Following on from the Fire presentation we were lucky enough to meet and hear from Joe Terry. Twenty members and non-members attended.
Grampians Ark Project is led by Coordinator Joe Terry has been in this role since June 2024 having taken over from Kailee Savoia. Joe is assisted by two rangers.
Currently:
860 continuous bait stations and 160 seasonal bait stations
Deploy 15,000 1080 baits per year
Bait take of 3% average
Equates to 450 foxes controlled per year, but this is an estimate
125 foxes shot or trapped this financial year
1500 soft jaw (aim foxes) and cage trapping (aim cats) nights per year
Over 10,000 camera traps night per year – over 1 million images
75 Candid pest ejectors deployed at any one time
Ground and aerial shooting program targeting herbivores and predators
Community baiting program involving 38 neighbour properties – in the Victoria Valley
Then the 2024-2025 … Read the rest
Category: Grampians Bushfires
Christmas 2024 Long Gully Road Pomonal
Many have firsthand experience of bushfires and of the fires last summer that resulted in much of the park and many neighbouring properties being incinerated. This is just my perspective.
We recently built a strawbale house, partly from a thermal-efficiency and sustainability point-of-view, but also because of their excellent fire-resilience, especially when all other structural components are constructed with bushfires in mind (minimum gaps for embers, minimal exposed timber etc). The house is sited a couple of hundred metres from the nearest bush and there is a 50m buffer zone around the house of mown grass and bracken.
I was confident I could defend the property, especially after we installed sprinklers around the house, water tank and shed; the latter was important to defend, it housing our off-grid inverters and batteries. I am also CFA-trained.
The only anxious moment was when the fire was reported to be coming from the … Read the rest
Grampians Fire and Parks Victoria Updates
16th December 2024 onwards to May 2025
Chronology: 16th December 2024 A lightning band started multiple fires across Grampians including at Yarram Gap. Forest Fire Management planes started patrolling immediately. Despite large numbers of aircraft, water bombers and ground crew operations the fire spread along the Mt William range, Mt Rosea and Sundial area over the next two weeks. This fire extended south towards Walker Swamp and west into the Wannon River valley and east towards Pomonal and Moyston.
Halls Gap and surrounding towns were evacuated several times. Christmas was a very unsettling time for many.
This Yarram Gap fire burnt 76000 hectares of National Park and farmland and had a perimeter of 427km. Including farmland and homes around Pomonal and Moyston.
From 3/1/2025 Wildlife welfare crews conducted assessments with vets to care for injured wildlife and food drops were being conducted throughout the Grampians National Park. Plus impact assessment … Read the rest
Park Update 21st February 2025 – Fire now under control in the Grampians area 135,800 hectares burnt
Park Update
Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park 21.02.2025
For Bushfire Reopening information and Road Updates please visit www.parks.vic.gov.au
Welcoming visitors back to the park
The reopening’s in non-fire affected areas have rolled out over the week in the northern, southern and some central areas. Brambuk staff have noted increased numbers of international visitors coming through the centre and general enquiries about campgrounds.
Bushfires Update
Issued Last Sunday at 5:01 PM (from Vic Emergency).
This Community Information message is being issued for Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and the surrounding area.
- The status for this bushfire is now under control.
- Over summer two large bushfires impacted the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park. These fires have burnt 135,800 ha of park and private land. However, there are still many areas open for you to visit. Please obey park and road closures, and do not enter fire affected areas as fire crews are working in
29th January 2025 Grampians Park Update
Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park – Bushfires Update 29.01.2025
Full Park Closure Amendment – Partial Reopening
On Tuesday 28th of January 2025, the State Control Centre declared Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park closed after a series of bushfires started following lightning strikes in the central and Victoria Range areas of the park. This was to ensure visitor/community safety and to support the firefighting effort. These fires are not yet under control.
The full closure declaration was amended on Wednesday 29th of January 2025. It now entails partial re-openings of visitor sites and walking tracks in parts of the park that are safe and unaffected by the current bushfire situation.
Visitor Sites and Day Walks – To Re-open
Central Grampians, Wonderland Range and Halls Gap local walks
- Brambuk the National Park & Cultural Centre and nearby walks
- The Wonderland Loop Walk, including The Pinnacle, Venus Baths, and Grand Canyon Loop (either
Concerns Increase over the Too Frequent Burning of our Bush
By Neil R Marriott
In an interesting feature article in the June ‘Parkwatch’, Phil Ingamells states that “evidence against Victoria’s fuel reduction program is clear, yet burns are increasing. Calls for a pause and re-assessment of fire management are growing louder”. The most alarming result of “fuel reduction” burning is often fuel production burning!
The next most alarming thing is that the state government department that plans and performs those burns does no monitoring of what actually happens afterwards. Anyone marketing a car, a vaccine, or building cladding would be expected to know how it performs over time, whether it’s safe, and, of course, if it actually works. However, Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) doesn’t return to the site of its fuel reduction burns and record what has eventuated – not after one year, not two or, most importantly, not a decade or so into the … Read the rest
Grampians Fire 2019
The Grampians Fire Online Conference is also available on line. https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/a6ee473b-5574-4d54-ad8b-c8833279af70. Two highlights of the presentation were:
- The case study into the Mt Lang bushfire in December 2019, with some great photography and a good summary of the activity of the fire.
- The Wartook Community Bushfire Strategy Development.
Eco-Burning In Winter
The Grampians National Park’s winter heathland burning program aims to provide small patches of diverse, new habitat for some of the parks most threatened small mammals whilst leaving large areas of long unburnt habitat that are important refuges from predators. This program targets heathlands throughout the park with a particular focus on areas of long unburnt heath.
Capitalising on clear, calm and dry winter weather days, for the past five years the Grampians team have been burning small patches bordering the Wannon River stretching from Yarram Gap Road to Lynches Crossing Track. The team is working to provide a mosaic of habitat for the nationally threatened long nosed potoroo and southern brown bandicoot. Using only matches to ignite the fiery grasses, in August this year the team burnt a total of five patches covering 18Ha of the 900ha burn unit; the largest being 11ha and the smallest 1ha.
To complement … Read the rest
A Piece Of History – Beyond the Smoke
In April 2007 the book covering the devastating fires of January 2006, and also the way the vegetation responded, was launched at Willaura. FOGG were the instigators of the project, then many others came on board to support it. As well as the book, there were art and music workshops and performances in different places around the Grampians, culminating a festival day in Halls Gap.
To me, one of the highlights was the set of songs which emerged from the workshops with Fay White. Too long to put here, but here are excerpts from two of them. (I will ask Frank to put the complete ones up on our website.)
FIRE SONG
The fire came through with roar and noise, awesome power and might.
Somehow we found the strength to stay, that long and anxious night.
At dawn the sound of cracking rocks, the fall of dying trees.
We … Read the rest
Grampians NP Community July Update
Tammy Schoo, Team Leader – Visitors and Community Grampians Gariwerd National Park has sent out a comprehensive report to the local community, and I am sure it is of real interest to those of you living further afield.
News in General July 2016
We welcome Ben Thomas to our team in the Role of Grampians Ark Coordinator. Ben brings a wealth of knowledge to the role after holding numerous biodiversity roles with organisations such as DELWP and CVA. The ‘new Ben’ replaces Ben Holmes who has moved to take on a rewilding project in the Little Desert National Park with Conservation Volunteers Australia.
Snow! Yes, we certainly know it’s winter. While it’s not completely uncommon, snow usually falls when the state is at its coldest. The Grampians are certainly very pretty covered in snow and it is a spectacle that many local residents love to see. We do ask that … Read the rest