Category Archives: News

Strategic fuel breaks 2: bushlands

Posted on 4 October, 2021 by fobif

The draft map below shows the strategic fuel breaks proposed for the Castlemaine region. The lines are provisional but we are assuming they’ll be close to final. The black lines are the breaks around the Castlemaine-Chewton area, plus the important … Continue reading →

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Strategic fuel breaks: is it necessary to flatten nature to make our forests safe?

Posted on 20 September, 2021 by fobif

As we reported on August 16, DELWP is planning to create fuel breaks in this region, both near settlements and through bushland: ‘Strategic Fuel Breaks are a strip of land where vegetation has been permanently modified to reduce the rate … Continue reading →

Posted in Fire Management, News | 2 Comments

September walk cancelled

Posted on 12 September, 2021 by fobif

We have decided to cancel Geoff Nevill’s September FOBIF bushwalk due to the current restrictions on group gatherings. Hopefully we will be able to offer the walk next year. The October walk in the Fryers Ridge will be led by … Continue reading →

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In case you missed it…

Posted on 30 August, 2021 by fobif

ABC Television’s Gardening Australia program ran a segment on our local bushlands on August 20. The program, filmed on the Monk, packed a lot into its 8 minute duration. Local ecologist Cassia Read invited viewers to take a close up … Continue reading →

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Ian Higgins: A world lost…A world to regain?

Posted on 23 August, 2021 by fobif

The nature and function of peas The lush grasslands Major Mitchell called Australia Felix in 1836 were the starting point of Ian Higgins’s inspirational talk to the FOBIF AGM on August 9. The park-like scenes which so excited Mitchell were … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature Observations, News | 4 Comments

Slime mould knows the way out of Ikea!

Posted on 23 August, 2021 by fobif

Here’s a curious note on slime mould research, from the London Review of books : ‘The mycologist Lynne Boddy once made a scale model of Britain out of soil, placing blocks of fungus-colonised wood at the points of the major … Continue reading →

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A walk on the high side

Posted on 16 August, 2021 by fobif

A small group took on FOBIF’s August walk in brisk sunny weather yesterday. The route started below the Expedition Pass spillway and negotiated the western end of the Reservoir and up to the highest point of Specimen Gully Road, then … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Walks | 3 Comments

Strategic fuel breaks planned for our region

Posted on 16 August, 2021 by fobif

Discussions have begun over the government’s Strategic Fuel Breaks program, set to come to this region in the next few months. The program is described here. There are two kinds of break: —Asset protection breaks, to be set up around … Continue reading →

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Fuel management: the detail counts

Posted on 16 August, 2021 by fobif

FOBIF has made a submission to DELWP on the current fire management plan. The ‘fuel reduction’ burns currently planned can be seen on the Department’s excellent interactive map here. Our submission essentially related to the following: –We believe burns planned … Continue reading →

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FOBIF AGM

Posted on 16 August, 2021 by fobif

Forty participants logged in to last Monday’s FOBIF AGM by Zoom. They heard an inspirational talk by Ian Higgins on the disappearance of Australian native pea plants—the lost world of Mitchell’s Australia Felix—and their possible return to our landscapes. A … Continue reading →

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