Category: Articles

Meeting with Park Management – 26th May

For our annual catchup with Dave Roberts, we had 12 members sitting around the board table at the Parks office in Halls Gap. As usual there were many topics, and lots of information covered. I’ll try and condense it down to a shortish report.

Dave began by giving us a summary of important numbers for our park:

1.3 million visits last year, of which 500,000 visited McKenzie Falls, the most visited site in the park. 40,000 children involved in school camps and educational activities come through the park. This makes the Grampians the third most visited park in Victoria. We are beaten by the 12 apostles, with 3.8 million, and Great Otway NP is the second most visited.

There have been 30,740 volunteer hours spent in the park on a wide variety of projects. (This is the equivalent of 18 additional full time staff!) This figure may well drop with … Read the rest

Grampians Clam Shrimp Day – June 18


Bill Gardner

In June 2016 a new species of Clam Shrimp was found in a rock pool at Flat Rock, in the Northern Grampians. and Professor Brian Timms who studies invertebrate biodiversity in a variety of temporary waters across the inland was interested in investigating further. FOGGs decided to assist this June.

In the morning, armed with instructions from Bill and Professor Timms, volunteers went to several different high up areas across the park to collect samples of water and inhabitants. Then we met up at Laharum for Brian to check what was found and to tell us more about these surprising creatures.

  1. Lots were found on Flat Rock, Hollow Mountain and Mt Stapylton…including another new species…limited to that area? None found at Mt William or Lost Lake or track from Beehive falls to Briggs bluff. However the museum has recorded species from Mt Difficult in the past.
  2. One person
… Read the rest

Caladenia audasii (McIvor spider orchid)- 2017 update

The Caladenia audasii (McIvor spider orchid) near Stawell is endemic to Victoria and is well protected with a fence which was erected with a Communities for Nature Grant which we got back in 2015.

This plant was pollinated and some seed was obtained last spring. Also last Spring another plant was found in the Ararat area and so another Grant application has been submitted to get funding to protect this plant. It is also hoped the grant will allow seed to be collected from these plants which will allow propagation of this plant at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens with the intent of planting them back into protected areas.

There are currently only around ten wild plants known in Victoria. The population in central Victoria was able to be hand pollinated several years ago and plants propagated from these plants have been successfully re-introduced back into the wild. It is hoped we … Read the rest

Advisory Group /Round Table Meeting – April 19

Neither Wendy or I, the usual reps from FOGGS, were able to be present but Ben Gunn and David Steane were able to take our places.

These are the official minutes, I’m sure Ben or David will be happy to fill you in.

Ecological Asset Discussion – David Roberts

Fire Ecology Strategy 2011/2012

What are the assets in the Grampians National Park?

  • Water Storage
  • Tourism visitation/economic
  • Cultural Heritage – European inc Pre Settlement, National Heritage Register, Aboriginal
  • Biodiversity – Threatened Species & communities, Diversity – flora, fauna, species, Iconic Species – Western Grey, Brush tail Rock Wallaby, small mammals etc.
  • Apiary Assets, species diversity, timing
  • Comments

Need to manage the park for its complexity and diversity – No single species driving the burn program in the Grampians National Park (GNP), not single purpose management

Protection/treatment/management of non-native species including, setting priorities & competing priorities. (Fellow & Red Deer, Fox, Cat, … Read the rest

Grasslands Seed Project 2017

WAMA and Jallukar Landcare have joined together to create a seed bank for restoring grasslands on the edge of the Grampians. Recently over 20 volunteers from WAMA, Grampians Australian Plant Society Group and staff from Greening Australia met in Pomonal. Our task was to sort, classify and plant seed collected over the past 6 months as part of the Grasslands Seed Project.

Expertise and knowledge was shared by local horticulturist Phil Williams, Botanist Neil Marriott and Ecologist Jess Gardner. Under their guidance, we learned how to de-construct the pods, locate the seed and place into labelled bags, weighed and ready for planting.  As part of this exercise we also had the opportunity to take a close up look at each seed pod with the aid of a macro lens.  How exciting this was to see the beauty and intricacies of nature – the patterns and symmetry unfolding under a macro … Read the rest

From The Editor

Welcome to our second newsletter for 2017. It seems no time at all since the last one, yet I’ve had no difficulty filling it. In fact I am postponing till next time an update on the Peaks Trail and on the films on the Stawell Field Naturalists produced by the RMIT student team.

There are only a couple of photos in the newsletter as we don’t want to make the file too big. But there could be more on our website when the news goes up there for all to see in a couple of weeks. And remember, you can access articles from previous newsletters there as well. Thank you Frank van der Peet for this service. And there’s our Facebook page as well.… Read the rest

2017 August Prez Sez

Another great year kicks off for FOGGs.

We are planning another action packed program this year with great experts, fun activities, world leading research, gatherings, walks and good fun. I’m looking forward to leading our Mt Abrupt walk. It was a part of my childhood (visible on the horizon as I grew up) and my schooling, with camps, hikes and rock climbing adventures. I look forward to seeing the views from the southern end of the range again. I just hope some of our other members can help me with plant ID as we wander.

Our traditional cleanup was again a great outing with collaboration from parks, 4wd club, walking groups, climbers and tourists all joining in. A few backpackers too. Maybe it was the enticement of doing your bit to help out, or maybe it was Tammy’s skill on the hotplate cooking a free feed.

I have to admit … Read the rest

From Our (Very Busy) Ranger In Chief August 2017

David Roberts, Area Chief Ranger, Grampians Gariwerd

We would like to publicly acknowledge the contribution of Ryan Duffy, outgoing Ranger Team Leader Environment & Heritage, as he moves to NSW Parks & Wildlife to take on a new career challenge. Ryan has been a strong member of the Grampians Parks Victoria Team for 7years, and has played a stable and level headed role during times of change. Of note, the Bioscan in 2012, the ongoing commitment to the Brushtail Rock wallabies, the refinement of the Grampians Ark, the initiation of Sallow Wattle control and the relationships established and progressed with research institutions has been outstanding.

Of most significance however, has been Ryan’s dedication to the area of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage. Previously a minor part of the program, Ryan has grown the knowledge and effort of Rockart management and Traditional Owner engagement to a point where we are now actively conserving, … Read the rest

Bon Voyage Ryan Duffy

Email  received from Ryan.

“I recently accepted a job with NSW Parks and Wildlife to assist with a threatened species reintroduction project – http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/SavingOurSpecies/extinct.htm. Not only is the job pretty cool, my wife (May) and I have chosen to move near a larger population centre (Halls Gap is pretty small for a lady from Bangkok) and closer to my parents and sister. We will be moving to Coffs Harbour.

My last workday at PV will be the 24th March. I will be leaving PV with a heavy heart as I have really enjoyed working on some amazing projects, with amazing partners, in an amazing landscape. Highlights include seeing recent rock-wallaby pouch young persisting to adulthood, working with Ben Gunn and ranger Jake Goodes to record 36 new rock-art sites that have been re-discovered in the last 5 years, detecting a quoll on remote camera. In all honesty the … Read the rest

Sallow Wattle! (“Not-Friend” of the Grampians)

On 5/02/2017 PhD student Samantha Barron gave us a very interesting presentation on her research into Sallow Wattle, (Acacia longifolia), which has become extremely invasive in many parts of the Grampians since the 2006 fires. Samantha mentioned that it is also invasive in more than 20 countries around the world, where it has been introduced for things such as dune stabilisation, tannin production and for ornamental reasons.

The more we know about it, the better we may be able to manage it long-term, and this has been, and is, the overall focus of her research.  Samantha’s aims are to determine which environmental factors help it, and to compare functional traits and genetic differences of the species within its home and invaded ranges; a further aim is to look at its competitive abilities under different climate change scenarios.

One characteristic helping plants to become invasive is being “disturbance adapted”. Acacia longifolia, … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd