Category: Articles

Ryan’s Talk On The Bioscan

Wendy Bedggood

On 4th July Ryan gave a talk on some of the results from Museum Victoria Bioscan which was carried out last November. The talk was held during the school holidays in the hope we would get more people along. This worked well as we had 27 attendees and ¾ were visitors to the park or non member locals. The bioscan was done in the Grampians because it was an opportunity to do a rapid fauna survey as well as collecting an oral history of the area.

A team from Museum Victoria spent 14 days in the park recording, photographing and collecting data. A lot of work had been done back in the 1970’s but with the changing landscape and climate there was a need to do a snapshot of where things are at today.

Herpatologists set up reptile traps and took DNA samples from trapped animals. They … Read the rest

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Update

2013 Ryan Duffy
Team Leader, Cultural And Natural Values

Since November 2012, the Grampians rock-wallaby reintroduction has experienced its share of highs and lows. November  saw the largest single release of wallabies to date, with 17 animals being released at Moora Creek. This was part of a new strategy to introduce greater genetic diversity into the population which was anticipated to alleviate depressed breeding. This was certainly a high for the diverse partners involved in the Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby recovery team.

Soon after the release the program experienced a steady succession of mortalities. Wallabies are radio-tracked on a regular basis, mortalities are retrieved as quickly as possible in order to aid post mortem investigation. Few post mortems delivered conclusive results, however it appears fox predation is still one process threatening the reintroduced colony. This is despite Parks Victoria’s Grampians Ark fox baiting program delivering a Rolls Royce fox control program … Read the rest

Celebrating 100 years of Zumsteins – 22 September

The 100 Year celebration of Zumsteins will be held on Sunday 22 September 2013 at Zumsteins Picnic Ground in the Grampians National Park. The day will be also a celebration for the restoration works that have happened since the 2011 flood and storm event.

A small group have come together from the local community, the Horsham Historical Society, Wartook Tourism Association and Parks Victoria to plan for this special day. They would like to invite anybody who has enjoyed or has a strong association to the area, to come and celebrate this much-loved place created over one hundred years ago by Walter Zumstein. The celebrations begin at 10.30am with a number of speakers and displays bringing to life the many memories of the area, and of Walter Zumstein and his family. There will also be many activities such as a community bike ride from Rosebrook, a community picnic and children’s … Read the rest

Sharing The Dilemmas: How And When And What Should We Burn?

Glenn Rudolph DEPI

Glenn started by showing photos of the experimental burn they did in the Wannon heathland mid July this year, which Dave R has alluded to in his piece. This area has not been burnt since the 60’s and is a very valuable small mammal habitat. It would be disastrous to have a large fire go through it so they wanted to see how a winter burn would help break it up. They used only 3 matches to light it, no accelerants. They waited till a day when the temperature was below 15, and the fuel moisture level was 16% and lit it in the afternoon. There was much dead grass. Flame heights reached 2 to 3 m. By 5.45 the edges were starting to self extinguish, by 6pm only small pockets were still alight, by 10 pm it was completely out. It reached 8 ha and were … Read the rest

Cultural Heritage Post 2013 Fire

Suzi Coates (DEPI Ballarat, cultural issues)
Suzi is herself indigenous and has worked on several interesting projects.

There are 99 known Aboriginal cultural sites in the Grampians of which 69 are rock art. All are very vulnerable to fire, as are scar trees and quarries. Damage is caused by ash, smoke, heat. And not just the fire, also the clean up and subsequent erosion. Damage to the art work (heat flaking etc), the surrounding infrastructure, and the subsurface archaeological deposits. The damage may not be apparent to casual inspection, as the micro climate has effects.

The post fire team had 3 requirements: assess and conserve, repair and replace infrastructure, assess control lines prior to remediation works.

Teams have so far gone to 23 known sites and have found 3 new ones. More are likely to be found. The teams have consisted of people from four traditional owner groups and 3 … Read the rest

The Impact Of Fire On The Ecology – Both Short Term And Long Term

Prof John White of Deakin University. ( He was Mike Stevens supervisor in 2007,8 as Mike started his honours thesis on small mammals after the 2006 fire. He currently has quite a few different honours students following up the research.)

Climate change will most likely cause more frequent and more intense wildfires, bringing significant alterations to fire regimes and the potential for more loss of flora and fauns species. Also predicted is an increased chance of drought, punctuated by extreme rainfall events.

There are big knowledge gaps. Most research is on prescribed burning and small fires. The critical gap is large fires, which are going to come more often.  Who survives a fire, and why? Where do the recolonising animals come from? What is the role of the climate conditions post fire on the recovery?

What they are doing: Monitoring 36 sites set up post the 2006 fire, but … Read the rest

Contact your Parliamentary Representative

 

An important article was omitted from our recent newsletter. You willhave read our president’s article urging members to write to our politicians over the move to encourage private development in our National Parks. Friends of the Prom have written the very useful letter below to their members and we would urge you to use their arguments together with our own in writing your own letters about our Grampians park.

 

Dear Friend,

 

We hope that everyone who loves Wilsons Promontory National Park (and other Victorian National Parks) will support this campaign by writing to State Members of Parliament (post or Email) expressing opposition to this new policy.

 

We believe that individual letters are much more effective than “form letters” which people just sign, or petitions – so please compose your own letter in your own words – including some of the points suggested below. Short, sharp … Read the rest

From the Editor, June 2013

Welcome to another full newsletter. I hope you find it interesting and useful.

Please remember that it’s time to renew your membership or to join us. Members should have received a renewal form. New members please use the form on this site.

 Our AGM is in September and will creep up on us quickly. All office positions will be open for election, Proo our current president has held the position for three years and will not be standing again. Could people please give some thought to taking on this role and let us know if you are interested. You don’t need to live locally.

 … Read the rest

From our president June 2013

 I have become extremely concerned about the increasing threat to National Parks around Australia. From opening Parks up to cattle grazing in drought affected areas of Queensland to shooting of game and recommendations for logging in NSW, to the attempt at cattle grazing in alpine areas and now prospecting in Parks in Victoria. At a federal level there was an attempt to scuttle the management plans for the new Marine Parks and a statement that they will be changed with a change of government.

 I think many of us who have been involved in the movement to promote National Parks declared in areas of great natural significance, believed this was the best way to ensure that these areas would be managed to maximise the survival of their biodiversity and natural beauty for future generations to enjoy. I no longer believe that we can feel so reassured and we are required … Read the rest

April 24 meeting with Dave Roberts for an update on what was happening in the Park

Flood recovery work after 2 ½ years is nearly complete. Last to be finished will be the Zumsteins area hopefully in time for a spring opening. The footbridge damaged at McKenzie falls during the floods will be air lifted out in the next week or two and it is hoped the walk from Zumsteins to McKenzies Falls will be open in 2 months time. Venus Baths and Splitters Falls will be open to the public in the next couple of weeks.

 

Recent fires in Victoria Valley. These fires took 5 weeks to get under control. There were some areas of intense fire and some areas where prior planned burns 8 months prior had moderated the fire. The area has been gated off and as areas are assessed and deemed safe some roads will be opened soon. There is only funding to rehabilitate the dozer lines, money for all other … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd