Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

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:

The committee will deliver its report in December.

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.’

The railway dam is one of the most picturesque spots in the Fryers forest. It’s always good to catch a glimpse of it as you pass by in the train. DELWP has laid out a pleasant 4k walk [the ‘Junction walk’] on the east side of it, clearly signposted and interpreted at regular intervals with informative boards.

Railway dam: face this way to turn your back on the rubbish dump.

Train travellers passing the dam now, however, will have a view not just of the dam, but of a pile of rubbish near the tracks. And walkers in the area will see an even bigger pile in a nearby gully.

DELWP notes on the Junction walk make this suggestion: ‘after your walk, why not have a picnic by the dam to take in the beautiful surrounds’. Good idea…Just avert your eyes as you go past the dumps.

Dumping is a plague which seems to get worse. It will be interesting to see what the Mount Alexander shire review on the matter comes up with. In the mean time, FOBIF has written to Parks Victoria suggesting that non essential tracks in Kalimna Park which have become favourite places for dumpers be closed off.

View from the train as it approaches the railway dam. This is the smaller of the two dumps.

One of the problems with Government policy papers is that they tend to be relentlessly positive, to want to be friends with everyone: ‘We will manage water to support a healthy environment, a prosperous economy and thriving communities, now and into the future.’

This isn’t going to be easy: the paper tells us that we can expect a long term increase in temperature, reduced rainfall and runoff and decreased groundwater recharge, and an increased frequency of drought. It also tells us Victoria’s population is likely to double to 10 million by 2051. How can more people be kept prosperous and thriving on less water?

Average rainfall change during the winter months of the year [April-October inclusive] 1986-2015

Apart from proposing increasing use of the desal plant, the paper tends to make optimistic—even grandiose— gestures in the direction of efficiency and cleverness: for example, we’re told that ‘‘Victoria’s water sector will help transform Victoria’s cities and towns into the most resilient and liveable in the world.’ A visitor to Melbourne’s vast and expanding sprawl will wonder when this transformation is going to start.

In the meantime, less grandiose solutions to the water problem aren’t approached with great urgency in this paper.

For example, the 2004 White Paper proposed a water recycling target of 20% by 2010. This current discussion paper reveals that currently 2% of ‘water for taken for consumptive purposes’ is recycled: and it makes only vague gestures at improving this figure.

Or take ornamental dams. With the explosion of urban fringe development around country towns, the number of these has exploded. The Nationals MP for Northern Victoria, Damian Drum, has estimated that “…In our part of the state as much as 124 billion litres of water a year don’t make it to our creeks and streams because of the explosion in small, mostly unlicensed dams.”

This has been a concern for many years. So what’s the discussion paper say? ‘This discussion paper proposes a review to consider the introduction of a reasonable use limit, in consultation with the community.’ [page 108] That is, let’s talk some more. Consultation is great, of course: but how long should it go on before you actually decide to do something?

We should say right off that this paper’s an advance on the 2013 strategy in that it confronts the question of climate change, something the Coalition government habitually covered up with the gormless phrase, ‘natural climate variability.’

There are some things in it which are disconcerting, however.

One is the role of the desal plant. It’s hard to see how use of this heavy emitter sits with the paper’s stated aim of achieving ‘carbon neutrality’ for the water sector.

Another is confirmation that the Murray Darling basin plan will deliver 2,750 gigalitres of water back into the system as environmental flows. This is maybe half of what scientists say is necessary to keep the system viable: but the paper confirms that more will only be available if it can be delivered ‘with neutral or positive socio-economic effects.’ This is peculiar logic: if the river system dies, or goes into steep decline, wouldn’t that have an extremely negative ‘socio economic effect’?

The discussion paper, packed as it is with charts and diagrams, isn’t an easy read—but it’s hard to find a more important subject to think about–so if you have the time, put in your oar.  FOBIF will be making a short submission to the discussion.

Click on image to view the whole leaflet.

Harcourt Valley Landcare group and FOBIF are proud to announce the release of the local weed guide. This guide is intended as an introduction to some new and established weeds in the Castlemaine region. It gives a brief description of eight weeds you might see in and around our bush and agricultural areas and helpful links to further reading and websites with more information. Hopefully the guide triggers the treatment of these get away species. 

If you haven’t seen it already, go down to the Castlemaine Market building and have a look at Deanna Neville’s exhibition, A camera and a creek: glimpses of the Muckleford Creek, accompanied by reflections on the creek’s past and present by local residents. A short introductory note by Muckleford Landcare’s Paul Hampton sums up the excellent photos: the pictures of ancient trees clinging to eroded banks are both ‘disturbing and awe-inspiring’. The exhibition runs till April 29.