It is now five years after the fires, and four years after the publication of the book produced by a committee led by FOGGS. The book was financed by grants from Parks Vic, Norman Wettenhall Foundation, and SHARE (Uniting Church Relief Fund). Profits have been used for relief work via SHARE and Grampians Community Health and FOGGS. We have also sent free books to other fire affected communities across Australia. The committee feels that the book has accomplished its purposes and that we should no longer handle sales of it. Requests have dwindled to only a dribble. In view of the way the recent flood has affected local businesses we felt that we could donate copies to them, for them to use as they thought best. Many are becoming coffee table books in local motels, others are being sold and profits going to SES, others will continue to be sold … Read the rest
Category: Articles
NATURAL VALUES RESEARCH PROJECTS
GRAMPIANS ARK, FOX PREY RESPONSE MONITORING
This programme is drawing to an end, and Parks are looking for funding to continue the fox baiting.
DEER
The Ph.D student working on deer is nearing completion of her thesis and we look forward to hearing her conclusions. Perhaps we can arrange a talk later in the year.
FERAL CATS
As noted last year, feral cats are already a major problem in many Parks, and as there is growing success in limiting fox numbers, feral cats may become even more of a threat. A research project is currently being worked on to find out more about the number and distribution of cats in the Park, but it is in very early stage. Halls Gap is supposed to be “cat free” but cats and kittens are continually being seen. The Halls Gap Ratepayers Association is pressuring the council to publicise the “cat free” status … Read the rest
Parkwatch Article
The March issue of the Victorian National Parks Association’s Park Watch journal had an interesting article on a 1917 tour of the Grampians by a group of Field Naturalists from Melbourne. They also made a movie of their trip, which is now in the National Film and Sound Archives, and was shown a couple of years ago at the Halls Gap Film Festival. The article in Parkwatch was based on a book called Pioneer Tours by Vivienne Worthington, which is available from her (5241 9491).… Read the rest
Grampians Walking Tracks Support Group.
On 2nd April we were joined by some 14 volunteers from the Ballarat Bushwalking Club for further work on the Tunnel Track, which goes over the Mt William range from near Pomonal to join the Bellfield fireline in the Fyans valley. The track follows much the same route as the original bridle trail between Upper Halls Gap and Pomonal.
The track had seen very little attention since the 2006 bushfires so there was lots of regrowth and a fair bit of erosion, particularly on the Pomonal side, which we had first tackled with the same group of volunteers last September. New steps had been put in at the start of the track and gravel had been spread, with the clearing of undergrowth progressing about half way up the hill, which was the thickest section. We were pleased to find that this work had survived the recent floods better than expected. … Read the rest
Volunteer room news
Our room has been on loan to Mike Stevens, until the planned office refurbishment took place. Building work will finally start shortly, and we’ll get it back. This will give us a home for our archives, the herbarium collections we’ve been given, and some office space we can use, and offer to visiting students and other volunteers. We have had an offer from a volunteer to organise our archives once we can move in.… Read the rest
ADVISORY GROUP REPORT
The Advisory Group met in February and, not surprisingly, the flood damage was the major agenda item. Before we went out to inspect a little of the damage, Dave explained some of the complexities involved in establishing priorities for recovery work. For example: some roads are Parks responsibility, some are shire responsibilities – and there are 4 shires involved – , and three are VicRoads. The road to Mt William is a PV road, but is needed for access to the communication towers. So that access was very high priority (via Redman Rd,as the bridges on the Vicroads Dunkeld road were so badly damaged). Roses Gap Rd is a Northern Grampians Shire Rd, so the parking for the Beehive Falls walk is their responsibility. Halls Gap to Mt Zero Rd (Bolte Highway) is a PV responsibility, so although the shires would love to see it upgraded, all the costs would … Read the rest
Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Update
2011 Emily Bedggood
RESEARCH: A new PhD Student has begun looking at some of the important factors impacting upon reintroduction success and failure for rock-wallabies. Rebecca West began her PhD with the University of Adelaide and Conservation Ark—Zoos SA in March 2010.
She is looking at two species of rock-wallabies; the Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies in the Grampians National Park, now in their third year of reintroduction and Black-footed Rock-wallabies (known to traditional owners as Warru) who will be reintroduced to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia this year.
Rebecca is using GPS collars to monitor the movement patterns of wallabies at each site to assess how they use the habitat and how they interact with one another. This will provide critical information on the possible capacity of each site and the effects of population density.
At both sites Rebecca is using experimental patch burns to look at how … Read the rest
Translocation of Threatened Plants
Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) are presenting a workshop on 26th and Field trip 27th of May. The workshop will be held at DSE Nicholson street Melbourne and is aimed at people involved in, or who would like to be involved in the planning, approval or implementation of a translocation project for threatened flora. Cost for non ANPC members is $165 or $145 concession. Further information and registration forms are on the ANPC website or contact Noushka Reiter of Horsham DSE 0400041365.… Read the rest
Austral Pipewort Search 12th March
When was the last time the instructions included “Please bring gumboots “? And indeed we needed them as we searched for this rare plant in a swamp south of Cherrypool. Such a joy to wade round a swamp! And we found it – first time it has been seen this century. Not that it was anything dramatic at all – indeed quite insignificant – but a sign that the swamp was doing well, despite all the years of drought. FOGGS had looked for it back in 2004 without success, when the swamp was almost dry. As well as the pipewort, there were the most beautiful large Fairies’ Aprons and other flowers. Photos on the website.… Read the rest
Insects around us February 25
One of the great advantages of joining groups like FOGG is that you meet wonderful resource people like Denis Crawford who knows more about insects than most of us will ever find out. Our FOGG excursion on this topic taught us to be more observant when we walk in the bush.
Denis and Jenny live in Pomonal, only a stone’s throw from the Grampians on a bush block. The block got ravaged in the 2006 bush fire that engulfed the house, but miraculously the house was not touched. The Crawfords moved there after the fire and have seen the vegetation being transformed into a new look, with some pioneering plants dominating in first instance.
We had quite a good turn up of members. (see various photos from the day on our website) Wandering around the block we did not have to go far to meet all the little creatures that … Read the rest