Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

FOBIF has received a few clarifying details from Parks Victoria on the infestations by St John’s Wort and other weeds on Mount Alexander [see our Post]. Essentially they confirm our impression: that weed control programs are intermittent and dependent on unreliable funding [currently limited]. Biological controls on St Johns Wort are only partially effective, and in the recent good spring the weed has become more rampant than ever.

We have written to Coliban Water about their supposed program to control environmental weeds on the Coliban Race reserve, but have had no reply. The reserve is currently infested with a wide range of weeds, including the picturesque but diabolical Patersons Curse, which has been kept under reasonable control by Parks on the eastern side of the Mount. There doesn’t seem to be any co ordination of weed control efforts between the two authorities: a pity, because it means [for example] that any effort by Parks Victoria to control a weed in the park is doomed because of the certainty of re infestation from the adjacent race reserve.

The map below shows DELWP’s intention to burn a significant section of Kalimna Park on the town side of the tourist road this autumn. The lower red section is bordered on the south by Doveton street track. The small white circle is the Hunter Street water tank. The golf course lies between the two red sections.

Click to enlarge.

* In red is where planned burning will take place this Autumn 2017.
* The orange and pink circles will be target by mulching (either Gorse or Broom bush) and
* Tourist Park Rd and the track around Parker St may have mulching applied to assist in track/access maintenance.
No burning will occur to the eastern [Happy Valley] side of Tourist park drive. DELWP  is working through removing the Pines near the rotunda.

FOBIF has written to Vicroads regarding its September update on the Pyrenees highway project. Part of this update reads: ‘A reduction of the speed zone would not lead to a decrease in the amount of barrier treatments used in this instance. The impact of an errant vehicle with a roadside hazard (tree, power pole) at 80 kmh can still lead to a serious injury or fatality. The Installation of safety barriers provides the safest option.’

Pyrenees Highway between Newstead and Green Gully: is this stretch of road safer at speed than the Midland?

Our questions are:

1. Does this statement imply that there is no difference in the likelihood or nature of a run off road accident at 80 kph, compared to 100 kph? If so, it would seem to contradict campaigns like the ‘wipe off five’ campaign.

2. We understand that recent limit reductions on the Midland Highway between Castlemaine and Harcourt and on the Pyrenees between Chewton and Tunnel Hill were made for safety reasons. Does Vicroads believe that the stretch of road between Green Gully and Newstead is more manageable at speed than those two stretches of road?

3. Are we to understand from this document that plans for vegetation management are the same as originally proposed?

We’ll publish Vicroads reply when it comes./.

Fathers interested in taking their children for bushwalks this year might be interested in the Bendigo Dads Walking Group. The group goes out on a ‘Walk-Explore-Share-Play-Discover-Talk-Connect on a weekly kid’s adventure’. There are about 30 walks a year, on Sundays from 9.30 to 12.30, and many of the routes are in the Castlemaine region. For more details click here…Or email bendigodadswalkinggroup@gmail.com

FOBIF’s 2017 walks program will be mailed to members around the end of this month. Walks start on the third Sunday in March.

The Wombat Forest is our southern neighbour, but a very different environment from the drier forests and woodlands of our region. If you want to keep informed about the great qualities of the Wombat, you should check out the Wombat Forestcare Newsletter.

The latest issue contains a beginners guide to that frustrating subject, egg-and-bacon plants, great items on bird life and a terrifically interesting argument, ‘Reconsidering commonness’. This article persuasively hammers the point that our concern for rare and endangered species shouldn’t make us indifferent to the fate of common species: ‘Common species often represent the more hardy or adaptable species in an ecosystem so when they start to dramatically decline, it might indicate that something is seriously wrong. While common species often comprise a relatively small proportion of overall species richness, they usually contribute greatly to the structure, biomass and dynamics of ecosystems. Moreover, when habitats are burnt, fragmented, degraded or otherwise damaged or lost, it is common species that often suffer most.’

Check it out online here.

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!