More photos from May FOBIF walk

Posted on 18 May, 2016 by fobif

Noel Young sent these photos to us after we we had posted our walks article.  They provide a terrific record of the walk so we decided to post them in the gallery below. We are not one hundred percent sure of the identification of the fungi in the first photo. If anyone thinks our identification is incorrect please let us know. Click on the thumbnail image to enlarge.

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FOBIF Tree exhibition moves to Newstead

Posted on 17 May, 2016 by fobif

 

Click to enlarge.

The FOBIF exhibition, Trees in the Mount Alexander Region, is being held in 2 locations this year, TOGS and the new Newstead Railway Arts Hub. The TOGS show which finished recently was a great success with lots of positive responses and sales of photos. Now it’s time for the move to Newstead.

The show in Newstead will run throughout June. It will include the photos from the TOGS show and a slide show which will have at least one image from people who sent in photos for our Flickr site.

The Gallery will be open at weekends and the Queens Birthday holiday on Monday 13 June. Opening hours are 10am to 4 pm. The address is Dundas Street, Newstead (directly across from Railway Hotel). If you would like to view the exhibition outside these days/hours, or help with staffing the show, contact Bronwyn Silver on 5475 1089

The opening will be at 10.30 on Saturday 4 June. There will be refreshments and everyone is welcome. Bernard Slattery from FOBIF will open the show.

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Beautiful walk on a beautiful day

Posted on 16 May, 2016 by fobif

Sunday’s FOBIF walk started from The Monk car park and was led by Barb Guerin and Lionel Jenkins.  The weather was perfect, sunny and warm.

 Nineteen people came on the walk .  We saw and heard about many of the historic sites along the way. One of these was the Adit mine which is also home to the bent wing bat.

Adit mine 15 May 2016

Walkers gathering at the Audit mine. Photo by Harley Parker

We stopped for lunch at the Eureka mine car park.   From there we followed water races and traversed across country to see the remains of miner’s cottages along the way.  Our walk finished early afternoon having walked 9 kms. Everyone enjoyed it thanks to Barb and Lionel.

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Dominique Lavie to this great shadow photo of walkers near the race.

You can see more of Dom’s photos of the walk on her facebook page.

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Photos by Liz Martin

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Yet another fire enquiry

Posted on 12 May, 2016 by fobif

We had a parliamentary enquiry in 2008. And then a Royal Commission. And then an investigation into the effects of the Royal Commission’s recommendations. Now the Legislative Council has instituted an enquiry into fire preparedness. Perhaps all these enquiries are symptoms of the fact that the community has still not resolved the question: how do people and nature co exist? So, once again, the challenge for conservationists is to show how safety can be achieved without wholesale destruction of public land.

The terms of reference for the latest enquiry are as follows:

  1. 1)  the Environment and Planning Standing Committee inquire into and report on the preparation and planning for fire seasons by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and its agencies, including Parks Victoria and, in particular —
    1. a)  the amount and nature of preventative burning undertaken to date;
    2. b)  the measures in place to ensure preventative burning is undertaken safely;
    3. c)  the effectiveness of preventative burns in achieving community safety;
    4. d)  the impact of preventative burns on threatened species;
    5. e)  the impact of preventative burns on Ecological Vegetation Classes;
    6. f)  the impact of preventative burns on the climate;
    7. g)  the targeting of preventative measures state‐wide;
    8. h)  the resources available to ensure that adequate preparation is undertaken;
    9. i)  the co‐ordination of such planning and preparation with other departments and agencies across government;
    10. j)  the nature and level of emergency response;
    11. k)  the relevant administrative and organisational structures in place within the Department and with other relevant government departments and agencies;and
    12. l)  the impact of land tenure on the ability to provide fire prevention activities and the differences between types of land tenure such as National Park, State Forest, Regional Park and others;
  2. 2)  the Committee is to consider annual reports tabled by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and its agencies, including Parks Victoria, and any other relevant matter as determined by the Committee.

The committee will deliver its report in December.

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Stop press: Kalimna burn cancelled

Posted on 6 May, 2016 by fobif

The management burn planned for tomorrow in Kalimna Park has been cancelled. The Friends of Kalimna Park today received a note from DELWP as follows:

‘Fuel moistures have indicated that this burn would not achieve our burn objectives meaning burning will not go ahead this weekend and may not go ahead at all this Autumn.’

 

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