FOBIF has tentatively begun work on a beginners guide to eucalypts of the Mount Alexander region, in a joint project with Connecting Country. We’re looking for enthusiasts who are interested in joining the working group. ‘Work’ will involve a fair bit of mooching around peering at trees.
![Red box [Eucalyptus polyanthemus] blossom, Maldon Historic Reserve, October 2014. Red box is coming into flower now; Yellow gum is in flower; and Red gums are on the way.](https://www.fobif.org.au/admin/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/red-box-maldon-tip-5-10-14-5-800x600.jpg)
Red box [Eucalyptus polyanthemus] blossom, Maldon Historic Reserve, October 2014. Red box is coming into flower now; Yellow box is in flower; and Red gums are on the way.
Not too many people visit Gough’s Range State Forest, roughly midway between Welshman’s Reef and Maldon. This small [161 ha] forest will be getting a few extra visitors in the 2016-17 management burning season, however. It’s down for a DEPI ‘Landscape Management Burn’. The intention of managers is
‘To provide an irregular mosaic of areas of fuel reduction which will complement works in adjacent fire management zones and can assist in ecological resilience and forest regeneration.’
Cairn Curran Reservoir, from the western edge of the Gough’s Range forest. Modestly interesting views are to be had from many parts of this bush.
We’ve been informed that the Department intends a burn coverage of 30-50% of the declared area; further, in its response to the Muckleford Forest submission to the Fire Operations Plan, DEPI has said that ‘every planned burn’ gets an environmental assessment beforehand—so we’ll be keen to see how the managers go about assessing the values of this modest forest, and protecting those values.
It’s not Everest, but this chocolate lily is still a trial for the small beetle: Gough’s Range, October 2014
FOBIF will be running one of its monthly walks in the Goughs Range forest in winter next year.
FOBIF has received a response to its submission on the Fire Operations Plan from Andrew Koren, DEPI program manager for planned burning in this region.
In brief, DEPI has responded to our concerns with the following points:
1. The Government is committed to increasing its planned burning; at the same time it is developing a strategic risk management approach for ‘prioritising fuel management’. It doesn’t seem to see the contradiction between these two approaches.
2. The statewide 5% target is being pursued. However, ‘Murray Goldfields is capped at approximately 4% or 14,000 hectares, this in recognition of the unique vegetation that occurs in the Murray Goldfields district.’
3. We can’t see burn plans because they’re subject to change based on weather conditions and other factors.
4. The pine plantations are Hancock business, but DEPI ‘is aware’ that Hancocks ‘undertake fire management works’.
5. DEPI is keen to cooperate on the matter of weed infestations.
6. On specific burns: the very large Gower Cemetery Rd fire, in the Muckleford Forest, has been taken out of the current plan, presumably to be done later; the Dunn’s Reef fire, also in the Muckleford forest, ‘is not all planned for treatment’; and DEPI is willing to discuss the Gough’s Range fire.
FOBIF will be following up all these points.
FOBIF has opened a Paypal account to make it easier to buy its field guide to mosses of dry forests online. We did this to facilitate orders from overseas, but the system will make it easier for locals to buy the book. For more details, click on the icon at right.
The cup moth [Doratifera] grub is at it again: the damage perhaps a bit patchier than the last infestation. The grub is pretty undiscriminating in its appetite, but appears to prefer stringybarks [Eucalyptus macrohyncha] in our area. The Bendigo Field Naturalists Eucalypt guide notes that this tree ‘is subject to annual, often very severe defoliation by the caterpillars of the cup moth. This places considerable stress on the trees, but almost certainly has its compensations in the form of reduced waterloss through reduced leaf area during summer, and improved nutrient recycling…’
The patchiness of the present infestation can be seen in the two photos below, taken less than two kilometres apart. In the first, the Maldon Historic Reserve seems completely untouched:
Tatt Town track, October 5: the trees are virtually untouched by the cup moth caterpillar.
In the second, a couple of kilometres down the road, the devastation is clear. The second photo is taken in bush with heavier concentrations of stringybarks:
A couple of kilometres down the same track, on the same day: bushland with greater numbers of stringybarks is heavily defoliated.
How well does the bush recover from these infestations? Trees trashed a couple of years ago seem, on the whole, to have gotten over the attacks. On the other hand, our understanding of these matters is limited. As forestry researchers noted [in Australian Forestry June 2010, in reference to similar outbreaks in Gippsland early this century,
‘The cause of the outbreaks by Doratifera spp. is uncertain because of insufficient knowledge concerning their lifecycle. While climatic factors are likely triggers, other factors such as eucalypt host susceptibility, foliage nutritional status, altitude, forest type,
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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Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page