Author Archives: fobif

A winter stroll on ridges and through valleys

Posted on 20 June, 2016 by fobif

A cool winter day provided pleasant walking conditions for 19 participants on FOBIF’s June walk. Jeremy Holland led the group across some interesting isolated hills and ridges south of Italian Hill, before swinging past Sailor’s Gully and the Tubal Cain … Continue reading →

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Want to put your hand up?

Posted on 19 June, 2016 by fobif

Here’s a reminder: the FOBIF Annual General Meeting will be held at the Ray Bradfield Rooms on Monday July 11 at 7.30 p.m. Our guest speaker will be Martin Scuffins from the Leigh Valley Hawk and Owl sanctuary. Do you … Continue reading →

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Shut the gate–if you can

Posted on 17 June, 2016 by fobif

Imagine a jewellery shop left open and unattended by the proprietor, with a notice reading: ‘feel free to appreciate the stock, but try not to trash the joint–and please don’t steal anything’. Possibly a majority of customers might oblige, but … Continue reading →

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‘Safety first’ isn’t good enough

Posted on 17 June, 2016 by fobif

FOBIF has made a brief submission to the current Parliamentary enquiry on fire preparedness. This is possibly the millionth submission on fire we’ve made over the last 15 years, and is accompanied by a slight feeling of going around in … Continue reading →

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Aboriginal fire for the goldfields

Posted on 13 June, 2016 by fobif

Some intriguing ideas on fire were floated by DELWP fire managers at a briefing to the June Meeting of the Castlemaine field naturalists last Friday. Most of what the officers said related to DELWP’s change to a risk management fire … Continue reading →

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Put this in your diary

Posted on 2 June, 2016 by fobif

The FOBIF Annual General Meeting will be held at the Ray Bradfield Rooms on Monday July 11 at 7.30 p.m. Our guest speaker will be Martin Scuffins from the Leigh Valley Hawk and Owl Sanctuary. This impressive organisation has a two-part focus: … Continue reading →

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Fire: change, slowly

Posted on 30 May, 2016 by fobif

On Tuesday May 24 DELWP held an information session in Bendigo on future fire plans for the region, including draft maps showing possible new fuel reduction zones under the risk management system. A similar session will be held in Castlemaine … Continue reading →

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Fire: a ‘learning experience’

Posted on 30 May, 2016 by fobif

The May 24 information session was followed by a briefing by researchers who produced the Box Ironbark mosaic burning project [see our Posts here, here and here]. As we reported last week, possibly the biggest question raised by this project … Continue reading →

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Biodiversity…mountain bikes…local provenance…kangaroos…enjoying nature…how does it all fit?

Posted on 12 May, 2016 by fobif

FOBIF has made a brief submission to the Biodiversity discussion paper. The substance of the submission is set out at the end of this post. The discussion paper is worth a look, tossing quite a few provocative ideas. Among them: … Continue reading →

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Spare us the grandiosity

Posted on 12 May, 2016 by fobif

FOBIF has made a submission to the Water for Victoria Discussion paper. The substance of the submission is set out below: Although we believe that there are many useful ideas in the document, we are disappointed in its tendency to … Continue reading →

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