Category: President Report

guess most members have heard by now that the Premier did visit and promise $5.5 million to the Grampians. This, with the money to be paid by insurance should help to cover much of the cost of rehabilitation of the Park.

It is still difficult to access many places in the Park, but members of FOGG’s have been lucky to walk into Venus Baths with Dave Roberts and see the very damaging land slips from the Northern Grampians Road. This gave us a sense of the amazing water flows down the creek.

We also had a fascinating talk and walk with Ross Cayley and learnt more about the processes involved in land slips. There may be a chance of a second visit from Ross and I highly recommend it to members as his enthusiasm for geology is really infectious.

Vic Roads also organised bus tours so the community would have … Read the rest

While the National Park staff have been working hard to open up as much of the Grampians as quickly as possible the news is not good.
The discovery of another land slip above Zumsteins has meant the Northern Grampians Road even as far as MacKenzie Falls will not be open for Easter.
The road and track to Silverband falls is planned to be open and will give people an excellent opportunity to see the extent of the damage to the park.
It was disturbing to see how quickly money could be found to help Wilson’s Promontory when no extra help had been given to the Grampians. Money was not even offered to fill the three permanent staff positions which are currently vacant. Our concerns e-mailed to the Premier (see p5) did result in a phone call from the Premier and a commitment to come and look at the difficulties that … Read the rest

After drought, fire, plague locusts the Grampians now has to recover
from flooding rains.

While it isn’t possible to venture far into the park, I think all of us
who live near the Grampians have stories of the destruction caused by
the large volumes of rapidly moving water. It is going to take another
concerted effort to reopen many of the roads and walking tracks in the
park. Those of us that love the park may have to help ensure that the
money needed is made available by the government.

The new head ranger David Roberts has agreed to meet with FOGG at
10:30am Fri 11 Feb at the Park Headquarters where we will be able to
discuss the plans for the recovery and ideas for the future role of
FOGG. After our meeting with David we shall have a working lunch at
Brambuk to discuss among other things our … Read the rest

I have been in London for the past 5 weeks waiting for the birth of our first grandchild so I feel rather out of touch with what is happening in the Grampians.

We have heard that there have been good rains so it sounds as if it will be a wonderful spring for wildflowers. Judging by the Orchid leaves that were coming through before I left, it should be a particularly good year for them as well.

This brings me to our AGM in September where we should have a very interesting time
searching for Orchids, some which are now quite rare. *Can I encourage members to
come and bring their friends as we would really like to see some new people with
new ideas and enthusiasms on the committee.*

Proo Pyke… Read the rest

May all FOGG’s members join with me in congratulating Graham on his recent promotion as well as his upgrades in qualifications especially Grade 3 Fire Incident Controller. A big responsibility under the present climate.

Not so good is my concern re Fire Management and my concern that undue pressure is being placed on the District’s Fire Management Teams by the upper Political Management personnel who want to hood-wink the public into believing that they are doing something to reduce the fire dangers, – “the Public Must See Smoke” to prove that something is being done.
Local Managers State-wide are being pushed to light protective, fuel reduction and regeneration burns even when there is a very high likelihood that there could be ember escapes over the control lines.
When these escapes happen (three so far this season) it is the local DSE managers and crew that take the flack and blame, … Read the rest

Regards to all, Trusting that you all have a Merry & Joyful Christmas time and look forward to a productive New Year.
 
The Ptilotus erubescens count of flowerheads on the 9th of January may be a good result due to the late November rains and so far a cooler December. I could do with a little assistance the days before in setting up the 3 Zones of the count and the exclusion plots.
 In mid March I hope to have another look for / at the local colony of the little known Grampians Monotoca which was badly effected by the heat wave in late January / February 2009. The number of plants had increased since the first encounter in 1987. Now it is to see how many survived that heatwave.
Margo has written to Graham Parkes, Ranger in Charge of the GNP with six questions relating to activities and research … Read the rest

The FOGG’s activities attendances have not fully recovered since the 2006 “Mt Lubra Fire” . I feel that this is due to FOGG’s being restricted in the activities that could be undertaken in the two years post the the fire. Another factor could be that “The Threatened Species Group” have not been conducting their searches on a weekend and only on a mid week day.
To improve the numbers of members being able to attend we should try and get back to setting our activities to the old practice of being conducted on the second Saturday of the month, and advertise that this will be the practice where possible. Also really encourage members to notify the event co-ordinator of their intentions of attend in advance.
 
BURNS or NOT TO BURN.
Since the “BLACK SATURDAY FIRES” on the 7th February this year and the Royal Commission into them there has been … Read the rest

Very short this time – just a reminder.
Please do contact the person listed for each event to indicate your attendance as it is sometimes hard to plan if we don’t know how many to expect.

Stan.… Read the rest

This year has started a bit on the slow side with not too many members attending the two activities organised so far this year. We have tried both Saturday and Sunday to see if we can get members from near and far to have a chance to attend. For one thing I realize that it is best not to try to arrange an activity for a long weekend public holiday as many members have made other arrangements to attend other state wide events.

The drought (1.5 mm rainfall for January and February 09 here on the north western side of the Grampians) and the severe heat wave late January early February plus black Saturday has severely effected our native flora and fauna.

The Prickly Tea-tree and the rare Monotocas are very seriously stressed, maybe beyond recovery.

On the 27th February we received a letter from the Regional Manager Parks Vic … Read the rest

Best wishes and regards to all FOGG’s members for the coming festive Christmas season and New Year.

I look forward to a more active 2009 in that we plan to get back to more weekend activities so working FOGG members can again join in with the group activities of service, searches and social fun in this enchanting place – The Grampians National Park.

I am sure that those that can will still support the weekday Threatened Species Group searching activities for the Parks endangered rare species.

There is one thing that I request members do – that is to let the activity co-ordinater know if you intend attending the outing. Some functions require a bit more organisation for larger numbers of participants.

Looking forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Stan… Read the rest