Author Archives: fobif

The FOBIF committee hopes you’ve had a good start to the new year, and take good care not to melt in the coming week’s heat. The FOBIF monthly walks program for 2019 is now available, and can be found by … Continue reading →

A well-attended meeting in Newstead last Tuesday was told that Vicroads’ Pyrenees Highway tree removal and wire rope barrier project was about to proceed. The meeting was therefore a briefing, not a consultation: it was not going to change anything … Continue reading →

Do a few trees matter?The context of all the above is not only the preferences of a few tree lovers. It’s found in the map below: It seems that at every point in what passes for debate these days, we’re … Continue reading →

We’ve seen the margins of public land around towns sometimes used by residents to store their unwanted stuff—car bodies, machinery, etc. And we’ve seen residents encroach onto public land with garden extensions and attempts to expand their own properties. And … Continue reading →

Castlemaine Historical Society has just published an excellent new map by Clive Willman: Castlemaine Diggings: historical and modern place names. It’s available at the Info Centre in Mostyn Street for $15.00. All the place names are modern, actually, since they’re … Continue reading →

Coliban Water has been promising to close down some of its inefficient water races for years. These include the Poverty Gully race, which has been leaking repeatedly—a problem not helped when a DELWP fuel reduction burn destroyed the plastic lining … Continue reading →

Victoria’s weird practice of classifying deer as a protected species for the benefit of recreational hunters has come increasingly under fire from farmers, landcarers and municipalities, both rural and Melbourne fringe. If you’re under the impression that deer are cute … Continue reading →

As a sidelight to FOBIF’s ongoing interest in vegetation clearance on the Pyrenees Highway, we draw readers’ attention to a nice item in the Midland Express [November 20]. Animal shelter managers in Elphinstone lobbied Vicroads to reduce the speed limit … Continue reading →

A Deakin University Phd student has claimed that farm dams are a major contributor to greenhouse gases, according to the Weekly Times [ 21/11 ]. ‘This is due to the microbes in dams, which release carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous … Continue reading →

Vicroads’ proposed tree removal works on the Pyrenees Highway between Green Gully and Newstead have been put on hold pending advice from the Federal Department of the Environment [DEH] on the impact these removals might have on the health of … Continue reading →