Articles – Page 44 – Friends of Grampians Gariwerd

COMMITTEE

President: Proo Pyke
Secretary: Wendy Bedggood
Treasurer: Mabel Brouwer
Committee members:
Ben Gunn & Leigh Douglas, Jan- Bert Brouwer;
Alison & John Fisher, Ewen Johnson,
Newsletter editor: Margo Sietsma

FOGGS Mailing address: C/- PO Halls Gap 3381

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GRAMPIANS NP
General Enquiries: 5361 4000 or 131963.
David Roberts (Ranger in Charge):5361 4013

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the editor or of all members.… Read the rest

ADVERTISEMENT Grampians Textures

25 Feb – 1 March 2012
Workshops for fibre artists at Halls Gap, on the edge of the spectacular Grampians National Park and inspired by it. There will be 2 and 4 day workshops for textile artists with Australian and international tutors. Workshops cover felting, fibre dyeing, quilt design and making, jewellery, printing, paper, knitting, fabric and fibre. More information or 0428 825971 www.grampianstexture.com.au… Read the rest

POETRY AND HISTORY CORNER

FOGG member and keen internet surfer Kornelis Sietsma has passed on a fascinating site which I’m slowly exploring:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22%5BMelbourne%5D+Field+Naturalists+Club+of+Victoria%22

A group in the USA has digitised all the early editions of the Victorian Field Naturalists Club newsletters, from 1892 onwards. There’s a lot of useful observations on the Grampians there, plus insights into the biodiversity of our State 110 years ago. The accounts are often long and chatty, so for this issue just an introduction.

May 1892 :
President: PROFESSOR W. BALDWIN SPENCER, M.A.
This Club was founded in 1880 for the purpose of affording observers and lovers of Natural History regular and frequent opportunities for discussing those special subjects in which they are mutually interested; for the Exhibition of Specimens ; and for promoting Observations in the Field by means of Excursions to various collecting grounds around the Metropolis.

There followed a list of invertebrata obtained during “the excursion … Read the rest

BOOK REVIEW ‘The Victorian Bush its ‘original and natural’ condition’ by Ron Hateley

Wendy Bedggood

I recently purchased a copy of ‘The Victorian Bush its ‘original and natural’ condition’ by Ron Hateley. It is an extremely interesting book and I urge all who are interested in conservation and history to read it.
Ron was brought up in Kiata where his father Keith was a prominent field naturalist. Ron went to Creswick and trained in Forestry then later was a lecturer there. His book was published some time in the past 12 to 18 months, and sadly he died earlier this year.
He questions and discusses widely held views of ‘the original and natural’ condition of our bush. He looks at issues such as
6. The extent of pre 1788 tree cover.
7. The extent and frequency of fire stick farming and was it as broadly used by aboriginals as some experts imply?
8. The effect of native fauna in the dynamics of the … Read the rest

THREATENED SPECIES GROUP ACTIVITIES December 2011

Spring is always a busy time for the TSG as it is so much easier to monitor rare species when they are in flower. As can only be expected,some searches were successful, others not. But it is always a good experience to walk slowly, concentrating on the vegetation, with others there to help you learn the not-so rare plants as well. You certainly don’t need to be an expert. Plus you get out to see different parts of the Park. Only two of the excursions are written up here, but there are a few more photos on the website.

GRAMPIANS RICE FLOWER SEARCH 27/10/11

It was a very small group who went looking to see how this unusual rice flower (Pimelea pagagophylla) was faring on Mt William. But the three of us had a great day. We started near the car park and looked along the road and on the … Read the rest

ACTIVITY REPORTS December 2011

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10: AGM AND WATER CRITTERS. (actually the water critters came first,so I’ll do them that way round).
Joel Boyd of the Wimmera CMA met us in Halls Gap and showed us pictures and samples of what we were likely to find in Stony Creek. We then proceeded to dip our nets in to the water and bring our catch up to study with magnifying glasses. It was too early in spring for some animals but we had fun studying the tiny creatures we caught.. Yes the creek is healthy. Photos are on the website.
We then adjourned to Brambuk for lunch, AGM and general meeting.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Prue presented a verbal report. The floods affected our programme quite a bit, but also brought some good activities. The geology excursion with Ross Cayley was excellent, and many FOGG members joined in the excursions organised by Parks Vic and VICROADS. … Read the rest

WEB PAGE 2011

Our web page continues to attract attention from time to time. We had a thank you note from Kathleen Kean who was doing research on the human dimensions of dingo and wild dog management. She wanted to let us know that the project is now complete and thanked us for advertising the project on our website, it was much appreciated. We had enquiries about identifying orchids, about who could provide information about insects, how to get Beyond the Smoke books, how to get in touch with our artist Cynthia, and more. We will be restructuring it and moving to a more Australian address soon, but you’ll be able to get there easily from the current address.… Read the rest

CALENDAR DATES 2012

CALENDAR DATES
January 14 9.30 am Cooinda Burrong. We will count our Featherheads only in the exclusion plots, do maintenance work on the fences and discuss the year ahead.
Contact: Margo S 53564524 0429 201139

February 21 5:00 pm: meeting with Dave Roberts at the Park Office, then dinner together somewhere. All members welcome.

March 4 10 am start: Clean Up Australia Day. We may be spread out for this one, covering different ends of the Park. Contact: Margo S 53564524 0429 201139 closer to the date.… Read the rest

BURNING ISSUES GRAMPIANS ROUNDTABLE MEETINGS 2011 Wendy Bedggood

I attended this meeting on the 27 September as the FOGGs representative.
The round table is a very diverse group of people all interested in the Grampians and the impacts of natural (and not so natural) events which happen to it. The roundtable is intended to try to get a better understanding of how activities, effect the various users of the Grampians. I think it will only work if the representatives take back to their groups what they have learned from these meetings. So far we seem to have dealt mainly with fire but flood and other issues will be on future agendas.
We identified that there were still some gaps in the membership of stakeholders represented at the roundtable and that 5 additional members could be sought without the group becoming too unwieldy. Expressions of interest will be sought from other relevant groups . We also set out some … Read the rest

ADVISORY GROUP REPORT December 2011

The AG has met twice since the last newsletter.

The September meeting

We clarified what we hoped to achieve by appointing two junior members to the group, and how to go about it.
Mountain bike working group update: Committee met mid-July and 2 members committed to map proposed trial network north of Halls Gap using existing tracks and forward to David Roberts.
Brambuk Management Service Agreement was discussed.
Heritage Events: Next year represents 100 years since Walter Zumstein established the historic visitor site and accommodation, and this clearly will need to be included in ideas for the re-opening of the Zumsteins picnic area. There is also interest in a Forestry heritage event, Spring 2012 tentative date.
Two community forums have been held to discuss Zumsteins renewal plans. Once insurance money is confirmed a site plan will be developed and circulated for community comment.
Fire Ecology Strategy update: Jill Reid described … Read the rest