Category: 2014

Grampians Peak Trail – Project Update May 2014

The trail will be constructed over a number of years in a staged process. The track and hiker campsites form the basis of the core infrastructure necessary. To create the Trail will require the development of approximately 80km of new trail and the upgrade of 64km of existing trails.

Stage One: Halls Gap to Borough Huts

(3 days/2 nights)

Delivery of Stage One is well underway and includes a three day/two night loop walk from Halls Gap to Borough Huts covering a total of 19 kilometres for the return trip. This stage is being delivered by Parks Victoria through $1.3M in funding provided on behalf of the Victorian Government by Regional Development Victoria.

 Stage One achievements to date:

  • An 8.7km track realignment from Mt Rosea to the Belfield Fire Line is complete;
  • Development of a design manual which sets a consistent style for tracks, bridges, signs and hiker camping areas
… Read the rest

Advisory Group Report

We have a new Advisory Group. Advertisements asking for expressions of  interest went out in April, and the new members were appointed in early June for a three year term. The first meeting of the new group was held last week. There are five returning members, (Rex Beveridge, Kevin Bolwell, Margo Sietsma, Donald Carter, Gil Hopkins), and ten new members ( Bill Weatherly, Cecilia Myers,  Faith Hardiman,  Ray Zippel,  Deb Millard,  Dick Gill, Tracey Skinner,  Barry Clugston,  Lisa McIntyre, Malcolm Matheson). I remain convenor but will probably hand over to one of the new members well before the three years are up.

Much of that first meeting was taken up with introducing ourselves, defining the role of the AG, our terms of reference, how it relates to the Traditional Owner Reference Group currently being formed, and  to the Fires Roundtable. Dave gave us a snapshot of the park and how … Read the rest

Grampians National Park Update – Northern Grampians Fire Recovery June 2014

Considerable progress is being made towards the reopening of fire affected areas of the Grampians National Park. The Mt Zero Rd (North)  re-opened  for the June long weekend, providing visitor access along the north eastern boundary of the park.

The rehabilitation of dozer-lines created during the suppression (fire-fight) phase is now complete, along with the treatment of trees that presented a clear and immediate risk to park users and staff along park roads.  Trail crews are completing tree risk and soil stabilisation works along walking tracks affected by the fire. Major trail works are commencing in the Hollow Mountain and Stapylton Amphitheatre to improve climbing access.

The September school holidays is the next major milestone for a number of projects including;

  • The re-opening of MacKenzies Falls car park with access to the base of the falls (no kiosk facilities)
  • The re-opening of the Stapylton Amphitheatre climbing area from Mt Zero
… Read the rest

Grampians Walking Tracks Support Group

This group, which sits under the Community Association of Halls Gap, share our enthusiasm for the Grampians. I asked the president David Witham (who is also a FOGG member) to tell us a bit about what they do and what some of their plans are.

For a number of years the Group has been accumulating money from its donation boxes situated at strategic points around the National Park and organising working bees with various bushwalking clubs to help maintain the tracks.   Perhaps surprisingly we have had difficulty in spending much of that money on projects within the Park.

Parks management have now developed a proposal to which we are happy to contribute.    Summer Day Valley, accessed from the walking track to Hollow Mountain, has been the most popular single area for rockclimbing in the Grampians for the last 25 years or so.    In particular it has been used intensively by … Read the rest

ACTIVITIES CALENDAR

 

PROVISIONAL CALENDAR

Please bear in mind that changes may need to be made, and some dates couldn’t be settled before going to print. Changes will be emailed to those who have provided us with a current address and also put up on the website. But please also ring the listed contact person to find when it is on and to let them know you are coming.

MAY Tuesday 27th at 12 noon: We are having a joint tree planting at Zumsteins with the Stawell Secondary College. Katherine Dyson has arranged for our ‘Healthy Parks Healthy Peoples’ grant money to be shifted to works at Zumsteins, since the McKenzie Falls area was so badly burnt. Contact or further information from Wendy Bedggood phone 53825830 or 0429932065 or Katherine Dyson 53614063 or 0428553040

JUNE 6 – 9 Long Weekend Fauna survey. This replaces the activities which were planned for the Australia … Read the rest

Grampians Wildflower Show Returns 2014

GRAMPIANS WILDFLOWER SHOW WILL RETURN TO HALLS GAP THIS YEAR – WITH RADICAL CHANGES.

This year’s show will be a weekend only event and will focus on getting people out to look at the flowers, rather than bringing the flowers to the people. To emphasise this change we will be operating out of a marquee in the Botanic Garden rather than in the hall. We will still have some named specimens at participating venues along a “wildflower trail” of paintings, photographs, workshops through the town. We still will need help from FOGGIES. OCTOBER (Same weekend as Pomonal’s native garden show).… Read the rest

A WILDLIFE ART MUSEUM FOR HALLS GAP?

Have you heard about the ambitious scheme to build a world class museum and botanic garden in Halls Gap to celebrate wildlife art? “WAMA is a visionary concept. It is a project of national importance that will recognise the works of outstanding Australian wildlife and natural history artists. Their artistic work will be displayed in an iconic purpose built gallery set in native botanical gardens and wetlands in the foothills of the spectacular Grampian ranges in Victoria.”

They have a large site on the Halls Gap Pomonal Rd, an energetic committee of artists, conservationists and business people seeking more funding and support. Work has already started on planning the garden, with Master’s students from the University of Melbourne working on concept plans for the site under the supervision of their professors. More information is available from http://www.wama.net.au/ or email .

 

FOGGS have not been asked for support, but … Read the rest

PROJECT PLATYPUS NEWS

This year will celebrate 20 years of operation with a tour of past works and a celebratory dinner to be held in early October.

This years Plantout will involve four community plantings, four schools plantings and one corporate/group plantings. The community plantings will again be held through the months of July, where local and visiting volunteers will be encouraged to come along and lend a hand. The planting activities will again be themed with the aim of involving a wide range of volunteers in this important work. The first to kick off will be a site near Pomonal on Saturday 5th of July, where volunteers will plant 2,500 plants. With assistance from Jallukar Landcare Group in hosting the planting day, backpackers and other visitors to Halls Gap will be encouraged to come along and help, with a minibus running from the YHA.

 

The Grampians to Pyrenees Biolink Project continues … Read the rest

HISTORY: Final installment 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.)

 

In our last few issues we have been publishing Audas’s description of a Spring excursion to Halls Gap. We conclude his story as they do the last leg of their 2 day walk. Please note that the botanical names are sometimes hard to decipher. The library who have made this available on the web has used character recognition software to get into a text document and it has not always coped with Latin vocabulary. And of course some plant names have changed as well.

 

Having reached a large, swiftly-flowing creek containing good water, we decided to boil the billy and have lunch, and enjoy a short respite from travelling. Feeling refreshed, we

 

pushed on and negotiated a high ridge, from the top of which a … Read the rest

ROUND TABLE REPORT

 

The agenda items for the roundtable all focused on the January fires. DEPI, CFA, Parks and Local government perspectives were all discussed.

January 15 was the 3rd day of temperatures above 400 C and thunderstorms had been predicted so all available crews and plant were in full readiness to deal with fires from lightening strikes. The thunderstorms started in the late afternoon. Predictions for 16th were for extreme weather conditions and although 10 aircraft and the aircrane were attacking several fires by 10 am in the morning, they were not having a great impact because of the already extreme weather conditions. Two fires in the southern Grampians and one of the northern fires were put out by ground crews but a couple of the northern ones in more remote locations were unable to be put out and it was unsafe to drop crews in to fight … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd