Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

A small group of FOBIF members took a stroll last week through a patch of the Fryers Forest slated for burning within the next two years. This is burn is coded CAS-0243 Glenluce – Columbine Creek and is in the area bounded by Hunters Track and Hunters Lane. FOBIF walkers passed the edge of this zone last year on our Columbine Creek excursion.

Like all of our bushland, this small (71 hectares) patch of bush has its own fascination. Significantly mined in the distant past, and burned by the Department in 2008, it’s variably covered with tussock grass woodland, with some areas of dense, mainly wattle, understorey. The trees are larger than most in the Fryers forest, and there are few or no coppiced trees.

In the Hunters track proposed fire zone, April 2021: a mix of tussocks and shrubs, in an area burned 13 years ago.

The unburned areas bounding this zone, especially on the western side of Hunter’s track, are a remarkable example of tussock woodland, with trees very much larger than we are accustomed to seeing in this region. FOBIF sees this unburned bush as a kind of control zone, an indicator of the effect of fire both as a fuel reduction method, and as a way of influencing the ecology of the bush.

In the adjacent forest, unburned for many decades. The photo was taken in December, when the grass was greener,  but in other respects the scene is unchanged.

FOBIF has enquired of DELWP about the burn history of this block. We have also asked questions about the recent department burn around Wattle Track, in the Fryers Nature Conservation Reserve. This varied from a moderate, patchy effort to an extremely severe and destructive fire. We’re trying to find out how our managers assessed the result of the exercise.

Our questions arise from our curiosity about the actual effects of hazard reduction burns, both ecologically and from the point of view of fuel loads. In our view, this is a very complex issue: but the political debate about it is infected with the convenient notion that reduction burns vacuum up fuel and make us all safer. Only by paying close attention to the effects of each burning exercise will a more realistic view emerge. That would require better resourcing for managers, of course.

A map of the zone in question, and other proposed management burns, can be found on the Department’s excellent interactive map here.

A strong group took on FOBIF’s walk to Middleton Creek yesterday, our first open  walk for many months. Middleton Creek is a marvellous waterway, characterised by interesting twists and turns and rocky cliffs. Unfortunately it’s currently overrun with gorse and other weeds, evidently spreading from nearby private land, which obscure the creek’s interesting features. Fortunately the surrounding bushland in the Park is pretty weed free, and features a variety of vegetation communities, including patches of park-like serenity, like the woodland pictured below. The dense green carpets of Matted Bush-pea are striking even now. In spring its flowers are a spectacular highlight of this end of the Park.

Amanda’s Track, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park: a wooded parkland of Matted Bush-pea and tussock grass.

FOBIF’s walk took in the very southern fringe of the Diggings Park, before swinging over to the Goldfields Track through Brown’s Gully. It finished with a short traverse through the zone of DSE’s disastrous 2010 fuel ‘reduction’ burn, which managed to multiply the area’s fuel load dramatically.

Part of FOBIF walking group in Brown’s Gully. The Candlebark eucalypts are among the highlights of the Goldfields Track through this area.

Our thanks are due to walk leader Bernard Slattery for this excursion. Next month’s walk is in the Pilchers Bridge NCR: check the walks program for details.

Middleton Creek in a wet year (2010): note the gorse infestation to the left of the picture. The National Heritage Park is relatively weed free.

Photos below were taken by Liz Martin. Click to enlarge. 

Think of a small, degraded patch of bush, surrounded by industrial sites and roads, only 4 kilometres from the centre of a sizeable city. It’s a tiny remnant of the ravages of gold fever, ‘symbolic of the way nature is now attacked and besieged on all sides.’ At just over 4 hectares, it has 50 mine shafts!

Why should anyone take an interest in such a place? Wouldn’t it be better just to look away, at somewhere a bit more encouraging?

To find an answer to these questions, have a look at Island with corners: Crimson Chats on the White Hills 2019. It’s the ‘complex story behind the Chinese Diggings Historic Reserve and the way it is today’, and is a 68 page large format book written by Bendigo field naturalist John Lindner. The  appearance of unusual birds on the reserve provoked the author to a detailed examination of the history of this patch of land, and his careful documentation of this history is an enthralling and instructive read. As he says, ‘Every now and again, a mere mortal may be astonished by something wonderful, beautiful and unexpected in Nature.’ This book recounts such an experience. It’s an object lesson in paying attention to our local neighbourhood (the author lives one kilometre from the reserve). At a time when there’s a bit of angst around about limitations on travel, perhaps there’s a lesson here for all of us: the next Big Thing in travel might be a seemingly unimpressive patch of land around the corner.

So: if you’re getting a bit downcast by the way the world is going, you could do a lot worse than spend some time on this book. It’s $25 from the author at jwl.bendigo@gmail.com

Deer were sighted last week in the Middleton Creek area of the Diggings park. This feral species has now been seen in numbers in almost every corner of our region. Every credible community group, including farmers, municipalities and enviro organisations, has urged serious control measures against the exploding population: but, as we’ve reported, the State Government’s response to the menace has varied from the feeble to the supine. Its main agenda, on the face of it, seems to be to please the hunting lobby: a peculiar obsession, given that this particular lobby is generally hostile to the Labor Party.

If you’re interested in doing your bit to track the reality of this particular environmental problem, have a look at Feralscan. It offers ‘Many resources … to help you identify, monitor, or plan control of deer populations in your local area. View fact sheets, instructional videos, guides and strategies on best practice deer management. Use these resources as part of your coordinated control with your neighbours, local working groups, and biosecurity organisations.’ And it enables you to register any sightings you may have in your neighbourhood. Check out our 2019 post here–or go direct to the site at https://www.feralscan.org.au/deerscan/default.aspx

And: if you have the courage, you might want to read ‘The attack of the alien invaders’, an estimate of what feral species are costing the world, in dollar terms. It’s in ‘The Conversation’, today. You can find it here.