Category: Natural Values

Feral Cat Questionnaire

University of Adelaide Feral Cat Management Project

Our team is looking to recruit residents who live in, manage or own property on Kangaroo Island or in the Grampians region to participate in an online questionnaire about feral cats and feral cat management.

The aim of this project will be to determine how the public feels about feral cat management, and also to inform about the different techniques that may be used in your region, or on your land. This information can then later be used to inform management authorities about what techniques are deemed acceptable by the public.

If you live in, manage or own property on Kangaroo Island or in the Grampians region, and would like further information on this study, or if you would like to participate in the questionnaire please go to http://adelaide.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7Utb Qk7mP60DaYJ and enter the code T8RM63L when prompted. If you have any questions, please … Read the rest

A New Environmental Plan

DELWP released Victorians Volunteering for Nature: Environmental Volunteering Plan on 24 October.

Many Victorians give their time freely to a wide variety of environmental causes and organisations, including Landcare, Friends, and Coastcare groups. We recognise and value their contributions and collective efforts and want to help volunteers do more for nature when, where, and how it suits them.

The Environmental Volunteering Plan (EVP) provides a welcome focus on the valuable work that Friends groups and other environmental volunteers do. The EVP proposes, among other things: to investigate a longer-term environmental volunteering government grants program and to create a small ‘set-up’ grants fund to offset administration and incorporation costs for new groups.  This Environmental Volunteering Plan will expand and reinvigorate environmental volunteering for all Victorians to get involved.

DELWP say they are setting a new direction based on sustaining, expanding, valuing and understanding volunteering in Victoria. Each area has practical and … Read the rest

Feral Cats

I expect you all have heard the good news that feral cats have been declared a pest species in Victoria, which means that shortly our Park staff will be allowed to work to reduce their number. But how to do it most efficiently and reasonably humanely? I came across a most interesting article in the Bush Heritage edition 12 Jun 2018

That Tricksy Felixy

I recently visited Currawinya National Park to learn more about Felixer cat traps from their inventor, cat management expert Dr John Read

It’s well known that cats have a huge and often catastrophic impact on native species and are notoriously difficult to control. We urgently need an effective solution that that can be deployed in diverse landscapes, not just to bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction, but also to prevent other species declining to that point. Felixer traps are a promising candidate.

Feral … Read the rest

Grasslands Seed Project

Canberra’s National Botanic Garden has been building up a collection of photographs and illustrations of Australian native plants for many years, which they are now working on digitising. They are also asking serious photographers to contribute reliable identified photographs to the index.

Also a collection of photographs of plants and habitat mostly from southern Victoria. … Read the rest

Introducing the Nature Glenelg Trust

When I was at the Cavendish Red Gum festival I listened to an exciting presentation on this trust and I believe it will be of great interest to our group.

Nature Glenelg Trust is established as an environmental organisation for the following purposes:

  • To protect and enhance the natural environment, with a particular emphasis on wetland conservation and restoration activities, supported by the Habitat Restoration Fund.
  • To generate and provide high quality scientific information that enhances management of the natural environment.
  • To support and undertake key conservation ecology research.
  • To promote public awareness of nature through education, and involving the community in the activities of the Trust.

How did it all begin?

In 2011 a small group of people, with a range of complementary skills and a passion for practical solutions, got together to develop a new way of getting more environmental work to happen “on the ground” in their … Read the rest

Feral Cats

News from Mike Stevens

The Victorian Government has indicated it will officially move to declare cats as pest animals on public land in mid-2018 paving the way for feral cat control.

The important next step will involve community engagement to consult on the types of control techniques that will be allowed. Being able to complement large-scale fox 1080 poison baiting with large-scale cat poison baiting could be the next evolution of the Grampians Ark project. Data is indicating that aerial baiting for feral cats is extremely effective during the colder, winter months when natural food resources are scarce and feral cats are under a higher metabolic requirement, thus, less fussy and more willing to eat a bait. It is the type of sophisticated “once-per-year” program the Grampians could deliver, complementing the long-term fox poison baiting efforts.

The Western Quoll reintroduction project in the Flinders Ranges continues to get excellent results … Read the rest

Spiders in the Grampians

Did you see the articles in the Age and on ABC on new spider finds in the Grampians? With the exquisite photos by our ranger Dave Handscombe? Here’s part of The Age article…

Peacock spiders, which are only a few millimetres long, have captured the public imagination recently due to their colour and ceremony.
And thanks to a recent discovery, Victorian spider enthusiasts no longer have to go far to find them.

Five species have been discovered in the Grampians, one of which had never been observed in Victoria and one that had never been observed outside Tasmania, making the find quite a coup.

“These spiders, they’ve got to put on a really good display – because if they are not happy with it, the females will go and eat them,” says Grampians park ranger Dave Handscombe, who found the species in October.

Mr Handscombe has worked as a ranger … Read the rest

Deer in the Grampians

Daryl Panther

There were 16 people in attendance, including a few who were interested in learning more for the purpose of hunting, not our usual audience but welcome all the same.

Daryl explained his background and how he has farmed Deer in the past and now being a contractor to Parks Vic. helping with the control of feral animals. He continued by describing the different  species of deer found in Victoria.

  • Rusa Deer are found mainly around Sydney and NSW. They have 3 points on each antler. They will breed with Sambar, but as there are only isolated populations of Rusa in Victoria and we don’t have them in the Grampians they are not an issue.
  • Sambar Deer are one of the heaviest species of deer. They are found around Mt Cole, in South Australia and also in the Otways, with a few in the Grampians area. They have 3
… Read the rest

Insects of the Grampians

Dennis Crawford

Dennis brought along some brilliant photos he has taken over the years, just a small selection of the ones that have fascinated him the most. With each insect he described, Dennis projected up a larger than life closeup picture to show off the best features. He is very passionate and moved from one to the other very quickly, sharing snippets of information as he went. I have done the best I can to string his information into a report for everyone who missed his brilliant presentation.

Insects occur on every continent in the world, including Antarctica!

Current estimates suggest there are 70,000 insect species in Australia, 20-30 million worldwide. But most are yet to be classified. Of this total less than 1% are pests. Their bad reputation comes because most people only notice them when they are a problem.

3/4 of all species on earth are insects. They … Read the rest

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

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd