The end of the year FOBIF excursion to Bells Swamp is this Saturday (17 December).
Wetland experts, Damien Cook and Elaine Bayes, will be leading the group. You can find out more here.
We will be meeting at 9.30 at Continuing Ed in Templeton Street and travelling in convoy to the area which is half an hour from Castlemaine. Bring some food to share for lunch, and your gumboots! Contact Bronwyn Silver on 54751089 for further information. Everyone is welcome.
Myriophyllum papillosum
Here are a few conclusions we can draw from recent meetings with DELWP fire managers in the last two weeks:
Near Hunters Track, Castlemaine Diggings NHP: the bush in this area is more open than regrowth forest nearby, and has numerous interesting cultural features. It has recently been rezoned and is now open to more severe fuel reduction treatment.
The above are conclusions after two meetings in the last three weeks.
Representatives of FOBIF and the Friends of Kalimna Park met with DELWP managers in Castlemaine on November 23, and representatives of FOBIF and the Talking Fire group met with the DELWP West Central Bushfire Risk Landscape team in Daylesford on December 1.
Under discussion were the revised fuel management plans for the region. The intent of both meetings was to aim at a fuel management program which achieves public safety while respecting the natural values of local public land.
Several other matters were discussed:
In response to questions about poor track management, officers repeated a rationale we’ve heard before: that ‘road access is required for fire suppression’ etc. This is a disappointing response, as we’ve never questioned the need for such access: what we’ve questioned is crude and careless track management, and lack of care [and possibly even understanding] of roadside vegetation.
FOBIF’s field guide to the eucalypts of the Mount Alexander Region has sold out its print run of 800 copies in two months, and a reprint edition is now available.
The reprint contains some minor changes, but the most significant addition to it is a dedication to its co-author, Ern Perkins, who died in early November. The dedication reads
This book is dedicated to the memory of Ern Perkins
teacher, botanist, field naturalist
(1934-2016)
Ern was a great supporter of the eucalypt project from the beginning. Without his knowledge of the genus, and his amazing familiarity with the location of different species in different corners of the region, the book would never have been finished. He overcame serious health problems to come on numerous excursions around the district in search of good tree specimens, and his enthusiasm and good humour never failed him.
Ern’s contributions to the understanding of the natural history of the region were numerous. He was an inspiration to many in the district, and we urge any who have not already done so to read Chris Timewell’s obituary for him (and related links) on the Connecting Country website.
Ern and Lesley Perkins checking out a Candlebark with Bronwyn Silver at Green Gully, Winter 2016
Want to have a say on the way heritage is presented in the Diggings Park? Have a go at doing the Parks Victoria survey. It only takes a few minutes, and your answers might tilt the balance of the way the park is presented. You have until midnight this coming Wednesday November 30 to do it.
The questions are mainly straightforward—perhaps the crunch question is number 13: ‘Information signage in Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park currently focuses on its important mining heritage. Are there other themes, stories or aspects of the park that should also be told?’
As we’ve said before, one of the problems with the presentation of goldfields heritage is that it doesn’t give due weight to the environmental impact of mining. For that reason, perhaps a good response to question 13 might be something like this:
The problem is not that the focus is on mining heritage: the problem is that this heritage is presented with virtually no emphasis on the destructive effects of mining, even though these are staring us in the face in the form of the total destruction of almost all the waterways in the park: these eroded gullies, and hillsides stripped of soil, are also ‘heritage’.
…But it’s your say: have a go!
FOBIF has received a note from DELWP confirming receipt of our fire submission (see post below). They advise us that the rezoning of Expedition Pass as an Asset Protection zone was a ‘mapping error”.
The area has now been restored to its previous status as a Landscape Management zone.
We’re a bit at a loss for words. We’ll comment in more detail on this and related matters after we meet with fire managers in December.
Extract of letter to FOBIF from West Central Risk Landscape Team:
As a result of your comments, the zoning at Expedition Pass reservoir near Castlemaine has been reinstated as Landscape Management Zone. While the change was a mapping error, we acknowledge and apologise for the concerns this has caused within your organisation.
Please find attached updated maps of the proposed fire management zones in the Castlemaine – Maldon area.
North Castlemaine, updated map 17 November 2017
Castlemaine, updated map 17 November 2017
Maldon, updated map 17 November 2017
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
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page