Articles – Page 83 – Friends of Grampians Gariwerd

Letter to the Parliamentary Enquiry into the management of public land

I first submitted this as a personal submission, but it was subsequently endorsed by the committee as representing the view of the FOGG committee. We have been invited to speak to the inquiry on July 3. The same submission was also sent to the “People’s Review”. Judging from the tenor of that review it seems unlikely that it was popular and I have not received any response from them.

bq.. I wish to make several observations about the Mt Lubra fire, particularly the policies and practices of Parks Vic and DSE prior to the fires.

* While there are always things that may have been done better, I do not agree that any blame for the Mt Lubra fire should be levelled at the local park management, or DSE or indeed the CFA. It was a tragedy both for the Park and the surrounding countryside that the fire was so … Read the rest

Letter to Ian Voigt, Regional director DSE

bq.. Dear Ian,

I wish to raise some concerns on behalf of FOGGS over the implementation of the FOP this year.

On Friday last week when we heard of the intention to burn the Lynch’s Crossing block on the following Sunday, I contacted a number of both DSE and PV staff. The more people I spoke to the more concerned I became with the process.

I was told that the Wannon River Crossing burn had been a hot burn, crowning at times and resulted in a 95% burn. While I understand that burns will sometimes burn hotter and more completely than was anticipated I was surprised to be told that this was in fact a very good outcome, and although The Fire Protection Plan (July 2006) states that the burn should be “up to 80%” this really means 80% is the minimum aimed for. When I enquired as to what … Read the rest

Letter to John Thwaites (cc Mark Stone, Graham Parkes)

Dear Mr Thwaites,

Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd would like to thank your Government for the support given to the Beyond Smoke Festival which is proving to be very successful and engaging many members of the communities affected by the fire very positively.

We would also like to raise our concerns over the funding for the Grampians National Park. We agree with the recent findings of the bipartisan Senate Report which has recommended a significant boost in federal and state funding for National Parks.

Our first concern is the lack of funding to support the biodiversity interests within the Park. There is a severe lack of funding to support ongoing monitoring and management of ecosystems within the Park. This is of particular concern with the increased pressure to carry out prescribed burns on public land while we don’t yet know the affect on the biodiversity of the most recent fire

… Read the rest

Winter 2007

What a busy quarter it was! We had the launch of our book
“Beyond the Smoke”:http://www.foggs-online.org/articles/activity-report-1 and the associated events; there were a number of TSG(Threatened Species Group) activities, plus our own activities, and we had quite a lot of correspondence on fire related issues. The FOGG committee has seen a need to make a number of “submissions”:http://www.foggs-online.org/articles/?c=Submission-Letters relating to fire in the Grampians National Park.

As stated in Stan’s “Red-gum Walk Inspection”:http://www.foggs-online.org/articles/Red-gum+Walk+Inspection we decided to apply for a PV Community Grant to restore the Red Gum (McInnes) Walks.

We also combined with the Halls Gap Historical Society to apply to the Federal Department of the Environment and Heritage for money for archival storage and administrative assistance. We have just heard that we received some money, but we do not yet have the details.

We have received a flyer for a Box Ironbark Ecology Course at Nagambie in October. Cost … Read the rest

TSG Activities March – June 2007

MARCH 15 Daviesia Laevis count/establishment of monitoring transect.
This quarter’s only successful search for a threatened species. During a pre- Mt lubra fire excursion, one sole, quite old, specimen of this endemic Bitter pea had been found on a site on the slopes of Mt William. Then it was burnt. But to our delight we found a large number of healthy looking seedlings scattered in an area probably 10 m x 20 m. A transect was established for future monitoring by DSE.

MARCH Sat 24th & Sun 25th Threatened Species Group GRAMPIANS PINCUSHION-LILY SURVEY (Borya mirabilis)
A number of members assisted in this weekend activity searching for this Nationally Endangered plant in the Black Range State Park, but without success.

MAY 26. Noushka Reiter of RMIT spoke on her research into Borya mirabilis, particularly her attempts to propagate it and its refusal to co-operate.

JUNE 21st LONG CLUBMOSS (Huperzia varia). … Read the rest

Red-gum Walk Inspection

h4. Report by Stan Parfett – MAY 12

*Purpose of the day:-* To survey the damage sustained in the January 2006 Grampians “Mt Lubra” wild fire and what action is required to re-commission the “Red-gum Walk” for disabled and other people.

Six members of FOGG attended along with Park Ranger Mike Stevens. We walked both circuits with Prue and Mike making notes as we proceeded.

There is no signage left indicating the location of the Red-gum Walk, the bollards and railings surrounding the 6 bay car park plus the interpretive shelter are no longer there. However “Bill Neve’s” red-gum picnic table and seats are untouched by the fire. The information and walk diagram is still in place at the start of the walk pathways and affected by the fire but is still partially readable.

The arborists employed by Parks Victoria have been through and marked the trees deemed to be … Read the rest

Burning Questions – TSG Presentation (April 21)

h3. Burning questions

h4. Report by David Thompson.

Marc Bellette researcher from University of Melbourne School of Social & Environmental Enquiry attracted a sizable audience to his presentation of Fire Ecology in the heathy woodlands, Grampians National Park”. Marc is a PhD student studying grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) and has been associated with Professor Neal Enright’s longitudinal study of plant communities reaction to fires. The presentation summarized the results of 40 annual field trips to Mount Zero by university students and staff studying the ecological effects of fire interval on species diversity and composition.

The study shows an increase in biodiversity following fire. This increase in biodiversity can be attributed to factors of seed drop, germination enhancement, increased nutrition, opening of the canopy and individual species specific response to fire. However there was no comparison to climax or senescing communities to determine the long term impact of fire over the lifetime of … Read the rest

Report on Macropod Research

APRIL Tuesday 10th: Jeff Weir, our Canadian Exchange Ranger talked to us on his time here over the past two summers, particularly on his work on macropod research. Mike Stevens also spoke on the results of the mammal trapping surveys in the Park. Jeff has been looking at the changes in numbers of grey kangaroos, black wallabies and redneck wallabies. There were no real surprises in his findings. Their value is that they are a structured quantified report and hopefully will lead to more research and action. To summarise briefly: numbers of kangaroos well inside the Park appear to be fairly static, numbers on the interface of Park and private property have increased dramatically, except where farmers are controlling numbers. Numbers of red neck wallabies are also fairly static, but numbers of black wallabies have absolutely exploded. The question is; why? And at whose expense? Will they oust the redneck … Read the rest

Beyond the Smoke book & festival

MARCH Friday 30th saw the launch of Beyond the Smoke book at Willaura. A really memorable and inspiring night. Over 300 people attended from all sides of the Park, including some deeply suspicious of “greenies”. A few speeches, including by Bruce Esplin Emergency Services Commissioner and Danny Lannen who conducted the interviews. Music was provided by Rose Bygraves, Fay White and friends, Nick Shirrefs and the Jazz Traders with some pieces especially created for the occasion, and the Gariwerd choir under the leadership of Fay White with all original Grampians songs composed after the fires (their CD was also launched that night and is available from Janet 5356 4300).
This whole issue could be filled with reports from Beyond the Smoke – we had a travelling art exhibition, a science exhibition, drama and music events, workshops – but there is so much else to tell you about. We still have … Read the rest

Membership Entitlements

Membership of FOGG entitles you to:

Receive a newsletter 4 times a year keeping you up to date with FOGG activities and developments in the Park.
Join in a wide range of activities, including:
- Field days to improve your knowledge of the park – its flora, fauna, geology, indigenous culture, history etc.
- Guided Nature walks
- Assist with research in the Park
- Meetings with Park Management
- Information evenings to improve your understanding of the park
- Monitoring endangered species in the park
- Social get-togethers
- Monitoring of and removal of weeds in the park
- Track maintenance and development.

… Read the rest