Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

More and more deer sightings are being reported from our region, where they were once reasonably uncommon. A herd of 11 was seen in Muckleford last month, and last weekend 7 were sighted in the Gough’s Range State Forest.

Deer in the Gough’s Range State Forest, September 2019: they’re a danger to traffic, a pest to agriculture and they trash the bush. And there are more and more of them.

Reports are piling up from around the state of the damage done by these feral animals, whose numbers are not being controlled by recreational hunters. The state government has been under pressure from farmers, conservationists and municipalities to deal with the exploding deer population. So far it has delayed making any kind of decisive decision about what to do with the problem. We can only speculate about the reasons for this delay, but the most likely explanation is that the government clings to the notion that the economic benefits of deer hunting and  the political clout of hunters outweigh the damage done by the animals.

As the deer population increases this position is getting dodgier and dodgier.

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Jase Haysom, well known local map maker, will be our speaker at the upcoming FOBIF AGM on Monday 9 September.

The meeting will start at 7.30 in the Ray Bradfield Room, Castlemaine (next to Mostyn Street IGA supermarket). Information on how to nominate for the FOBIF Committee can be found here. All welcome and supper will be served.

You can find out more here.

Tim Low

Tim Low, biologist and best-selling author of author of seven books about nature, will be giving 2 talks in central Vic, discussing The New Nature. This intriguing work looks at how modern human activity is changing the lives of many native species –some for better and some for worse. Tim will talk about how animals don’t have any concept of ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’ so they don’t automatically recoil from cities and farms. Sometimes they can do better in cities than in forests. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane now have Peregrine Falcons nesting on skyscrapers!

Tim’s presentation will go for 45 minutes then 15 minutes for questions from the audience. This is a rare treat, so make sure you come along to one or other of the talks, and tell your friends. All are welcome. Entry by donation. Tim’s two most recent books will be for sale at both events: Where Song Began and The New Nature.

Friday 6th September at 7.30 pm at Newstead Community Centre, Lyons Street/Pyrenees Hwy, Newstead. Hosted by Newstead Landcare Group and Connecting Country with extra support from FOBIF.

Saturday 7th September at 1.30pm at Glenlyon Shire Hall, Daylesford-Malmsbury Rd Glenlyon. Hosted by Wombat Forestcare.

We’ve almost stopped being surprised by the rubbish people dump in the bush: a complete lounge suite in Kalimna Park! A washing machine in the Columbine Creek catchment! What will the dumpers think of next? And what does that tell us about, er, modern civilisation?

But here’s something new: thirteen white traffic guide posts, most of them in mint condition, in a quiet gully 200 metres from the road in the Fryers Forest. A quick internet search reveals they’re worth $12.32 each!

Roadside traffic posts in mint condition, dumped in the Fryers Forest: a new method of storing equipment?

We’ve asked DELWP whether they’re just being stored there, but haven’t received a response. It seems too far from the road…and it is, after all, a form of visual pollution in an otherwise reasonably untouched place…

We’ll report on any response.

More evidence of systematic looting of our bushlands: trees cut down and removed from the circuit walk in Kalimna Park.

To put this practice in context, it’s worth considering some of the social media reactions to it. For example, a report on Parks Victoria’s Facebook page about the arrest of a man caught stealing 2 cubic metres of wood from Chiltern provoked 521 comments. Most supported the idea of resisting wood theft, but plenty didn’t. A sample of their comments is below:

Kalimna circuit track, August 20: A tree here, a tree there: systematic pillaging of the bush continues

‘You do absolutely nothing in our area Parks, no weed reduction, no landcare whatsoever. You just cost taxpayers a fortune changing your name all the time.’

‘He was probably going to give the wood to some elderly residents..
Thats ok, they can freeze to death while the fox will find another habitat to breed and take our lambs and lifestyle..’

‘it should be cleaned up if not parks lett the puplic in its only a fire hazed’

‘Probably the same bloke that has cleared many a tree from a rd or track weeks after it has fallen across because parks delwp or whoever they blame, can’t do their job even when reported to clear it. But gets gutted when he collects some fire wood for his family’

‘Bad enough, not allowed to take fire wood for a basic human need, WARMTH . But when did our once great nation become a nation of give ups & dobbers.’

A significant proportion of our community is not convinced by the idea of conservation: Parks faces a very significant challenge in community education to solve this particular problem.

What a great photo! No nonsense about ‘keeping to formed tracks,’ which is the law on Victoria’s public land. This is the latest piece of cowboy propaganda from The Age [24/8], which shares with numerous 4WD ads on TV an obsession with bashing waterways. The article inside, interestingly enough, doesn’t make any reference to driving in rivers. It does refer to ‘slaying deserts’, however, just to keep alive its message: nature is there to be tamed. Well, slain, actually.

Hey ho! Let’s show the environment who’s boss! The Age Drive continues its promotion of bad behaviour in the bush.

Is there a better way of being adventurous? If there is, you won’t find out about it in Drive. And as long as journals like The Age pour out cowboy propaganda, the few people who do drive like cowboys will feel encouraged and authorised to do it.