Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

‘The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action wants your feedback on the draft of Victoria’s Bushfire Management Strategy, which will set the vision for bushfire management in Victoria for the next 10 years.’

You can find the strategy here.

And you can make a submission here.

The strategy comes in three parts: people safety, conservation, and Aboriginal management.

There’s plenty of reasonable stuff in this document. Nothing wrong with this aim, for example:

‘To achieve genuine ecosystem resilience and positive nature conservation outcomes, the sector will integrate this improved understanding into decision making. This includes identifying and protecting environmental values and assets during on-ground operations and implementing on[1]ground programs to manage increased threats to environmental values (such as weeds and pests) resulting from the applied fire regime.’

The problem with the document might be that there are too many future tense sentences in it. ‘The sector will improve its knowledge of fire regimes…’ ‘The sector will continue to monitor…’ ‘The sector will ensure the scale of each target is appropriate…’ ‘The sector will support…adaptive management…’ ‘The sector… will…continue to improve…will optimise…will ensure…’ And so on.

A reader already sceptical about the ‘sector’s’ monitoring and adaptive management record will not be impressed by the promise that things will ‘continue to improve.’ Promises like this have been made for years, and it’s hard to be impressed by the results.

Let’s recall the Auditor General’s 2021 report:

‘DELWP advised us that it cannot guarantee the protection of all threatened species given:

• current funding levels
• scientific constraints around how species respond to threats and actions to control these in the wild, particularly in a time of climate change
• the long-term lag effects on Victoria’s biodiversity of over 200 years of colonisation.’

Lack of funding, lack of knowledge…Conservationists have been banging on about these things for years.

Still, if you have the time, it might be worth having a go. We recommend you ask, what is there in the strategy to guarantee that the funding levels identified by the Auditor General as inadequate will be brought up to scratch?

The consultation closes on August 20

A large group came to Mount Alexander last Sunday. The walk began at Dog Rocks then travelled south along Whisky Gully on the eastern side of the mount. On reaching the Leanganook Picnic Area the group headed north along the Goldfields Track to Dog Rocks. The winter sunshine was perfect for meandering along the gully. Fungi expert Joy Clusker provided expert help with identification backed up by Liz Martin who navigated the route. Unfortunately we had missed the best fungi months in May and June but there were still plenty around as well as abundant moss displays. Liz Martin sent us the following photos. 

Walks leader, Joy Clusker, taking a closeup.

A hardy group of five set out in brilliant frosty weather yesterday for FOBIF’s June long walk. Walk conditions were perfect, as was the length of the walk, estimated as between 12 and 24 kilometres. We suspect the second estimate was a little subjective.

Middleton Creek, July 16: check last week’s post to see how the water levels have dropped..but the creek is still running strongly.

The walk covered the wonderfully various country at the south end of the Diggings Park: substantial moss covered rock walls, wide green valleys, rocky ascents, unusually impressive giant eucalypts. The south point was the strongly running Middleton Creek. Fungi were in abundance, and the recent wet weather had given the bush a particularly lush appearance.

Our thanks  to Jeremy Holland for as usual providing an intriguing route through little known corners.

Next month’s walk is in the wildflower hotspot of the Maldon Historic Reserve. Check the website for details.

A downbeat note for FOBIF’s walkers along Wewak track yesterday was the sight of yet more evidence of timber theft along this track.

Wewak Track, July 16: FOBIF has regularly reported destruction of this kind along the track.

Wewak track seems to be a favourite spot for timber thieves, and their efforts are threatening to strip this picturesque track of its better trees. Parks Victoria seems to be powerless to stop the destruction. Thieves operate comfortably, sure in the belief that the last person they can expect to see in this bush is a ranger: readers of this site will be familiar with our observations on the under resourcing of our parks.

We’ve been assured by Parks in the past that the problem is being tackled at the distribution end. The method doesn’t seem to be working: and of course things are not helped by the explosion in the cost of home heating….