Our contractors have erected a locked fence to keep grazing animals away from the highly endangered orchid Caladenia audasii —(or McIvor Spider-orchid, Audas Spider-orchid) in the Stawell Ironbarks Forest, and there is a remote camera to deter any human predators. The team will keep a close eye on it and when (if?) it flowers it will be crosspollinated from the other surviving colony near Bendigo and eventually more plants can be grown at Cranbourne then released back into the wild.… Read the rest
Category: Natural Values
Cultural Arts Site Excursion
I don’t get to enough FOGGs activities because I live in Melbourne and get caught up in activities there. However, as a passionate student of the Aboriginal story of Gariwerd, I made sure I could be at the cultural sites excursion run by Ben Gunn on April 9th. We 
met up at Buandik and I noticed a few keen non FOGGs members also turned up, having found out by various means (thanks to the wonders of the internet) that this rare opportunity was being offered.
Twenty of us set off up the Goat Track – some by foot and some by car to the location Ben had chosen for our adventure. As we tramped through the bush to visit three sites in all, Ben generously filled us in on many aspects of the archaeology of Gariwerd art sites and discoveries. We learned about the changing nature of interpretations … Read the rest
Brush-tailed Rock-Wallaby Site
2016 May
Although there have been issues with remote cameras in the last month, the two young at foot were alive and healthy when last detected in early March
The quoll has not been seen since last July, so it has either moved away or died.… Read the rest
Platypus Survey
The Wimmera CMA conducted a platypus survey of the McKenzie River near Zumsteins in early April. It showed that despite the ongoing extremely dry conditions the fragile population is holding its own. They captured a new juvenile about 4 months old, the fourth year in a row that this has happened. They also recaptured a 16 month old female. The Wimmera CMA chief executive said that environmental water releases through ongoing dry conditions had a focus on maintaining suitable conditions for as long as possible so platypus, fish, bug and plant communities could stay in good shape.
Members of the public (including us FOGGIES) are urged to register any sighting on the platypusSPOT.org website. Enjoy the very informative site anyway!… Read the rest
New Tourist Loop?
Northern Grampians, Southern Grampians, Horsham and Ararat councils are looking at developing a tourist ring route encircling the Grampians. It would be all bitumen, and allow visitors to enjoy views of the Grampians from across the plains as well as from nearby, as well as enabling local producers to showcase their products. Planning is still in the early stages and would involve sealing part of Winfields Rd and Flat Rock Rd.
Petition Call From The VNPA (Victorian National Parks Association)
We are asking members to please sign this petition, share it with your friends, and mail it to the VNPA or, preferably, go online to their website http://www.vnpa.org.au and sign there.
If Victoria’s national parks do not get the resources they need, our natural areas will continue to decline and recovery will be difficult.
If they are well resourced, nature has a very good chance for the future. And we’ll all benefit from a healthy environment.
Therefore, I call on the Victorian Government to:
- Immediately return Parks Victoria funding to at least 2010-11 levels (an increase of at least $30 million a year).
- Develop a future funding plan ensuring substantial increases to build the resources and expertise to fix up our parks, and address the many threats including weeds, pests and the pressures of climate change.
- Make parks special places with appropriate tracks, signs and facilities so they are welcoming
Sallow Wattle
Wendy
At one of our meetings with parks staff last year Ryan suggested a possible project for FOGGs would be to photo monitor some areas of Sallow wattle. In the northern Grampians there has been an explotion of Sallow wattle since the January 2014 bushfires. There had been a survey for Sallow wattle in this area back in 2013 before the fires. From this survey we had photos and GPS points that had had been taken during the survey. It was hoped we could use some of these spots to continue monitoring. However the knowledge and technology to find these spots again proved beyond my capabilities so we decided to find new points in the same areas, Rodney and Wendy went out in early December and hammered in star pickets and took photos to get the project started. People who indicated last year they wanted to be part of this … Read the rest
Tree Clearing
Most VNPA members will be aware of the recent appalling loss of around 880 large old eucalypts as part of the duplication of the Western highway between Ballarat and Stawell. The trees were felled in the section between Beaufort and Ararat. Many of the trees had hollows used by birds and other animals.
VicRoads had approval only for the removal of the 221 trees they estimated would need to be cleared. But this did not include many more ‘scattered’ trees in the path of the road, which were felled for debatable safety reasons. Pressure from a local group, Western Highway Alternative Mindsets (WHAM), forced VicRoads to admit the mistake and revise plans for the next section to be widened, between Buangor and Ararat. The VNPA applauds WHAM members’ energy and persistence in the face of a powerful bureaucracy. The revised plans include using concrete and wire rope barriers to stop … Read the rest
Technology Supports Data Collection
Graeme Johanson reports on new ways of Collecting and sharing information about Nature.
Two new portable technologies – the digital camera and the smart phone – have changed the way in which volunteers can collect data in the field. Both technologies are used regularly by Dr Russell Best of the Australian Plants Society Victoria (APSV). When interviewed for our research project, he said that the digital camera had made a huge difference. He went on: “The other big technical
change has been the iPhone. The amount of information you can collect is phenomenal.” The phone also gives him a GPS location. More and more digital repositories collect data about nature for public use via the internet. A large group of people can collect and collate much more information than a single dedicated group of employed specialists. Every year the ‘Birds in Backyards’ survey collects data for the Birdlife Australia … Read the rest
Naural Values Update
Outstanding native mammal research in the Grampians wins award
A team of researchers from Deakin University has been recognised on World Environment Day for their outstanding research investigating the effects of fire and climatic changes on native mammals in the Grampians National Park.
The Nancy Millis Science in Parks Award recognises outstanding contributions to fostering excellence in applied science for the benefit of park management.
Parks Victoria Chief Executive, Dr Bill Jackson said: “This long-term research and monitoring project is greatly improving our understanding about how native mammals respond to major climatic changes and fires in the Grampians landscape. The research is directly helping to guide how we manage the park to help protect native mammals in this region.”
The project began in 2008, to investigate how small mammals re-colonised after the bushfires that affected the park in 2006. It then evolved into an ongoing program and each year since, … Read the rest