Category: Grampians National Park

So much to report I hardly know what to put in and what not. There’s news from PV and news from VICROADS.

PARK UPDATE
The first step after an event like this is asset assessment – what’s damaged, and is it covered by insurance? This needs a specialised team, and is now about 70% complete. A lot of the costs are not insurable, such as all the signs advising of closures, the huge maintenance needed on areas receiving much higher use etc. Bolte highway is being graded daily, they start at one end then go back and start again.
After assessing the damage, they look at opening areas in stages, in consultation with all the other partners (VICROADS, CMAs, shires etc) and having regard to safety, environmental and cultural heritage.
Most of the worst damage is in the Wonderland and Mt William range areas, although the Zumsteins picnic area was … Read the rest

We at FOGGS heartily welcome Ryan Duffy back to our park. Ryan is replacing Mike Stevens as Team Leader Natural Values. I asked Ryan to introduce himself:

Hello FOGG members, my name is Ryan Duffy and I am the new Program Coordinator for Biodiversity and Heritage at the Grampians / Gariwerd.
I distinctly remember my first interview for a job at the Grampians in 2004. I was sitting in my Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) uniform in Brisbane staring at a video camera talking to Prue Daley and Graham Parkes in Melbourne, pretending to guide a sight impaired person through an interpretive experience with a stuffed echidna. Sounds strange, it certainly was! Fortunately for me soon after I was offered the interpretive ranger role.
One reason I loved being an interpretive ranger is it provides free licence to learn as much about a location as you can in order … Read the rest

The dedication ceremony for the installation of the Red-gum picnic table went off without a hitch this time. Rain & attendance inabilities seemed to mar each date, but sunshine, a good group & happy memories made up for it all.

Ewen Johnson gave a speech recalling past President, Stan Parffet’s enthusiasm and determination to see another table/seats installed at the Red-gum Walk. Some of Stan’s family were in attendance & nephew Allan responded on their behalf.

A plaque dedicated to Stan has been attached to the under-side of the table while a small information board & post stands to the side. This plaque acknowledges FOGG members both past & present who have volunteered their time and effort to maintain the track and keep it open. Sue & Ivan McInnes were mentioned as too Margo & Kees Sietsma, Bill & Hennie Neve, whose project it was to create a walk that … Read the rest

h3. THE GRAMPIANS ROAD

bq.. O, you who follow the Grampians Road
Will leave all care behind,
Cramping worry and grief’s gray load,
And be one with the wild free wind.

If your feet once turn to the Grampians way,
Your heart will lift wild and free,
Like a wild bird flown from its cage away Soaring in ecstacy.

You will find Peace come in the blue twilight
Like a kind hand in yours prest,
Healing steal out of the starry night
To bring to the restless, rest.

O, you will sleep well in a dreamless sleep
If you follow, the long day through,
The valley road, or the hill path steep
That climbs to the cloudless blue

O, you who follow the Grampians Road
Will leave all care behind,
Weariness ,worry, and grief’s gray load,
And be free as the mountain wind.

p. Taken from The Caravan of Dreams … Read the rest

We have never seen anything like it. Around 300 mm of rain were recorded at Mt William over three days, with 200mm of that on one day ( 13 January). It could have been more on the Wonderland Range. All the FOGG members who live locally are safe, but all affected in one way or another, evacuated, or isolated or very wet or lost their drives. Halls Gap, Wartook, Dunkeld all were deluged. All of us I think still needing to boil drinking water.

But it is the Park which is of great concern. The damage is enormous. Currently the whole park is closed.

To give you a preliminary sketch:
* Mt Victory Road will be closed for weeks. It has boulders the size of buses across the road, and large sections elsewhere have subsided. The track to Venus Baths is still dangerous with unstable boulders rolling down. The road … Read the rest

Welcome to the summer edition of the FOGG newsletter. Apologies for its late arrival and brevity. First I was traveling overseas, then the Christmas rush, and now the devastating storm.

There will not be any diary of planned activities yet, as until the extent of the damage is known, we won’t know where we can go or what is most useful for us to do. I would urge you to keep an eye on the website as we try to bring you news of what is happening.

Some of the articles which were submitted prior to Christmas have been overtaken by events, but I will endeavour to add updates. Some will be held over until the next issue so that we can get this out promptly.

Best wishes from sodden but still beautiful Gariwerd,
Margo… Read the rest

The areas to be burnt include :
Geerack Track 1854 ha (Southern Victoria
Range, Victoria Point area)
Mt Abrupt East 307 ha (Above Dunkeld
road near Mt Abrupt walking track)
Jensens Rd 878 ha (Between Glenelg
River Rd and private property)
Hut Creek 900 ha (Victoria Range, East of
Billywing Pine plantation)
Claude Austin 490 ha (Between Rocklands
Reservoir and Balmoral)
Rocklands 825 ha (North of the Beear
reference area)
North Black Range 390 ha (Northernmost
section of the Black Range)
Pohlners Road 725 ha (Between Roses Gap
Road and Pohlners Road and south)
Yarram Gap Road 790 ha (South of Yarram
Gap Road )
Red Gum Lease Tk 725 ha (2 kms north of
Halls Gap)
Plantation West 79 ha (Opposite the Mt
Difficult Plantation)
Grampians Road 35 ha (East of Mt Abrupt,
north of the Retreat)
Mt Zero Road 108 ha (Between Mt Difficult
Plantation and Halls Gap)… Read the rest

4. Views of conservation volunteers
UltraFeedback is a small research company specialising in health-related research currently looking at how regular contact with nature through conservation groups can be beneficial to health.  Last year they looked for Friends of Parks and other conservation volunteers to complete a quick online survey.
The survey can be accessed via http:/www.ultrafeedback.com/survey/911. It is hoped this research can assist to improve the health of the community by increasing participation in volunteer conservation projects. The results of this study will be presented at the Healthy Parks Healthy People conference in Melbourne next April.
Contact Melissa Hatty of UltraFeedback” <> 03 94397789 … Read the rest