Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

We’ve received a response from DELWP to our questions about the scalping of Fryers Ridge Road. You can read it by clicking here: Fryers Ridge Rd DELWP response

The key paragraph runs as follows:

‘Roadside scalping is sometimes used where the verge needs heavy vegetation and debris removed and the ground profile flattened to allow future maintenance to be carried out by slashing; to widen the mineral earth part of the road as part of planned burning preparation…; and if resource limitations have prevented an annual slashing program to be maintained causing an accumulation of heavy growth on the roadside.’

There are three reasons here, the first two of which do not apply to the Ridge Road. The third, however–the reference to ‘resource limitations’– confirms our suspicions: that scalping is used as a cheap method of achieving your ends when you’re short of cash. So, although it’s generally considered a bad way of going about things, managers are forced to use it anyway.

It’s clear also, from this letter, that roadside clearing often happens in ignorance of what might be getting scraped into oblivion: there’s no effective monitoring of its biodiversity effects. And although managers generally need to comply with clearing regulations, these only come into play if something ‘important’ is known to be in the relevant area. In the absence of detailed monitoring, this often comes down to the judgement of the manager in question.

We have serious disagreements about the decisions made to scalp the Ridge Road, and other tracks in the Fryers Ranges, and believe that in most areas there was no ‘heavy growth’ on the roadsides.

In another communication to us from the Environment Minister, we’ve been invited to discuss values of roadsides with the responsible Terrestrial Biodiversity Manager. We’ll take up this invitation.

The Mount Alexander Shire will be undertaking works on the Guildford Big Tree, which, as we’ve previously reported, was badly damaged in February. From a Council briefing:

‘The severe storm in February 2015 caused considerable damage to the
canopy of this significant tree causing the loss of several large
sections of the canopy.  This loss has exposed a number of branches
within the remaining canopy which have the potential to shed during
relatively mild weather conditions.

The Big Tree: works will be undertaken to try to forestall further damage to the old feller.

‘To protect the tree, reduce potential branch loss and improve overall
tree health, the following works are scheduled to occur within the
next few weeks:

‘1. The tree will be pruned to reduce over-extended and exposed
branches.  The pruning will reduce the potential hazard associated
with these branches and leave a well-balanced tree with an
aesthetically pleasing appearance.  All pruning will be undertaken in
accordance with Australian Standards, AS4373-2007 Pruning of amenity
trees.

‘2. Several large branches that remain below the tree will be relocated
from beneath the trees canopy and remain on-site as informal seating
for visitors.  Some of the other branches will be taken to Guildford
Primary School.  Any other remaining branches will be removed.

‘3. The existing grassed area beneath the tree will be mulched.
Mulching of the existing grassed area will reduce root competition for
soil moisture and nutrients, prevent soil compaction by mowing
equipment and improve tree health.’

FOBIF has made a submission to the Tarran Valley rezoning advisory committee. This committee has been appointed by the planning minister, Richard Wynne, to consider a proposal to develop land in the Sandy Creek area near Maldon. We have objected to the development. Our submission can be found here.

This matter dates back to 2006, and our background posts on it can be found by tapping Tarran Valley into the search box at top right of this page.

Our objections relate to fire risk and development in catchment areas. We also point out that population trends used by Council in its original decision to approve the development were significantly exaggerated: ‘[The Mount Alexander Urban Living Strategy 2005] has a population projection for 2021 of 21,930, compared with the more realistic population projection of 19,291 from the Victoria in Future [VIF] 2015 study.  The urban living strategy thus over estimates the population, in comparison to VIF, by 2,639 which translates to an over estimation in housing lots needed at this date of over 1,000 lots.’

The committee will report to the minister in due course–possibly not till next year.

Noel Young sent us this report on the September FOBIF walk:

True to its name the Wattle track was rich with flowering wattles. In pleasantly mild conditions, walkers covered nine and a half kilometers through a variety of bush with many plants awakening to flower a little late after a cool dry winter. The flowers I managed to list were Downy Grevillea, Early Nancy, Hovea, Billy Buttons, Purple Coral-pea, Guinea flower, Handsome Flat-pea, Grey Parrot-pea, Common Heath, Common Beard-heath, Pink Bells, Gorse Bitter-pea, and the only orchid found – a patch of Nodding Greenhoods.

Birds were abundant along the way, their presence mainly indicated by calls. I listed those I could recognise as: Spotted Pardalote, White-throated Treecreeper, Crimson Rosella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Grey Shrike-thrush, Fuscous Honeyeater, Superb Blue Wren, Long-billed Corella, and Grey Fantail. Others added Galah, Oriole, and Yellow-faced Honeyeater.

Liz Martin sent us this photo collage.

And here are some photos from Dominique Lavie (first photo) and Noel (last 3 photos). Click to enlarge.

Nioka Mellick-Cooper has supplied us with the following account of FOBIF’s September youth walk:

‘What did you do on Fathers Day? Did you stay at home, did you go out for lunch? On Fathers Day, I ran a bush walk for youths and their fathers. It was a perfect day, and we got a total of 18 walkers. With sons, daughters, fathers and even mothers participating.

‘A great way to finish the year’: some of the group at the end of the September youth walk.

‘The walk took place at the Garfield Waterwheel, but we met and signed in at the Continuing Ed building. On the walk, we were lucky enough to have Marie Jones with us, to guide us along and give us extra information regarding the surrounding area. The walk took us roughly two hours with only one short snack and water break. We saw many things, including mine shafts, all sorts of birds, and of course, the esteemed wheel. As we returned to the starting spot, we could smell the cooked lunch waiting for us that was very filling and was the perfect thing to finish of a day of walking. We took the walkers back to the Continuing Ed where everyone received a gift bag to take home with them. The gift bag included a flora guide, bird guide, torch, chocolate bar (great for bushwalking!), and camping spoon/fork. Overall, the walk was a success and it was a great way to finish the year.’

The second successful FOBIF youth walk for 2015 took a circuit from Garfield Wheel to Forest Creek on Sunday September 6. [see our post above].

You can find a good account of the walk by John Ellis on the Chewton.net Facebook page. One interesting feature of this report is that it draws attention to the fact that the quiet bush atmosphere  was a bit degraded by the presence of a couple of trail bike riders circulating close to the wheel and kicking up dust in the nearby cyanide pits. The report provoked angry–well, abusive, actually– responses from Facebook readers keen to defend the riders’ rights to do their thing in the area.

Trail bike riding on registered bikes on formed roads is a perfectly legal activity. So, what’s the problem?

There are two, actually.

The first is noise. This concerns not only bushwalkers, but residents on town margins who find their quiet weekends poisoned by riders circulating, quite legally, on nearby private land. One rider can intrude on the lives of dozens of people.

The second is illegal riding off track on public land. This can cause serious erosion and destruction of important vegetation.

The responses to John Ellis’s Facebook post seem to show that there are some riders who don’t see either of these as anything to worry about–and that, it seems, is the real problem

Land managers and municipalities have wrestled with this stuff for some time. Solutions have been put up, but things appear, on anecdotal evidence, to be getting worse. We look at the solutions below, and ask why they haven’t worked.

The organisers of the upcoming  Alan ‘Curly’ Hartup exhibition have supplied us with the following text:

A wonderful exhibition of nature photographs by leading amateur photographer and longtime resident of Newstead, Alan Jesse Hartup (1915 –2004) will be opened at the Newstead Railways Arts Hub on Saturday October 10^th at 3pm.

This exhibition is largely of bird life in Newstead and the surrounding districts, from Alan’s vast array of black and white photographs and colour slides. This selection of 20 works of black and white and prints from colour slides, span over 60 years of Alan’s impressive output. Beginning with his beloved 35m Voigtlander camera, he progressed to the brilliant level of work he achieved with his Mamiya and Rollieflex 2¼ square cameras and his great ability with dark room techniques.

Alan has been represented widely in amateur circles and has been a central figure in promoting, selecting and judging photography in Victoria and interstate. In preparing for this exhibition we have been reminded what a wonderful legacy Alan has left with images of the beauty and richness of our surroundings. He was a man at one with the natural world and one who took a vital interest in our environment and how to care for it. The exhibition was prompted by local field naturalists Geoff Park and Mrs. Joan Butler.

We, members of Alan and Rita’s family, appreciate the opportunity to show his work.

More details can be found in this flyer.

After a fair bit of consideration, FOBIF has been experimenting with a Facebook page, as a way of varying our approach to informing the public about matters in our region, and maybe of reaching a new audience. The material we publish there will be variations on what we put on this site, and there’ll be links back to here.

We’re launching the page today with a slide show of photos of the late Doug Ralph. The page can be found here or by clicking on the Facebook icon to the right of this post.

If you’re into Facebook, add us to your friends – and add your knowledge and ideas to the material we’ve put out!

Try a walk in the bush at the Garfield Water Wheel, Castlemaine, Sunday 6th September, meeting at 9.30 am outside Castlemaine Continuing Education in Templeton Street.

Youth Sustainability Champion, Nioka Mellick-Cooper, is a Year 9 student at the Castlemaine Secondary College. She is leading her fourth youth walk as part of the Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests bushwalking program, and is generously funded by the Mount Alexander Shire’s Youth Grants. Nioka has received two grants to run her walks program and is looking forward to the Fathers’ Day ramble. See here for the post on the Mount Alexander youth walk which took place earlier this year.

“We took a few wrong turns on the last walk and got a bit lost, but it was all good fun. We hope to see some new people try their hand at bushwalking this time around, with or without your without a dad-type figure in tow.”

The walk will take just over 2 hours and will cover around 4-5km. Previous walks have been in the Muckleford forest, at the Eureka Reef, and Mount Alexander.

Arrive back at the carpark area for a vegetarian BBQ before returning to Castlemaine. All young people will receive a complementary gift pack. Please book a spot by phoning 54724609 or 0431 219 980.