Encouraging and educating people to understand and enjoy, while conserving, the Grampians Gariwerd National Park.
AGM new committee and office bearers.
President: Leigh Douglas contact Leigh on email or mobile 0428109361
Vice President: Ross Simpson contact Ross on mobile 0427772682
Secretary: Catherine Carlyle contact Catherine on or mobile 0428399441
Treasurer: Alison Bainbridge contact Alison on email or mobile 0417883445
Committee:
Geoff Stratford, ben Gunn, Judy Nichols, Rod Thompson and John Minchen-King.… Read the rest
President’s Report
Greetings to you all.
At the beginning of the year, the devastating bushfires in the Grampians-Gariwerd took precedence over all FOGG excursions; instead, we were able to help in individual ways where this was possible. So far this year we have had five indoor presentations by guest speakers, one Clean-up Australia activity at The Pines campground, and one Sallow Wattle attack near Halls Gap. Our guest speakers, as usual, have been keen, interesting, and informative, broadening our understanding and knowledge of our beloved Park.
We are, however, now looking forward to some outdoor field trips: an Orchid Adventure Day with Hamilton Field Nats; Aggie Stephenson from the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority will talk to us prior to leading a grassland walk near Dunkeld or Willaura the following day; and in December we are walking up to Gulgurn Manya art site, to be followed by Christmas lunch at … Read the rest
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
Dom Uljanic, Emily Kirton and Claire Mackay from DEECA attended and provided 16 members and non-members with an overview of the recent Grampians fires (2024-2025) and plans for future fire management.
The recent fires were unprecedented burning 136,647 hectares, 2/3 of the National Park, and one of 7 major landscape fires in the Grampians in the last 19 years.
Multiple dry lightning strikes, a period of extended dry conditions, wind and weather conditions led to the Yarram Gap fire rapidly getting out of control and reaching a size of 100 hectares in a matter of minutes. This was despite the early deployment of 4 bombers. Due to the location, it was not possible to get a ground crew in, and firefighting efforts relied on aerial control.
This was sobering. It was clear to me from the talk that fire management is a juggling act of resources, local knowledge, tactics and … Read the rest
Squirrel Glider Plantout a Soaring Success in Ledcourt
9 August 2025 – Project Platypus planting
Sunshine, community spirit, and 40 eager volunteers set the stage for an unforgettable day in Ledcourt, as Project Platypus hosted its very first plantout event for the Tail of the Squirrel Glider project. “With perfect weather and the group’s high energy – we really couldn’t have asked for a better day”, said Phoebe Nowell-Usticke, Project Coordinator at Project Platypus. “From start to finish, it was a true community effort, and everyone left feeling like they’d been part of something important.”
The planting site was located just 100 metres from a recent squirrel glider sighting, making the planting all the more relevant. Thanks to the incredible turnout, the team not only planted over 1,000 native trees and shrubs, they did it in record time.
Morning tea kicked things off, followed by a planting demonstration, and seedling … Read the rest
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
Parks Victoria Volunteers undertook the twice a year Great Gariwerd Bird Survey in May and I had the opportunity to drive along the Glenelg River Road and visit the Redgum Walk just off the Henham track.
This area had been badly damaged in the 2005-2006 bushfires and once again this area was badly burnt.
Some FOGG members may remember the many working bees back in the 1990s to remove the old wire and put in this walking track as the first All Abilities Walking Track in the Grampians Gariwerd.
This poor old redgum table has been burnt. This one had been installed in 2010 replacing the original 1998 table that had survived the 2006 fires only to be stolen in 2008.
Sallow wattle (Acacia longifolia spp longifolia), is an invasive out of place native plant shading out the park’s unique vegetation.
On Sunday 10th August, 10 members tackled sallow wattle at Gar Trailhead and had a satisfying and successful morning. We pulled out and removed many patches of resprouting wattles from an area that Parks have recently slashed.
It is looking great.
More work may need to be done but this is a start.
We wanted to get in before it seeds in November.
Thankyou to all involved.… Read the rest
What a great afternoon. Thankyou Neil!
Thirty-four members and non-members attended this interesting slide presentation.
Neil showed us his favourite birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals in the Grampians.
One of his favourite birds is the Gang Gang cockatoo.
“When we came to the Grampians area it was great to see and hear Gang Gangs regularly as we certainly did not see them in suburban Carnegie. They are a lovely small cockatoo (32 to 36cm in length) with a creaky outdoor “Dunny Door” type call. Because of habitat fragmentation and continued clearing, global warming, bushfires and fuel reduction burning they are listed as ‘Endangered’.
Image courtesy of Neil Macumber… Read the rest
Our notes from this talk
Thank you to Charlie for providing FOGG with an update.
2024-2025 Bushfires – 70% of the park burnt in the Christmas-New Year fires.
Fire + rain = erosion. There has been significant damage to roads and tracks e.g. Redman Rd, Grampians Peak Trail (GPT).
GPT had some infrastructure burnt, e.g. south of Redman Rd, but some held up well. Most can be repaired.
It is recommended to watch the short video from ABC Stateline: ‘cultural firefighters’
Funding
Parks received $2 million for immediate recovery funding to June.
Spending included supplementary feeding for the brushtail rock wallaby colony and monitoring; pest suppression, including shooting deer from the air, and asset management. Feeding will continue until spring.
Cardboard habitat pods were donated by university partners, and assembled by volunteers, to compensate for loss of ground cover. Their use will be monitored over 2 years.
Staged Re-opening
Reopening … Read the rest
