Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

A few species of Eucalypt are flowering profusely at the moment, in spite of dry conditions. Why does one specimen of a particular species flower, and another not? Local conditions play a part, but some of it is still a mystery. Still, we’ll take the benefits where we can get them.

Species in flower at the moment include Grey Box, Red Stringybark and Manna Gums, though such is the erratic nature of the flowering seasons that you can occasionally find other species unpredictably in flower.

Grey Box in flower, Forest Creek, Castlemaine.

Scientist, Alison Pouliot ©

Alison Pouliot is running her wonderful fungus forays and workshops again this year. This is a list of some that are reasonably close:

Saturday 23 April 2016 – Trentham   Foray – Fungus Foray in the Wombat Forest
Thursday 28 April 2016 – Woodend  Foray – A Foray Among the Funguses
Saturday 30 April 2016 – Baynton   Workshop – The Fungi: An Introduction to a Curious Kingdom
Monday 2 May 2016 – Baringhup Seminar ­- Fungi of Eddington Forest and Bells Swamp
Wednesday 25 May 2016 – Shelbourne Foray – Shelbourne Forest Fungus Foray
Sunday 29 May 2016 – Creswick Foray – A Foray Among the Funguses

You can find all the details of these and other workshops here.  

© Alison Pouliot

Applications for New Projects Now Open

Connecting Country is a not-for profit community organisation which aims to restore landscapes and biodiversity across the Mount Alexander shire and immediate surrounds.

They have a program, ‘Connecting Landscapes Across the Mount Alexander Region’, which allows them to work with landholders and Landcare groups to enhance bushland on private land.  This program also allows them to undertake revegetation of indigenous plant species on private land.

Support they can provide is skilled labour (using their Works Crew) and financial contributions towards restoration and revegetation activities on part or all of your property.  Costs to the landholder are usually negligible.

Direct seeding lines winding their way through a property in Faraday as part of the Connecting Country on-ground works program. Photo:Bonnie Humphreys

They have capacity to take on new projects on private land during 2016 and 2017.  If your property or project area is found to meet the criteria, the activities that they support can include: Continue reading →

Where did the idea get about that our trees all ‘look the same’?

The problem has been around for a long time: in 1770 Captain Cook wrote about the NSW coast: ‘the woods do not produce any variety of trees.’ In 1836 Darwin claimed that ‘the extreme uniformity of the vegetation’ was ‘the most remarkable feature of the vegetation’ he observed in Australia. And in 1939 the poet AD Hope talked of the ‘drab green and desolate grey’ of our vegetation. And he compounded the insult by suggesting that the Australian people were just as monotonous…

Maybe these very worthy experts weren’t looking hard enough?

Our new exhibition of photos in Castlemaine is set to have a go at overturning the still widespread notion that our trees are monotonously uniform. Trees of the Mount Alexander Region mounted by the Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests will run at Togs Place café from 26 February till 31 March 2016. The exhibition aims to highlight the amazing variety to be seen in our local indigenous trees: even those of the same genus—for example, eucalypts—can exhibit a wild variety of shape and colour, as well as hosting an extraordinary diversity of wildlife.

One of the exhibition photos by Patrick Kavanagh (Nankeen Kestrel, Moolort Plains). Tree hollows are vital for the survival of much of our wildlife, so even dead trees can be important features of the land. This photo shows one of three fledglings raised in this hollow on the Moolort Plains. The other two have just ventured from the nest. This one seems to be stretching in preparation for the big step out.

The exhibition photos have been selected from over 125 photos that were submitted to FOBIF during December and January after a ‘call for photos’ was posted on our website. In June the exhibition will have a second showing at the new arts venue, the Newstead Railway Arts Hub. At this exhibition at least one photo from each contributor will be included in a continuous slideshow.

Photos will be for sale with proceeds going to FOBIF to cover costs.

Memberships and donations are rolling in

FOBIF wishes to thank all its members for the generous donations they have made both last financial year and this current year. In fact the donations received have totalled fifty percent of the membership payments.

Your generosity will enable FOBIF to continue with its projects to help keep the biodiversity of the Box-Ironbark Forests healthy and safe into the future.

If you haven’t yet paid your membership, forms are available here.

Certificate of Appreciation

Lisa Chesters, Federal Member for Bendigo, presented a certificate of appreciation to FOBIF in recognition of our contribution to strengthening community and supporting the volunteer sector as part of International Volunteer Day December 2015.  These are fine words and well deserved – and it was appreciated by the FOBIF Committee on behalf of our members.  Well done everyone!

As explained in an earlier post, this year’s first FOBIF walk will take place on 20 March and will be a combined FOBIF/Connecting Country event. The walk on private property in Strangways (near Newstead) will be led by Andrew Skeoch (Listening Earth) and Tanya Loos (Connecting Country). Have a look at our walks page to find out more.

The walk will be part of the Feather Five Festival which will take place during the weekend of 19-20 March (click here for media release). More about the festival can also be found by clicking on the poster below and at the Connecting Country website.

You will need to book for this first walk as places are limited (booking closes 17th March 2016).  Book online at http://www.trybooking.com/KEHE. As with other FOBIF walks there is no charge and we will meet at 9.30 at Continuing Education in Templeton Street. Parking is limited at the property so buses will be used to transport walkers to the starting point. The use of this booking system is a one-off as future FOBIF walks will not need to limit the number of walkers.

Click to enlarge.

Mount Alexander Shire is currently investigating the possibility of setting up an ‘off lead dog park’ at the north end of the Botanical Gardens, abutting Froome’s Road, and west of Barkers Creek. The idea of an off lead park in Castlemaine has quite a long history, and details of council deliberations can be found on the Council’s website, here, here and here.

In the Castlemaine gardens, west of Barkers Creek: some concerns need to be allayed about the current proposal.

The area would be provided with ‘a fully fenced perimeter, animal drinking water, selfclosing gates, shade, seating, rubbish bins and waste bag dispensers’. FOBIF believes that an off lead park is a good and common sense idea, but the location of the current proposal right next to the ‘bush’ section of the gardens gives cause for concern. Although the area is to be fenced, we’re worried that dogs might be able to get into the bush section, home to colonies of the Eltham Copper Butterfly. Perhaps more seriously, the area in question is known to have infestations of needle grass weeds, which could be spread on dog fur. Serious weed removal should obviously precede implementation of the park plan.

The proposal is well advanced, but is subject to various planning requirements. We’ll report on it in future posts.

This year’s FOBIF walks’ program has been finalised and can be viewed here. The first walk  (20 March) will be a combined FOBIF/Connecting Country event. The focus will be on birds and three experts will lead several short walks on Andrew Skeoch and Sarah Koschak’s property near Newstead. The meeting spot is still Continuing Education in Templeton Street (9.30am). However if you would like to meet in Newstead instead, ring Bronwyn Silver 5475 1089 or Tanya Loos 5472 1594 for details about an alternative meeting spot. More information on the walk can be found here.