UPDATE from the Parks Victoria Grampians Team May 2021
FROM RHONDA, OUR CHIEF RANGER, UPDATE from the Grampians Team
What a different Easter from last year back to full capacity so a busy time for all our team. One of our growing issues is waste management and this has unfortunately increased we believe over Covid due to the feeling of safety that comes with disposable items. But where to dispose of them. This Easter we placed a skip bin at Plantation Campground as in past years this is the campground where we have had the most rubbish left in bags at trees. Well, it certainly worked as the photo shows with the entire skip bin full and three large tandem trailer loads all around it. What to do is our next question as this is not sustainable with our budget.
Last week saw the departure of Derek Sandow. Derek was acting in the Team Leader Environment position and prior … Read the rest
From Hannah, Our Community Ranger May 2021
This week concludes the first ever Great Grampians Bird Survey – The GGBS! It has been an almighty 10 weeks delivering the Bird Ecology Course with Greg Kerr and a hugely successful weekend with Volunteers coming home with many beautiful bird stories. Volunteers completed 144 bird surveys this weekend at 36 remote sites across Gariwerd, the same sites from which Deakin University collect mammal data from each year. The data collected from Volunteers was entered into Birddata which is now accessible to the public. The aim of this project is to determine how effective the Grampians Ark project has been at controlling foxes and feral cats. Cat baiting began last year, however before this occurred, we contacted Dr Greg Kerr to collect base line bird data at the 36 mammal sites – which we can now call the mammal and bird sites. Greg returned to the same sites after the … Read the rest
Pest Control Conservation program in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Black Range State Park between March and October 2021
FROM ANDREW MCKINNON, AREA CHIEF RANGER March 2021
This is to inform you of a conservation program in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Black Range State Park between March and October 2021.
Heritage listed for its biodiversity and cultural values, the Grampians landscape is home to more than 800 indigenous plant species, a wide range of wildlife and the majority of Aboriginal rock art sites in south-east Australia.
To help protect this unique landscape, Parks Victoria regularly undertakes conservation programs to control invasive animals, including feral goats.
On a few days each month from 29 March until late October, a crew of qualified and experienced volunteer shooters will target these pest animals in remote sections of the parks.
During the operation, access to some sections of the parks will be temporarily restricted and people may be able to hear gunshots. Key visitor areas will not be affected… Read the rest
From Our Chief Ranger December 2020
The Draft Gariwerd Landscape Management Plan has been launched and we encourage everyone to go to engage.vic website to find all the information. This includes an executive summary, frequently asked questions , a summary on rock climbing, a short video and the plan, so plenty to start reading and join the conversation.
All our project firefighters have returned and are busy working across the park and we are currently recruiting for 2 seasonal rangers. Lots of recruitment is currently occurring with new staff coming on board for the Grampians Peaks Trail.
A successful aerial shooting operation occurred last week as part of the biodiversity response programs, with the total numbers of the 2.5 years being 378 deer 364 goats been dispatched. The team will know be working hard to promote the value of this level of investment in landscape scale programs so we can continue these programs.
We expect to … Read the rest
Han Auld – Community Engagement Ranger December 2020
(Editor’s note: Han has been our main contact all year, but the Covid rules have meant that she has met very few of us. I decided it was time we started to get to know her, so asked her to introduce herself to us.)
My name is Hannah (or Han as most people call me) and I am the Community Engagement Ranger for the Grampians. I started as a volunteer here almost 5 years ago with Caity O’Reilly, I applied to be a Seasonal Ranger which fortunately turned into a full time position. My role is quite diverse as I manage volunteers and community groups ‘Get Into Nature’ and assist with activities throughout the park. I also assist with the Environmental Education activities including Bush Kinder and Junior Ranger. I feel quite privileged to meet so many people who visit or call the Grampians home because I have the opportunity … Read the rest