Category: From Parks Victoria

Sharing The Dilemmas: How And When And What Should We Burn?

Glenn Rudolph DEPI

Glenn started by showing photos of the experimental burn they did in the Wannon heathland mid July this year, which Dave R has alluded to in his piece. This area has not been burnt since the 60’s and is a very valuable small mammal habitat. It would be disastrous to have a large fire go through it so they wanted to see how a winter burn would help break it up. They used only 3 matches to light it, no accelerants. They waited till a day when the temperature was below 15, and the fuel moisture level was 16% and lit it in the afternoon. There was much dead grass. Flame heights reached 2 to 3 m. By 5.45 the edges were starting to self extinguish, by 6pm only small pockets were still alight, by 10 pm it was completely out. It reached 8 ha and were … Read the rest

Cultural Heritage Post 2013 Fire

Suzi Coates (DEPI Ballarat, cultural issues)
Suzi is herself indigenous and has worked on several interesting projects.

There are 99 known Aboriginal cultural sites in the Grampians of which 69 are rock art. All are very vulnerable to fire, as are scar trees and quarries. Damage is caused by ash, smoke, heat. And not just the fire, also the clean up and subsequent erosion. Damage to the art work (heat flaking etc), the surrounding infrastructure, and the subsurface archaeological deposits. The damage may not be apparent to casual inspection, as the micro climate has effects.

The post fire team had 3 requirements: assess and conserve, repair and replace infrastructure, assess control lines prior to remediation works.

Teams have so far gone to 23 known sites and have found 3 new ones. More are likely to be found. The teams have consisted of people from four traditional owner groups and 3 … Read the rest

FLOOD RECOVERY UPDATES

Fish Falls Walking Track Reopens for the June Long Weekend

In a significant milestone for the Grampians Flood Recovery Program, Parks Victoria advises that the MacKenzie River Walk between Zumsteins Picnic Area and Fish Falls has re-opened.

 This walk sustained extensive damage during the January 2011 floods that impacted the Grampians region. Works have been completed along the entire length of the track to reduce ongoing maintenance and improve the experience for visitors.  

 While the restoration of Zumsteins Picnic Area continues, visitors are advised to park in the car park at the western end of the picnic area and following the directional signs. These signs will guide visitors across the MacKenzie River, past the three Pise Cottages and along a new section of walking track before linking with the original MacKenzie River Walk.

 The section of walking track between Fish Falls and MacKenzie Falls will be open in late … Read the rest

FLOOD RECOVERY UPDATES

 

Fish Falls Walking Track Reopens for the June Long Weekend

In a significant milestone for the Grampians Flood Recovery Program, Parks Victoria advises that the MacKenzie River Walk between Zumsteins Picnic Area and Fish Falls has re-opened. This walk sustained extensive damage during the January 2011 floods that impacted the Grampians region. Works have been completed along the entire length of the track to reduce ongoing maintenance and improve the experience for visitors.

While the restoration of Zumsteins Picnic Area continues, visitors are advised to park in the car park at the western end of the picnic area and following the directional signs. These signs will guide visitors across the MacKenzie River, past the three Pise Cottages and along a new section of walking track before linking with the original MacKenzie River Walk.

The section of walking track between Fish Falls and MacKenzie Falls will be open in … Read the rest

From our Ranger in Charge – Dave Roberts June 2013

 The months keep rolling by and our Park keeps us busy working through a myriads of Projects. It is with great satisfaction that our team starts to wind up the Flood Program and unveil the countless days, weeks and months of effort that has gone into the reinstatement and reconstruction of the Park’s assets. We look forward with anticipation to your feedback on the new designs, materials and final outcomes which have been built with a long term view in mind. This work has been lead by Andrew Roach and Kyle Hewitt who have ensured that presentation and sustainability has driven the decision making around any assets being reinstated. Huge credit goes to these 2 individuals and also the local walking track crews who have evolved and crafted their skills over the past 2 years to really be high quality track construction specialists. It is a sad thing to see … Read the rest

From the Park Desk April 2013

Grampians National Park – An Update – David Roberts

Dear Friends of Grampians-Gariwerd,

The Grampians-Gariwerd National Park continues to through up new challenges for our communities, visitors and staff. After a period of recovery post the 2011 floods, the park will now embark on structuring up a recovery program to restore, rehabilitate and monitor the short, medium and long term impacts of another significant bushfire – The Victoria Valley/Victoria Range complex.

This fire grew out of 22+ lightning strikes that hit the park during a 24 hour period on commencing the 14th February 2013. The fire put significant pressure on the Victoria Valley community at Mirranatwa when 4 fires merged and impacted on the park and private property interface. The team work of all the emergency services including CFA Volunteers, DSE, Parks Victoria, Victoria Police and Local Government resulted in only minimal property and asset loss on private property … Read the rest

FROM OUR RANGER IN CHARGE December 2011

Dear Friends of Grampians-Gariwerd,
We find ourselves at the end of what can only be described as an amazing year. It is a good thing to reflect on the key challenges and milestones of the past 12months, and also re-program our thinking for the coming year ahead. It is easy to talk about 2011 as doom and gloom, however we have experienced many highs along the way. Flooding and landslips have initiated change across the park landscape and Parks Victoria has responded by reinstating, remodelling and redesigning roads, bridges, walking tracks and picnic areas. Although this response has been hectic, we are confident that the decisions we have made will hold the park in good stead for many years to come.
Our environmental program has also had a very busy and challenging time. We welcomed the arrival of Ryan Duffy to the team and undertook a rapid review of our … Read the rest

THE LONG DISTANCE WALK Proposed Grampians Peak Trail: Margo Sietsma 2011

Grampians Peak Trail Proposal

In the last issue I reported that the Advisory group had 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.
FOGGs were briefed on the plan at our meeting with Dave in August. Government funding for the planning and development of Phase 1 including up to 3 hiker camps and new track development has been secured – $2.3million. New walk in camp sites will be established, one near the old campsite at Mt Rosea, but hidden from the road, and one off Redman Rd similarly secluded. They will probably consist of pads for BYO tents, toilets, fire places, and a basic shelter. Camp sites will need to be booked, at a fee. There are no plans for private investment. It is … Read the rest

FROM OUR TEAMLEADER, CULTURAL AND NATURAL VALUES – Ryan Duffy Sept 2011

Grampians staff will soon convene a working group to review the delivery of the Grampians Ark fox-baiting program so we can learn, adapt and improve the program into the future. This includes representatives from research institutions, DSE, DPI, and local Landcare. The four year funding source for the program is now complete. The good news is the State Government has committed to fund pest plant and animals programs across public land within Victoria on an ongoing basis. We are hoping this review will help us obtain a slice of these ongoing funds.
Grampians staff recently re-located some historic graffiti within a cave close to the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby release site. The graffiti had peoples’ name or initials and the date ‘1879’ inscribed below. Although the significance of this site is yet to be determined, this highlights that there are still many hidden cultural treasures within the Grampians. Updating our information about … Read the rest

FROM OUR TEAM LEADER, NATURAL VALUES 2011

During the past 2 months DSE and parks staff have unfortunately detected 3 mortalities at the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (BTRW) site. One mortality could be directly attributed to fox predation; as a result we have temporarily employed our fox baiting guru, Daryl Panther, to invest more effort baiting and monitoring fox activity around and within the BTRW site.
· Flood recovery funds will not only be devoted to reinstating walking tracks, roads and visitor sites. Soon staff will find out about the allocation of flood recovery funds for biodiversity projects. Projects nominated for funding include an assessment of the condition of significant natural values within flood affected areas (e.g. riparian vegetation, aquatic fauna) and continued effort eradicating and monitoring emerging weed populations, amongst other projects.
·The new State Government has committed to ongoing funding for introduced species programs on public land. Locally this means the ‘Grampians Ark’ program is likely … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd