Planned burns and threatened species

Readers may be interested in this article from The Guardian, which documents how a planned burn proposed for an area of Box Ironbark Forest at Whroo (near Rushworth) has been cancelled following a community-led ecological survey. The planned burn was scheduled to take place in autumn 2025, however the survey, which was commissioned by Kinglake Friends of the Forest, found that the burn area contained the only known site for the endangered Bald-tip Beard-orchid (Calochilus richiae). There are less than 10 plants remaining of this species, and the survey ecologist considered the burn to have a high likelihood of causing its extinction: link to article

FOBIF have been advocating for more sensible fuel reduction burning in our region for many years and are very concerned by the impacts caused to our precious flora and fauna. Over the years we have seen resources for biodiversity monitoring and survey dwindle, and the lack of due diligence, surveys and database checks prior to planned burns is a major issue. In 2019, Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) planned to burn a large area of Kalimna Park to the east of Castlemaine, however it took another community-led survey to show that several areas within the planned burn area supported the endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly.

We will continue to advocate for FFMV to do their own background work to ensure that sensitive species are excluded from planned burns. If the community can do it, then so can they.

There is currently a planned burn scheduled for the Maldon Historic Reserve for 2025, and we note that one of the regions most endangered plant species, Lanky Buttons (Leptorhynchos elongatus) has previously been recorded within the proposed burn area. We will be writing to FFMV to determine if any surveys have been undertaken to ensure this species is not impacted.

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Final 2024 FOBIF walk, 20 October

Euan Moore will be leading next Sunday’s walk in the Crusoe Reservoir/Big Hill area. The walk will longer than usual (12km) and there will be some climbing. You  can see more detail on our walks page

People should bring lunch and the normal walking gear.  

We will be leaving in convoy as usual at 9.30am from the Castlemaine Community House. However Bendigo people might prefer to meet at Crusoe Reservoir at 10am. The meeting point at Crusoe Reservoir will be the main carpark off Crusoe Road.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/K4xBSTgM8JSUBSta6  Plenty of parking there and a toilet.

Hopefully the weather will be kind and there will be a few flowers out.

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Introducing the amazing new tool – PLANT SELECTOR

Calling all gardeners in the Mount Alexander Shire! PLANT SELECTOR is your essential tool for choosing indigenous plants that will not only thrive in your garden but also support local wildlife. With expert local plant knowledge at your fingertips, you’ll be able to confidently select from 100 native species adapted to the unique conditions of our region.  

Many of us make hasty choices in nurseries, resulting in wasted money and very dispiriting results. Use PLANT SELECTOR to identify the right plant for you, your garden and for the environmental conditions of your site. Simply filter the list of 100 plants to find the plant you need, based on criteria that include plant height, tolerance to drought and waterlogging, horticultural uses and the wildlife that you want to attract and support through habitat creation. By growing local plants in local gardens, you can help create win-win landscapes that support both the wellbeing of people and biodiversity in our shire.

This tool was created by Dr Cassia Read at the Castlemaine Institute. Over many years, Cassia recorded ecological and horticultural information about local species suitable for gardens. This information has now been made accessible to all gardeners in the Shire, as a searchable online tool. Development of this tool was made possible through support from the Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Community Grants Program. Local plant experts Frances Cincotta (Newstead Natives) and Ian Higgins (Friends of Campbells Creek) rigorously reviewed the tool and provided local insights about growing these plants. Frances also shared her records of local flowering times. Cassia continues to maintain and update the website.   

All plants included on this website are found growing naturally across Djandak (Dja Dja Wurrung Country). We acknowledge the work of Dja Dja Wurrung in caring for Djandak over millennia and we hope that Plant Selector will support the essential work of healing this upside-down Country.

To use the tool visit: https://ci.org.au/plantselector

A flyer for PLANT SELECTOR can be found here

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A walk in the Fryers Ranges

The weather and the wildflowers put on a fantastic show for September’s wildflower walk in the Fryers Ranges on Sunday September 15th. After a cold start to Spring, the bright sun, hilly track and stunning array of flowering trees, shrubs and herbs were a welcome reminder of the change of season and the warm weather to come.  

Pink Beard-heath (Leucopogon ericoides) and Rough Wattle (Acacia aspera) sharing a patch. Photo Chrissi Charles

Starting on the corner of Fryers-Taradale Road and Fryers Ranges Road, Christine Henderson led the group of around 20 keen walkers on a 7km loop. The group started in a patch with a Red Box (Eucalyptus polyanthemos) and Red Stringybark (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha) overstory, but eyes quickly started pealing to the ground to take in the array of flowering shrubs and herbs giving off a show of purple, pink, red, yellow and white flowers.

Twin-flower Beard-heath (Styphelia fletcheri) was in its full white flowered glory sharing space with it’s cousin Pink Flowered Beard-heath (Leucopogon ericoides). The bush was full with a variety of yellow flowering Wattles, yellow and red Dillwynia flowers, red Downy Grevilleas (Grevillea alpina) stunning Pink Bells (Tetratheca ciliata), and a scattering of teeny herbs including Early Nancy (Wurmbea dioica), native Billy Buttons (Craspedia variabilis) and one solitary Dusky Fingers orchid (Caladenia fuscata).

The group moved at its own pace with the keen newbies picking the brains of the experienced locals and everyone enjoying the sunshine and changing landscape.

Exploring such a beautiful part of Djaara country was a reminder of the beauty that can be found in a landscape still recovering from its not so distant history of logging and the impacts of the gold rush.

Chrissi Charles contributed the above article

Birds noted by Noel Young
Grey Currawong
Grey Shrike-thrush
Yellow faced Honeyeater
Spotted Pardalote
White-throated Treecreeper
Grey Fantail
Rufous Whistler
Crimson Rosella
Scarlet Robin
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
White-winged Chough
Mistletoe Bird

Euan Moore will lead the last FOBIF walk for the year on 20 October to Crusoe Reservoir/Big Hill. Check out the walks page for more information. 

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Vale Naomi Raftery

It is with regret and sadness that we report the death from cancer of Naomi Raftery, FOBIF committee member for several years, and secretary from 2014-2018. In that period Naomi was an important part of all of our work, including our publications, and especially in the running of our children’s programs. She exemplified the best qualities of an environmental activist: idealism and hard headedness, tolerance and firmness, thoughtfulness and good humour. Naomi was also involved in Connecting Country activities, and we fully endorse the following comments by Chris Timewell on her work in this area:

From 2011 to 2017, Connecting Country was extremely fortunate to have Naomi Raftery’s unwavering support and commitment towards achieving its conservation objectives – originally as a hardworking volunteer and member, and then also as a part-time staff member.  Naomi was the unsung hero behind the smooth running of field days, guest speaker events, committee meetings, restoration activities, and much more that Connecting Country undertook over this busy period.

In her humble way, she was invariably generous, friendly, patient, diligent, and insightful, and took steps to ensure that no-one would feel excluded or under-appreciated.  Naomi demonstrated a strong sense of fairness, social justice and ethical behaviour – and inspired her colleagues and others she met to raise their game.

Connecting Country, and many other organisations in Castlemaine and beyond, benefited from her passion for grassroots collaboration.  She knew the power of community groups to take meaningful steps at a local level towards making the wider world a better place.  Naomi was always among the first to put up her hand to offer help.

Her contribution and legacy is enormous, and she’ll be greatly missed. We extend our sympathy to her husband Sean and daughter Sophie.

Naomi speaking at a FOBIF children’s walk in Kalimna Park, 2014.

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FOBIF spring walk, 15 September

Christine Henderson will be leading the 6-8 km September walk in the Fryers Ranges. We will be meeting as usual at 9.30 am at the Community House in Templeton Street, Castlemaine and travelling by convoy to Taradale. If you would like to start at Taradale, meet at 9.45 am opposite the Metro service station in the main street. Contact Christine on 0417 529 392 for more information.

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Fire: paying attention to the detail

Over 100 people packed into the Senior Citizens Hall last Tuesday to hear fire behaviour scientist Phil Zylstra question the science and logic behind current planned burning systems.

The talk focused on current programs centred on the reduction of leaf litter, considered as a major contributor to forest fire. Dr Zylstra set out to show that fuel reduction programs designed to reduce surface fuel neglect the role of the shrub layer. He argued that a forest left to itself provides its own protection against fire, and that concentration on fuel loads oversimplifies the fire challenge: fuel reduction burns may actually increase the area of wildfire.

Wewak Track, Castlemaine Diggings NHP,  management fire zone, November 2010: concentration on reducing ‘ground fuel’ may be misplaced, and may even be counterproductive–as witness the photo below.

A feature of Dr Zylstra’s experience in fire management is his learning from Wurrundjeri Woi Wurrung elder Uncle David Wandin on the purpose and nature of indigenous fire, as contrasted with post settlement practices.

Wewak Track management fire zone, January 2012: prolific shrub and sapling regrowth can be a consequence of inappropriate fire.

Dr Zylstra’s research on fire behaviour and fuel danger is becoming increasingly relevant to forest managers. You can find his 2023 address (with Uncle Dave Wandin) to the Royal Society, ‘Decolonising fire science’ here. A shorter version of the talk is here

Accessible written accounts of his argument can be found here and here.

We  recommend that readers have a look at the detailed material in these links.

The talk was organised by the Kinglake Friends of the forests, in combination with FOBIF, Friends of Whipstick, and the Whroo Conservation Network.

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Wild discoveries: an exhibition of nature photography

Nature embodies breathtaking complexity, subtle and intricate relationships and ineffable beauty. Much remains hidden to the casual eye, yet much can be revealed through the photographic lens. Minute details of a feather or moss, connections in colour and texture, colours and vast plenty in the night sky invisible to the unaided eye. Four local photographers entranced by and enthused about nature present some of their most striking discoveries of the wild – visual testaments to and explorations of the natural world.

Hosted by Newstead Arts Hub, the exhibition will be launched by Geoff Park on Saturday 7 September at 11am. Everyone is welcome and refreshments will be provided. The show will be open every weekend in September from 10am to 4pm.

Milky Way aurora by Patrick Kavanagh

Powerful Owlets after a late Spring shower, Mandurang South by Daryl Fleay

Kalmina composition by Marte Newcombe

Foggy morning, Leanganook by Bronwyn Silver

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A Winter Walk in Black Hill Reserve

Our August walk took us further afield than usual, to Black Hill Reserve near Kyneton. Lionel Jenkins and Barb Guerin lead a dozen other walkers on a loop of just over 5km. The dominant tree species are Manna Gum, Messmate Stringybark and Yellow Box with an understorey of Silver, Black and Lightwood Wattles. In the ground layer we saw Prickly Starwort, Spiny-headed Mat-rush, two specimens of the threatened species Arching Flax-lily, and some ferns ringing the boulders.  A lightning strike in January 2015 caused a bushfire that went through 80 percent of the reserve, and it is still recovering.

A liverwort (Chiloscyphus species) on burnt log, by Bernard Slattery

From the 1960s to the turn of the century efforts at revegetation after gravel extraction and bushfires saw the introduction of non local native species (e.g. Sallow Wattle) but in more recent years any plantings done are of local native species in accordance with the three Ecological Vegetation Classes found within the reserve.

Huge, coarse-grained granite boulders are a feature of the walk, some monolithic in size. We enjoyed  morning tea in some “caves” (shelters really), and lunch on a grassy slope in the sun. Mosses were in abundance, and Joy Clusker pointed out and photographed for us several species of fungi, and gum exuding from Black Wattles:

‘Twas a very enjoyable walk on a beautiful Winter’s day. Thanks to Lionel and Barb ad the walkers who contributed photographs for this report.  There were not many flowers to be seen – a little bit of Common Hovea and Purple Coral-pea. It would be good to re-visit in Springtime when the orchids and other wildflowers are out (as featured on the beautiful interpretive signs in the rotunda near the main entrance to the reserve). 

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A huge thank you to retiring committee members

We would like to acknowledge the immense contribution of the six FOBIF committee members who chose to stand down at the 2024 AGM. Between them, these members served for over 75 years on the committee, creating a powerful legacy of environmental advocacy and education. We would like to thank:

  • Marie Jones, a founding member of FOBIF and the 2024 recipient of the Joan Kirner Landcare Award, who served for 25 years on the committee.
  • Bernard Slattery, who served for over 20 years on the committee.
  • Bronwyn Silver, who served for over 15 years on the committee.
  • Neville Cooper, who served for over 10 years on the committee.
  • Lynette Amaterstein, who served for over 5 years on the committee.
  • Jeremy Holland, who served for over 5 years on the committee.

We congratulate these wonderful people on their amazing efforts and hope they will still be around to assist the committee in the future, while taking a well-earned rest!

Here is a link to a summary article by Bernard on FOBIF’s achievements since 1998: FOBIF Since 1998.

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