Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

FOBIF is well aware that Fryers Ridge Road is a major fire access track for the area. Our problem with the current works is that we believe that the desired safety result could have been achieved in a less destructive way–perhaps by selective removal of obstructive vegetation, and some slashing. Scalping and bulldozing of road verges has a severe impact on vegetation in the long term: field naturalists with long memories of the district have claimed that Department works over the last 50 years have reduced some sections of the roadway to a shadow of their former glory.

Fryers Ridge: managers concede that scalping is not ‘ideal’. It appears that better methods are too expensive for the Department’s budget.

‘Scalping’ is widely acknowledged as something to be avoided if possible. Here are a few recommendations from documents around Australia:

‘When slashing roadsides, machinery operators should be mindful of the changing contours of the roadside and not cut too close to the ground. This is often referred to as ‘scalping’. Scalping creates ideal conditions for weed growth, disturbing soil and removing competition for resources such as light. Scalping also directly results in machinery, especially cutting implements, becoming contaminated.’ [DPI Victoria 2005]

‘Do not have the mower or slasher set too low otherwise the machine will scalp the ground causing serious soil disturbance. Scalping leaves bare patches of earth subject to erosion, in sandy soils the risk of erosion and destabilisation is very high.’ [Tasmanian Coastal Works manual 2005]

‘Avoid scalping of the ground during slashing operations.’ Greater Shepparton Council 2005]

‘Low shrubs, native grasses and groundcovers generally do not affect road safety and, where possible, should be retained in the clearance areas. These species help prevent weed invasion and erosion and can reduce roadside management costs.’ SA Native Vegetation Council 2012

FOBIF representatives met with DELWP and Parks officers on the ridge on July 10. These conceded that the works ‘could have been better done’ in places. The reason they weren’t? Shortage of money. The preferred vegetation management methods cost more, and from where we stand, it looks like the Department is drastically short of money. Hence, repeated cutbacks by governments of both persuasions over the years delivers what we can’t quite get used to: land management on the cheap.

Several more substantial proposed burns have been removed from the current DELWP Fire Operations Plan. Apart from the Amanda’s Track proposal, which we have previously reported, these include:

Donkey Farm Track [in the Maldon Historic Reserve], Chewton Railway Dam [in the Fryers Forest], Pepper Tree Track [in the Tarilta catchment], and  Zig Zag track [in the Sandon State forest].

Sandon State Forest: the 491 ha management fire in this zone has been deleted from the fire operations plan. This forest was ‘almost completely denuded of useful timber’ by 1870.

All of these were substantial burns for our area, and we had expressed reservations about them for one reason or another in our submissions to the Fire Operations Plan.

Withdrawal of these burns has been  ‘based on a review of the risk, feedback from community groups and an operational assessment’, according to Andrew Koren, DELWP’s local program manager for planned burning, in a detailed response to FOBIF’s submission to the FOP, received last week.

The Department will proceed with its plans to burn Mount Tarrengower, though how this will be done is still under consideration. The southern slope of the Mountain, around Perkins Reef, was recently burned. Additionally, a new burn is proposed for Fryers Ridge, around the Old Tower Track. Crude track upgrades in this area were done over the last couple of years.

The State Government is still considering the recommendation by the Inspector General of Emergency Management that the ‘five per cent target’ be replaced by a risk management system. In his response to FOBIF’s fire submission [see above] Andrew Koren made it clear that until the Government makes a decision on the matter, DELWP is running business as usual:

‘The review conducted by Inspector General of Emergency Management ( IGEM) could result in possible changes to DELWP’s fuel management targets and delivery of the program. Any changes that result from IGEM will not be decided upon until later this year. Prior to this, DELWP will continue its operational planning for the 2015/16 financial year under the current target and program. Any changes to the fuel management policy, and targets and resulting operational changes won’t be reflected in the FOPs until 2016/17.

‘Each year of the 2015/16 – 2017/2018 plan contains a planned area of at least 300,000 hectares. This is in excess of the 2015/16 delivery target of 275,000 hectares. This is to allow DELWP flexibility across the state for seasonal weather and fuel conditions. The Murray-Goldfields target for the three years of the FOP is 11,285 hectares. This is a reduction from our previous target of 14,000 hectares.’