Author Archives: fobif

Fungi season is under way

Posted on 8 May, 2011 by fobif

Good rainfall in the last eighteen months has seen an amazing proliferation of fungi in our woodlands.The moist gullies and sheltered hillsides of the shire are already showing signs that this year will be as good as 2010 in fungi … Continue reading →

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Smutta’s Track: an update

Posted on 2 May, 2011 by fobif

We have received a reply from DSE District Manager Steve Nicholson to our concerns about the conduct of the autumn Smutta’s Track burning operation [see below Smutta’s Track management burn]. It reads in part: ‘Following the ignition, and through subsequent … Continue reading →

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‘Victoria’s largest example of landscape recovery?’

Posted on 26 April, 2011 by fobif

Researchers from Charles Sturt and Latrobe Universities have suggested that more bushland is returning through natural regeneration than through tree planting or fencing out of remnants. Based on research on an area between Heathcote and Rushworth, they concluded that as … Continue reading →

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Bridal Creeper meeting

Posted on 26 April, 2011 by fobif

On April 18 FOBIF and other environmental groups met in Castlemaine with Shauna Potter, national bridal creeper coordinator, to discuss methods of control for this increasingly worrying weed. Conscious of the rampant spread of the creeper, we undertook a small … Continue reading →

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Smutta’s Track management burn

Posted on 26 April, 2011 by fobif

Smutta’s track, near Irishtown in the Castlemaine Diggings NHP, was burned by DSE in Autumn as part of the Bendigo Fire Protection Plan. The bush at the time was quite damp, so much so that we wondered at the point … Continue reading →

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After the burn off

Posted on 14 February, 2011 by fobif

FOBIF members have made several visits to the south end of the Diggings Park to monitor the effects of a very severe management burn conducted near the Wewak track in Autumn last year. On our latest visit, on February 7, we … Continue reading →

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It’s pretty, but it’s a weed

Posted on 11 February, 2011 by fobif

Ian Higgins identified this flower as a Gladiolus specie, probably G.undulatus. It is a weed that several FOBIF members found growing in great numbers beside a roadside in Sutton Grange. Unfortunately, as in the case of Gazanias, Gladiolus undulatus, it is still sold … Continue reading →

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