Category: Newsletters

On Friday 23 May Parks Victoria held an event at the Peter Francis Points Arboretum to acknowledge volunteers and present some regional awards. Proo Pyke and Wendy attended and accepted an award on behalf of FOGGs for thirty years of service to the Grampians National Park. Don Carter and Gil Hopkins also received the Kookaburra award in recognition for their thirty years of service on the Grampians National Park Advisory Group.… Read the rest

Fire and Environment Program Officer Jill Read was recently awarded an Australian Fire Service Medal as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours. Jill is based at Parks Victoria’s Halls Gap office. Jill Read has been recognised for reforming fire management in the Wimmera, providing benefits for the protection of life and property without compromising the protection of natural and cultural values in parks and forests.

Jill has been with Parks Victoria for 25 years and in that time has developed a new approach to planned burning using her extensive knowledge and experience in fire management and ecological systems. Her success has resulted from her knowledge, passion excellent collaborative skills and ability to harness specialist input.

Jill is the first female in public land and fire management in Victoria to be recognised with this honour. The Australian Fire Service Medal recognises distinguished service by members of Australian fire services and is … Read the rest

This is a proposal that has been bubbling along for several years now, but with all the fire and flood recovery stuff happening we have told you very little about it. The Draft Master Plan came out in May and we have responded with our comments as a committee. Some of us have also responded as individuals, as have many others in the community who are passionate about protecting our park, and the Advisory Group is also putting in a response. We hope these will be taken seriously and incorporated in the next draft, where there will again be a chance to comment.  Of course there are also submissions from others with different agendas.

Before I get to our FOGG response, here is an outline of this ambitious proposal. Apologies if it is too long, but I feel it is important for all members to understand what is being proposed. … Read the rest

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

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

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