Category Archives: News

Hawkeye program wraps up

Posted on 24 November, 2014 by fobif

The Hawkeye fire research program, established as a response to recommendation 57 of the Bushfires Royal Commission, has now come to an end. It will now ‘transition’ into research programs run by DEPI. It’s not exactly clear what this transition … Continue reading →

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We were wrong!

Posted on 24 November, 2014 by fobif

…And we’re quite relieved that we were. Our report last week about the burning of boronias in the Fryerstown Block 5 management burn has been corrected by Castlemaine Field Naturalists, who have pointed out that the burned area is a … Continue reading →

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Over 15 years of FOBIF walks

Posted on 3 November, 2014 by fobif

We are not quite sure of the exact year FOBIF walks began but it was sometime in the late 1990s. Doug Ralph, one of the founders of FOBIF, initially led all the walks but later other locals shared this task. For many years … Continue reading →

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Now’s the time to put it to the pollies

Posted on 26 October, 2014 by fobif

Recent polls have found that 81% of Victorian voters support more funding for the protection of nature, 57% oppose private developments in National Parks, and the environment is a bigger issue of concern than law-and-order and roads. There are polls … Continue reading →

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Campbells Creek: celebrating a revival

Posted on 26 October, 2014 by fobif

In 1846 Joseph Parker described Campbells creek as ‘A scene of beautiful, crystal like waterholes, which sparkled in the glittering rays of the sun; every  waterhole was teeming with fish,and flocks of ducks.On the slopes and hills on either side … Continue reading →

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Last FOBIF walk for the year

Posted on 23 October, 2014 by fobif

Alex Panelli led the last 2014 walk on 19 October in the Fryers Ranges around the Sugarbag Track area. Noel Young wrote the following piece on the walk and included an extensive flowering plant list: On a day of glorious weather, the walk for … Continue reading →

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The Road Not Taken

Posted on 20 October, 2014 by fobif

Robert Frost wrote a famous poem called ‘The Road Not Taken’ that begins with the line ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’. Had he been writing about Kalimna Park he might have added ‘then diverged again, and again, and … Continue reading →

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‘Foolishly, disastrously wrong’

Posted on 20 October, 2014 by fobif

‘There was never a body of men so foolishly, disastrously wrong,’ wrote Eric Rolls in his 1984 book, They all ran wild. He was talking about the Acclimatisation Societies of Australia, people who believed that this continent was lacking in … Continue reading →

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Six seasons – not four! A journey through the six seasons of the Wombat Forest

Posted on 13 October, 2014 by fobif

Tanya Loos will be giving a one-hour presentation on her recently published Daylesford Nature Diary at the next Newstead Landcare Group meeting on this Thursday (16 October). The evening will start at 8pm and take place at the Newstead Community Centre. The talk will be … Continue reading →

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Act first, think later

Posted on 13 October, 2014 by fobif

A conference on bushfire management reform held at Creswick on October 10 served to highlight some of the complexities in fire management, and to underline the difference between Government policy and the views of conservationists. The difference centres around whether … Continue reading →

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