Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

On April 6 the Victorian Environment Assessment Council released its final report on its ‘Remnant Native Vegetation Investigation.’ As with all VEAC reports, the document is full of useful information and provocative ideas. In spite of its calm and measured tone, it contains at least one implied criticism of land managers.

The focus of the report was on parcels of native vegetation around the state: small reserves, unused road reservations, and patches on private land.

South Walmer Conservation Reserve: small patches of land like this are vital biodiversity reserves

There are tens of thousands of such parcels throughout the state, half of them on private land ‘in patches closely embedded with and abutting those on public land’. It is surprising to read in the report of their importance to biodiversity:

‘Fragmented landscapes still support the majority of Victoria’s biodiversity. Around 40 percent of Victoria’s native land vertebrate species (mammals, bird, amphibians, reptiles and fish not confined to marine or coastal waters) are virtually restricted to fragmented landscapes in Victoria, and a further 45 percent rely on fragmented landscapes across a major part of their distribution in Victoria. That is, only about 15 percent of our land vertebrates are mostly restricted to largely-intact landscapes. Fragmented landscapes are likely to be similarly important for other species: land invertebrates, fungi and plants…’

Not only that, but such patches are important for agriculture:

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As an update to the article below on bridal creeper, the Nuggetty Land Protection Group is inviting interested community members to attend a community workshop at the Bridal Creeper Trial site. This site is immediately behind the Maldon cemetery in the Maldon Historic Reserve. The workshop will be held on Sunday 10 July from 11.00am to 12.30pm and finish with a free sausage sizzle and cupper.

The workshop will exhibit the results of earlier chemical treatment and demonstrate application methods, including making spore water from rust infected plants, chemical gloves, scrunching methods and physical removal.

Ring Ian Grenda on 0412015807 or email iangrenda@live.com for more information and to place orders for free bags of rust which can be picked up on the day.

The May FOBIF walk organised by Deirdre Slattery was through the magnificent Muckleford Gorge on Ian Garsed’s property.  Ian has excluded the gorge from grazing under the Bush Tender system–a good example of what VEAC  has recommended for conservation on private land [see above]

Walking through the gorge, May 19

Everyone on the walk acknowledged how special it was for Ian to allow us access to the gorge to see its natural beauty – the geology coupled with the flora and fauna was fascinating.  It was a very popular event with 55 people attending and an age range from six to the seventies.   Ian gave us an informative overview of the property before we started the walk and also answered questions at the end.  The day was interspersed with people asking questions of those they thought would have some knowledge so there were many conversations based on these questions with other information being added as we walked.

More photos of the Gorge and a detailed description of the walk can be found on the Muckleford Landcare website.

The next walk is on June 19 in the Castlemaine Diggings NHP: check the program for details.

The January floods caused a bit of angst in our community, with some trying to pin blame on Government bodies or current management practices.

At the AGM in July FOBIF members will be able to hear the viewpoint of CEO of the North Central Catchment Management Authority, Damian Wells.

Damian will talk about the challenges of catchment management in the context of the recent floods.

The floods were followed by a spate of calls in Castlemaine for massive vegetation clearance near waterways, as a way of lowering flood levels.

Forest Creek in spate, Castlemaine February 5 2011

Does vegetation near streams raise water levels in flood time? The belief that it does partly arises from the fact that for decades landholders were encouraged to clear streams to ‘improve flow’.  Now when they see vegetation returned to the margins of waterways they assume that this will worsen flooding. In fact the effect is minimal. Readers are referred to an Australian Land and Water publication, Managing the effects of riparian vegetation on flooding at

http://lwa.gov.au/files/products/river-landscapes/px061170/px061170-chapter-5.pdf

Its cautious but clear conclusions include, in part:

‘–Adding or removing large wood (snags) in streams has little effect on the height and duration of large floods.

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