One sign of autumn is the prolific seeding of the local coffee bush [Cassinia arcuata]. Cassinia is one of the good soldiers of ruined land, which is why you see it recolonising mining sites. This is what the Cassinia flower looked like in February:
And here’s what it looks like at the end of May:
If you brush even lightly past one of these honest Aussie battlers, you’ll find your clothes are acting as couriers of dozens of seeds.
Alison Pouliot delivered a lively and informative Connecting Country presentation last Thursday to an audience of about 75 people on ‘Fungi: the mysterious kingdom’. No one leaving the Campbell’s Creek Community Centre that night could be in any doubt about the beauty or the importance of these strange entities.
Another feature of our environment which is in even greater evidence at the moment is the micro world of the bryophytes: mosses and allied plants which are often seen in association with fungi and lichens. They attract attention with their vivid splashes of green around bushland, especially in relatively moist corners–but to really get the amazing interest of these plants it’s necessary to get down on your knees and have a close look, because most of them are only a few millimetres high.
The cup like forms are a lichen, Cladonia pleurota. The miniature 'pine' trees are a moss, polytrichum juniperum. The red box leaf gives an idea of the scale. Smutta's Track, April 2011
These are ancient life forms, which existed on Earth long before flowering plants came along: maybe it’s for this reason that they have an otherworldly look about them.
Moss capsules, Metcalfe Nature Conservation Reserve, May 30 2011
Mosses, fungi, lichens and liverworts don’t like dry weather, and weren’t so prominent during the drought. They’ve been quite spectacular in the last twelve months. Liverworts are possibly even more spectacular than the others. For a look at the fire dependent Marchantia berteroana, check our photo gallery.
Local environment groups will mark World Environment Day this year with an ‘expo’ in the Castlemaine Market building on Sunday June 5 between 10 am and noon. This is the same day as the Castlemaine Farmers market.
The theme of the displays will be ‘Forests: nature at your service’–the idea that biodiversity is, so to speak, not just a pretty face: it is what underpins our lives. The point is made by Edward O Wilson like this:
‘Recent experimental studies on whole ecosystems support what ecologists have long suspected: The more species that live in an ecosystem, the higher is the productivity and the greater its ability to withstand drought and other kinds of environmental stress.’
FOBIF will be running a display on the day. Members interested in putting in a short time on a table should contact us at the usual addresses.
The Mayor, Cr Janet Cropley, will launch the Shire’s Environment Strategy in the course of the morning.
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:
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.
Carnivorous plants can trap prey in a various ways: pitfall traps, flypaper traps, snap traps and lobster-pot traps. The well-known local carnivorous Scented Sundew Drosera whittakeri uses the flypaper trap method. Insects are captured in the sticky dew exuding from hairs growing on its leaves.
Another trapping method is the ‘bladder trap’ and the intriguing Utricularia dichotoma is one of the carnivorous plants that uses this method. This ‘bladderwort’ is commonly known as Fairy Aprons due to the appearance of its flowers.
Fairy Aprons have a tiny ‘bladder’ which is small and submerged under water or in damp soil with a hair-triggered door that responds within 1/30th of a second to suck in any passing insect. The vacuum-driven bladder has been described as the most sophisticated carnivorous trapping mechanism to be found among plants. The violet flowers which are enlarged in this photo are tiny and grow on a thin stem.
Fairy Aprons. Photo by Bronwyn Silver, 1 January 2011
Early this year Doug Ralph discovered scores of Fairy Aprons in a swampy area in Harcourt not far from Mount Alexander. Three FOBIF members accompanied him to see and record the sighting. Although none had seen them before, Ern Perkins from the Castlemaine Field Naturalists reported that bladderworts have been previously been recorded on Mount Alexander, and also on some of the wet granite areas in the Harcourt-Sutton Grange area.
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.
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 patrols, crews are expected to extinguish any trees on the edges of burns and particularly any habitat trees they may have ignited. Given that this tree was raked around and largely protected from ignition via ground fuels, a reasonable explanation, which is supported by ground inspection, suggests that a fire brand, falling limb or otherwise may have ignited the tree….If this did occur, it is reasonable to expect that patrols would have, in most cases, identified the issue and ensured the tree was extinguished.
‘It is regrettable that this particular tree, having significant natural values as a habitat tree, suffered damage…It is essential that we now take this opportunity to reinforce the importance of good preparation, targeted and appropriate ignition and effective patrols to limit the possibility of this reoccurring.’
Less damaging, and just as effective
Crude control line, with early erosion signs
On the subject of the crudely made control line, Steve Nicholson noted that ‘it is district practice to keep to a minimum the amount of control line constructed…in some cases we may need a control line that can accommodate access for larger fire vehicles to ensure we can undertake burns safely.’ He assured us that the track in question would be rehabilitated ‘as soon as practicable’. Continue reading
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 control program near Forest Creek in Chewton last year, with the aid of a Parks Victoria grant.
Shauna confirmed our view that the best method of dealing with the creeper is to attack small outlying infestations, and to pin our faith on the spread of the rust which has been introduced in recent years. The rust is not prominent in the lush growth of bridal creeper presently visible, but it is present, and can be expected to be more obvious in Spring. Nuggety Landcare has been active in spreading it, and made it available to landcare activists last year.
Infestation of Bridal Creeper at Campbells Creek. Photo: Bryan McMullan, April 2011.
White Everlasting Daisy (Chrysocephalum baxteri)
Slime Mould
Dunns Reef
Tall Greenhoods
Gnat Orchid
Blue Caladenia
Downy Grevillea (Grevillea alpina)
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Sailors Gully ruin
Loddon River near Vaughan
Cortinarius archeri
Mycena subgalericulata
Cortinarius rotundisporus
Cortinarius cystidiocatenatus,
Ramaria sp.
Pink Heath
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander
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