Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Vicroads’ proposed tree removal works on the Pyrenees Highway between Green Gully and Newstead have been put on hold pending advice from the Federal Department of the Environment [DEH] on the impact these removals might have on the health of migrating Swift Parrot populations.

Readers will remember that FOBIF has argued that removal of these trees, some of significant size, is both harmful for the amenity of the road and unnecessary for safety. We have argued that a reduction in speed limits and other measures would be a more effective policy, given that this is a winding stretch of road, probably unsuitable for significant speeds.

Vicroads’ response to this has been to point out that a car crashing into a tree at 80 is as fatal as a crash at 90 or 100—which seems to be ignoring that fact that the lower speed would most likely remove the probability of a crash in the first place. Vicroads’ Annual Report for 2016-7, noting a 15% increase in road fatalities in that year,  points out that ‘The most common crash types were run-offroad on high-speed country roads and intersection crashes in metropolitan Melbourne.’ In spite of numerous TAC campaigns like ‘speed kills’, and ‘wipe off 5’, it seems to us that Vicroads is more concerned to improve traffic flow than to influence drivers to drive to conditions. In a weird way, Vicroads and the Transport Accident Commission seem to be at odds…

Vicroads will be holding more consultations in the local area before the works begin.

This meeting will give people an opportunity to learn about the Wombat Forest and write a submission on the VEAC report on the night. Download the flyer here.

FOBIF has made a submission to the state government’s Draft Deer Management Strategy [see last week’s post]. Deer have not made a major impact in our region yet, but sightings are becoming more frequent, with recent reports from the Fryers Forest, Spring Gully, Muckleford and Chewton. Given the serious damage being done to the environment elsewhere, we have reason for concern. Feral deer pose an increasing threat to agriculture, the environment and traffic safety; the population is exploding, and that is a problem which needs to be confronted now.

We gave the draft a very low assessment, concluding that it was more concerned to gratify the hunting lobby than to respond to an increasingly evident environmental mess. It is puzzling and depressing that the state government should be concerned to pander to this lobby, whose allies are actively campaigning against it in the state election.

The essentials of our submission are set out below. The headings are the ones provided in the online survey form:

1. General comment: This is not a deer management strategy: it is a hunting strategy, clearly devised to expand the amount of public land available to recreational hunters. This is plain from the first, when we read that the strategy is a key action of the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan. This latter Plan is entirely devoted to expanding hunting, and the word ‘sustainable’ in its title has no reference to natural values whatever. It is clear from this document, and other material easily available on the subject, that recreational hunting is completely ineffective as a form of control of deer populations: expanding it, therefore, is not a response to the increasingly dire effects of an exploding deer population. It is simply a sop to the hunting lobby. It is significant that the draft gives an impressive figure valuing deer hunting on page 10, but does not match it with a figure indicating the many costs to agriculture, the environment and public safety on pages 10 and 11. Such a figure, we believe, would far outweigh the supposed value to rural communities.

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The inaugural Annual General Meeting of the BirdLife Castlemaine District Branch will be held on 27 October. This historic occasion includes a presentation by local bird expert and photographer, Geoff Park, and a short guided bird walk.

BirdLife Castlemaine AGM and Geoff Park presentation
Saturday 27 October, 2018 at 2.00 pm
Campbells Creek Community Centre, 45 Elizabeth St, Campbells Creek VIC

Interested people can nominate for the committee. Positions vacant are Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and three general committee members. Nomination forms and proxy voting forms can be obtained by emailing castlemaine@birdlife.org.au or by phoning Judy Hopley (Acting Secretary) on 5472 1156. Nominations will be accepted at the meeting.

VNPA image

In a recent article, the Victorian National Parks Association has this to say about the deer population explosion in Victoria:

Deer have become Victoria’s cane toads. With a population of around 1 million deer in the state, and probably growing by 400,000 a year, they are now poised to take over the nation.

Six species of deer are already seriously trashing our national parks and conservation reserves such as the Grampians, Alpine, Mount Buffalo, Mitchell River and Croajingolong national parks, as well as rainforest valleys and other threatened ecosystems throughout the state. They’re invading farms and front gardens, and a clear danger on our roads.

FOBIF has previously commented on the deer population in our region.

The Victorian Government has developed a Draft Deer Management Strategy  As the VNPA has pointed out, this Strategy has been heavily influenced by a deer hunting fraternity keen to protect deer populations as a recreational resource. They are encouraging people to respond to the Strategy:

The government, and our land management agencies, aren’t responding with the urgency this situation requires.

They may not act strongly enough if they don’t hear from you by next Monday 29 October.

You can help by filling in a few boxes in the online survey on the draft strategy website (it will only take a few minutes): engage.vic.gov.au/draft-victorian-deer-management-strategy

You can download the VNPA’s Deer Issues Paper here. FOBIF will be responding to the Strategy and we encourage others to do so by Monday 29 October.