Category: 2014 Summer Newsletter

FOGG AGM

SEPTEMBER 28:

Ten of us met together at the home of Alison White and John Fisher at Wartook. Plus we had quite a few apologies.

EXTRACT FROM MINUTES

  • Minutes from last AGM were circulated and passed.

  • Proo gave her presidents report, reporting on our activities of the Clean up Australia Day in March, a visit to Brim Springs with Ben to visit some aboriginal rock art, an evening where Ryan presented some of the findings of the Bioscan, and a working bee at Red Gum walk. The flood recovery work has been completed but there is now the recovery work from the Victoria Ranges fire from February to be done. Zumsteins picnic area has been opened and Dave did a good job consulting with the community. The Park is still facing the environmental threats from government changing policies which have relaxed the rules on firewood collection, increased burning regimes as

… Read the rest

2014 ACTIVITY CALENDAR

FEBRUARY 8 Two short walks in Halls Gap, looking at the flood recovery work.

10.30 start (after the jazz festival parade).Meet at the tennis court car park on School Rd to walk up to Venus baths. Return and drive round to Silverband Rd to walk there. Return for picnic lunch near Lake Bellfield. Contact: Margo 0429 201139

MARCH 2 Clean up Australia day. Site yet to be confirmed. Contact Wendy 0429932065 and watch newspaper ads.

APRIL 4? (to be confirmed) Meeting with Dave and Ryan at park office 4.30 pm.

 In MAY or JUNE, PARKS are organising a celebration of 30 years of our Park. Details next newsletter.

 SOME IDEAS FOR LATER ACTIVITIES

 Maybe a presentation by DEPI staff about the decision making behind the ecological planned burns.

Talk by a ranger during July school holidays.

September: AGM

October,November: Threatened Species surveys

December: Social lunch somewhere

 

 … Read the rest

HISTORY CORNER

Episode 3 of NATURE IN THE SERRA RANGE.

By J. W. AUDAS, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., Assistant, National Herbarium, Melbourne.

(Read before the Field Naturalist’s Club of Victoria, 15th Jan., 1919.)

As noted previously the spelling of some plant names is erratic, due to the difficulty the OCR programme had with Latin words. And some names of course have changed in the last 90 years.We left our group camped beside Rosea Ck, some distance below Calectesia Falls.

Making an early start in the morning, and following the stream downward, rough country was encountered for four or five miles. The water in the creek became much iron-stained, and presented quite a brown appearance. Hereabouts Humea elegans (now Calomeria sp or Incense bush. ed) grew abundantly, but no flowering specimens of it were available, as it blooms later in the season. When in full bloom it is a very fine sight, its … Read the rest

HAVE YOU SPOTTED A PLATYPUS?

 

PLATYPUS SIGHTINGS

 PlatypusSPOT is an online group wanting to involve more people in reporting platypus sightings. They invite community environmental groups including Friends groups to contribute to their new website. The website will use citizen science to improve our understanding of platypus distribution and occurrence, while at the same time raising awareness of some of the conservation issues facing platypuses. If we want to improve management and conservation outcomes for the platypus we need to know more about their distribution. If you’ve been lucky enough to see a platypus, jump onto the new website (www.platypusSPOT.org) and let them know.

 

This website allows you to submit your sightings, upload a photo, viewsightings in your local area, learn about platypuses, and interact with other ‘platypusSPOTters’.

 

Human activities pose the biggest threat to the long-term health and survival of platypus populations, but with goodmanagement, conservation efforts and community engagement it’s … Read the rest

ROUND TABLE REPORT

December meeting

Wendy is our representative on the Round Table, and has prepared this interesting report on the December meeting. The theme was ‘Community Preparedness for Bushfires’. Jenny McGennisken from the CFA gave a presentation on understanding warnings and advice.

 

  • 80% of people still do not have a Bushfire Plan.

  • Warning messaging is broken into 3 categories; Total Fire Ban Days, Fire Danger ratings (indicates fire behaviour ie. Extreme and Severe), and Warnings & Advice, with 3 levels of warnings, being Advice, Watch & Act, and Emergency Warnings.

  • SEWS-Standard Emergency Warning Signal, usually given on radio.

  • Radio effective media. Social media for younger audiences.

  • OSOM (One Source-One Message) predefined templates-Warnings-Leave now means it is still safe to do so; it is not an order to evacuate. Stay means it is too late to leave safely; shelter indoors!

  • Location-based alerting via telephone now provided by all phone carriers. (The

… Read the rest

ADVISORY GROUP REPORTS (2)

The Advisory Group has met twice. I’ll try to condense our discussions.

OCTOBER 14

  • We agreed that the Zumsteins heritage day was a great success, 400 attended and was a healing day for many of the locals.

   Environmental issues;

  • There are clear photos of a Quoll in the Rock Wallaby site, which is most exciting but raises some questions.

    • Halls Gap Zoo lost a quoll a few years ago and there are captive quolls near Dunkeld.

    • Quoll males can travel long distances. It could conceivably come from Mt Eccles.

    • Baiting program won’t change after Quoll sighting as they have demonstrated a dislike to Foxoff in previous studies. Also, we bury baits below 10cm which is best practice and space 1km apart which is greater than recommended in quoll country. Foxes compete for the same food resources and in East Gippsland healthy quoll populations coincide with low fox numbers.

  • Rock Wallaby

… Read the rest

ATTRACTING PEOPLE TO PARKS

A recent contribution by a team led by Ass. Prof. Susan Moore of Murdoch Uni. to The Conversation discussed the issue of attracting people to parks. I have shortened it a little.

Their argument is that protecting biodiversity is partly about getting public support for parks, which means getting people into the parks. Parks express the values of their time – in the 19th century, they were about recreation for people, now they are more about biodiversity, though some groups want to change parks’ purposes by bringing in cattle, or building upmarket hotels or introducing logging.

Getting people to understand the conservation value of parks will only happen if there are many visitors: people vote. All public institutions, like schools and hospitals, need public support to attract funding. People who go home with good experiences of parks will be strong advocates for their proper funding, and help resist pressures to … Read the rest

LOBBYING 2

 

FURTHER LOBBYING WORK

 

We have written quite a few letters over the last few months, as well as being involved in the Climate Action day. Wendy has written to parliamentarians about burns, I have written to the Minister on fees for camping in Parks.

 

 

Now, not lobbying, but a chance for you to :

 

LET PARKS VIC KNOW WHAT YOU VALUE IN NATIONAL PARKS

 

 

  The universities of Queensland and South Australia are currently doing an online survey for Parks Vic on what people value and want in national parks. It would be good if people could do this to give feed back on the importance of the natural values of Parks.  The first part of the survey gets you to mark on a map specific spots and how you value them, I found this a bit cumbersome and time consuming, but the second … Read the rest

LOBBYING 1

 

PRESS RELEASE FROM CLIMATE ACTION DAY

Proo

Over one hundred people dressed in hot red, orange and bright yellow gathered together at noon on Sunday 17 November at Zumsteins . They came from Kaniva, Hamilton, Stawell, Natimuk, Penshurst, Halls Gap, Horsham, and  Benellen to register their demand for strong and effective action on climate change.
Concern was expressed that our Parliamentarians say they accept the science on climate change. Yet steps are already being taken to wind back current legislation, with no effective response put in place.
Climate change is too important an issue for the future to become the political football of the political parties. Without effective bipartisan action our children and grandchildren will be facing increasingly extreme weather events.
The group called for  the following strong and meaningful action:
A commitment to cut Australia’s pollution by at least 25% by 2020 as was recommended by the independent … Read the rest

MINUTES OF GENERAL MEETING SEPTEMBER

 

General Meeting Minutes(shortened)

  • Minutes from the meeting at the Parks Office on 24th April were accepted.
  • Treasurer Mabel that in August we donated $3000 to Museum Victoria to help travel costs for two of their post graduate students who are working on projects in the Park.

Business arising

  • Bioscan final report still not out.
  • The Grampians Peak Trail so far has had preliminary approval for camping sites along the way consisting of a pad for a tent, a 3 sided shelter for bad weather and toilets. More luxurious accommodation so far has not been proposed.
  • The proposal to put a chair lift to the top of the Pinnacle has been dropped.
  • Membership forms need to be redone.

Business

  • Wendy has checked on what we need to do re the changes to model rules. We have no need for action at the moment, just to remember that

… Read the rest