Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

The harmless, even charming looking plant below is Tribulus terrestris—variously called Caltrop, bindii, cat’s head, goat’s head, yellow vine. It’s a native of North Africa, now naturalised around the world, including Australia. It’s thought to have been introduced here as a contaminant in seed from the Mediterranean area, California or South Africa, and spread widely when its seed was caught in car tyres in the 1920s and 1930s.

Calthrop/Bindii…a new arrival in our district: how did it get here?

A grisly list of the problems associated with this plant can be found here. They relate to the seed, a diabolical looking object vaguely like a land mine from an alien planet. It’s painful to stand on, punctures bike tyres and can stick to pets’ feet. Obviously not something to have to put up with on a sports field.

Caltrop seed: a glance will suggest why it’s painful.

Caltrop/Bindii is most commonly found in the North of Victoria, but seems to have recently arrived in Castlemaine, where it’s been found on the Western Oval and some roadsides. How did it get here? The common factor in all sites found so far is that they’ve been disturbed by road and other works, or seem to have soil brought in from elsewhere: another reason for paying more attention to the cleaning of machines, and for being more careful about transferring soil from one place to another.

The terms of reference for the national royal commission into bushfires contain some potentially fruitful lines of enquiry, including the ideas of national policy on biodiversity, land use planning, and indigenous land use practices.

One of the challenges the commission will face is the directive to take into consideration ‘other reports and enquiries’. There have been more than 50 of these, and it’s hard to see how the commissioners can come up with something new, unless it’s a way of actually getting recommendations effectively implemented.

Take land use planning, for example. Here’s part of the Black Saturday Royal Commission recommendation 39 on the matter: ‘The State amend the Victoria Planning Provisions relating to bushfire to ensure that the provisions give priority to the protection of human life, adopt a clear objective of substantially restricting development in the areas of highest bushfire risk—giving due consideration to biodiversity conservation—and provide clear guidance for decision makers.’ [FOBIF emphasis].

Here’s Kevin Tolhurst on the fate of that recommendation:

‘The Government and its agencies has … been timid in applying land-use planning regulations in bushfire-prone areas. While the CFA, with its experienced and specialist bushfire planning staff, has been removed from its role as a planning authority with the power to accept or reject planning applications for buildings and developments in bushfire-prone areas.’

Let’s see how this Royal Commission goes around that circle.

Another part of the terms of reference is to investigate the matter of ‘hazard reduction.’ Although this has been a favourite theme of commentators wanting to distract the public from the fact that climate change might be making bushfires worse, it also could be a good subject to consider.

Except that it too is an idea that’s been kicked around endlessly with no apparent consensus. Who now remembers the 2008 Victorian Parliamentary enquiry into land management and bushfires? One of its recommendations was a huge burn off target. The State Government said of that recommendation:

‘The Victorian Government supports planned burning to improve protection, conservation and production outcomes. However, the annual area treated by planned burning needs to be determined based on science and risk management frameworks and be subject to  opportunities as dictated by seasonal conditions.

‘Given this, the Government recognises that the amount of planned burning will vary to take into account these factors.

‘The Government supports a move away from focusing on hectare—based targets which may lead to inappropriate planned burning outcomes. They do not account for differences in the effort required for small area asset protection burns (often around settlements) compared to larger scale mosaic burns in more remote areas.

Then, only a few years later, the Black Saturday Royal Commission recommended a rolling 5 per cent target…and it was found unworkable and ineffective by the Commission monitor, for exactly the reasons set out in 2008—but only after a large area of land had been burned for no sensible reason.

Let’s hope we don’t have to go around that circle again.

Here’s a factor which should not be forgotten: human causes of fire. We’re not talking only about arson: carelessness or sheer ignorance are factors. The fire which seriously threatened the Canberra suburbs recently was caused by an army helicopter…And it was a helicopter involved in fire protection!

It’s unfair to blame the army for this, but there’s there’s something farcical about it, although we don’t think Canberra residents would have been laughing. The lesson of it, maybe, is that for increasing lengths of time throughout the year, past ways of doing things don’t work…that the way we do things has to change. Let’s see how the Royal Commission approaches that one.

Come along to the launch of Trace Balla’s latest book — Landing With Wings — set right here on Dja Dja Wurrung Country.

The Castlemaine Garden Club has invited FOBIF members and supporters to their March meeting:

We have been lucky enough to secure Dr Alison Pouliot as our speaker. Alison is an honorary fellow at Australian National University, and has published The Allure of Fungi. She runs fungi workshops, seminars & forays around Victoria.

Her photography is spectacular and her knowledge of fungi is amazing.

Cost for attendees is $5 which covers the talk and supper.

Please RSVP to castlemainegardenclub@gmail.com

Date: Tuesday 24 March at 7:30 pm,
Place: Wesley Hill Hall. Duke Street, Castlemaine

Dr Alison Pouliot

Atheniella aurantiidisca © Alison Pouliot

Cortinarius tragunus © Alison Pouliot

The Andrews government has closed an “outdated” legal loophole that allowed people to kill wombats without a permit in eastern Victoria.

More than 4000 wombats are killed each year, according to the Victorian Greens, because of a decades-old rule that allowed landowners to control the marsupial’s population at 193 parishes in Gippsland.

The amendment to the Wildlife Act 1975  officially revokes an outdated law that declared wombats unprotected in some parts of the state.

It follows a state government inquiry into wombat protection laws that was triggered by public outrage after it was revealed that wealthy international tourists were being invited to a farm in northern Victoria to hunt the animals.

Wombats are present in large numbers in the protected environment of Wilsons Promontory National Park. Photo Bronwyn Silver, 2019.