Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

This book which has just been published contains nine A4 sized maps, showing 16 road rides. There are detailed route descriptions, elevation profiles and local photographs.

The rides are on surfaced roads, suitable for road bikes, gravel bikes, hybrids or MTBs. All start and finish at Maldon Post Office but they are out-and-back or loop rides, so you can start at other points on the route if you like. Many of the rides are via Castlemaine. 

Rides are of varying distances and difficulty from a short one around the town of Maldon to several about 100 km long. They cover a wide area from Bridgewater to Daylesford and Maryborough to Leanganook (Mount Alexander). 

Sample pages

You can buy the book at Stonemans Bookroom, Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre, Maldon Visitor Information Centre, Maldon Bookshop (formerly The Book Wolf), Maldon Bicycles, Maldon Newsagency, Giant Bike Shop (Hargraves Street, Castlemaine), Herbie’s Café, City Family Hotel (High Street, Bendigo) and Maryborough newsXpress (High Street). The RRP is $15 but price may vary at some some outlets. 

The book has been published by Maldon Cycling, a collective of Maldon bike riders. For enquiries please use Contact Us form at https://www.maldoncycling.org/ 

Yes, they are–unfortunately. It’s a curious fact that most weeds have spread widely because they’ve been planted for their ornamental appeal. It’s only when they get out of control that they start to lose some of their appeal.

Acacia decurrens (Early Black Wattle), Kalimna Park, August 17. Wattles with fern-like leaves and  flowering now are are either Cootamundras, Early Blacks, or Silver Wattles: and the first two of these are weeds.

The picture above is Acacia decurrens (Early Black, or Sydney Green Wattle). It’s a native of eastern NSW, but has been widely planted around the country and has definite invasive tendencies when outside its natural ecological range. Ern Perkins’ Castlemaine Flora describes it as a ‘bushland weed’, and it has become ‘naturalised’ in almost every state, as well as in many other countries.

An additional problem with Early Blacks is that they’ve been planted by mistake in some revegetation programs: many people–and, apparently, many nurseries–don’t see the difference between Early Black and Late Black Wattles. This latter is a native to our region. The two wattles are superficially similar, but it’s easy to tell them apart, if you look carefully. All you need is FOBIF’s guide to Wattles of the Mount Alexander region!

Canada? Greece? Canary Islands? Hawaii? Recent and current fires in the northern hemisphere are a sign of the times, and not a very encouraging one…

And we’ve been advised to expect a warm dry summer…We’re not trying to fear monger, or anything, but we thought the map below of Sicily in the last week of July might be of interest.

This is not a fantasy, it’s a fire map of Sicily, July 27: it’s as well to be informed about fire behaviour and risks.(Map from France 2 Television)

So you may be interested in the Bushfire Resilience Inc’s series of webinars on fire safety, which has just started:

‘Dry conditions will increase fire risks next summer, especially grass fires.
Watch the webinars with family and friends and discuss the information and
your plans…Learn how grass fires and bushfires behave and what your
family can do to reduce your risks Viewers can ask questions before or during the webinar, and when you register we’ll also send you a link to videos.’

You can find the full program here, including how to register.

Newstead Landcare is excited to invite you to a special presentation all about spiders! Our guest speaker is Lynne Kelly – researcher, educator, Castlemaine local, and author of ‘Spiders: Learning to love them’. 

Anyone who has been lucky enough to talk spiders with Lynne will know her passion for sharing their secret lives and personalities. Lynne’s presentation will include the story of her journey from arachnophobia to obsession, while introducing us to these extraordinary creatures.

Lynne has authored 19 books, and in the 2022 Australia Day Honours she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant achievement in science education through writing and research”. Her book, ‘Spiders: Learning to love them’ was judged the “Best book in the category of Natural History” in the 2009 Whitley Awards and awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. You can read more about the book online here: www.lynnekelly.com.au/Lynne_Kelly/Spiders.html

Please join us at 7:30pm on Tuesday 15 August 2023 at the Newstead Community Centre (9 Lyons St, Newstead VIC). All are welcome, gold coin donations appreciated.

‘The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action wants your feedback on the draft of Victoria’s Bushfire Management Strategy, which will set the vision for bushfire management in Victoria for the next 10 years.’

You can find the strategy here.

And you can make a submission here.

The strategy comes in three parts: people safety, conservation, and Aboriginal management.

There’s plenty of reasonable stuff in this document. Nothing wrong with this aim, for example:

‘To achieve genuine ecosystem resilience and positive nature conservation outcomes, the sector will integrate this improved understanding into decision making. This includes identifying and protecting environmental values and assets during on-ground operations and implementing on[1]ground programs to manage increased threats to environmental values (such as weeds and pests) resulting from the applied fire regime.’

The problem with the document might be that there are too many future tense sentences in it. ‘The sector will improve its knowledge of fire regimes…’ ‘The sector will continue to monitor…’ ‘The sector will ensure the scale of each target is appropriate…’ ‘The sector will support…adaptive management…’ ‘The sector… will…continue to improve…will optimise…will ensure…’ And so on.

A reader already sceptical about the ‘sector’s’ monitoring and adaptive management record will not be impressed by the promise that things will ‘continue to improve.’ Promises like this have been made for years, and it’s hard to be impressed by the results.

Let’s recall the Auditor General’s 2021 report:

‘DELWP advised us that it cannot guarantee the protection of all threatened species given:

• current funding levels
• scientific constraints around how species respond to threats and actions to control these in the wild, particularly in a time of climate change
• the long-term lag effects on Victoria’s biodiversity of over 200 years of colonisation.’

Lack of funding, lack of knowledge…Conservationists have been banging on about these things for years.

Still, if you have the time, it might be worth having a go. We recommend you ask, what is there in the strategy to guarantee that the funding levels identified by the Auditor General as inadequate will be brought up to scratch?

The consultation closes on August 20

A large group came to Mount Alexander last Sunday. The walk began at Dog Rocks then travelled south along Whisky Gully on the eastern side of the mount. On reaching the Leanganook Picnic Area the group headed north along the Goldfields Track to Dog Rocks. The winter sunshine was perfect for meandering along the gully. Fungi expert Joy Clusker provided expert help with identification backed up by Liz Martin who navigated the route. Unfortunately we had missed the best fungi months in May and June but there were still plenty around as well as abundant moss displays. Liz Martin sent us the following photos. 

Walks leader, Joy Clusker, taking a closeup.

A hardy group of five set out in brilliant frosty weather yesterday for FOBIF’s June long walk. Walk conditions were perfect, as was the length of the walk, estimated as between 12 and 24 kilometres. We suspect the second estimate was a little subjective.

Middleton Creek, July 16: check last week’s post to see how the water levels have dropped..but the creek is still running strongly.

The walk covered the wonderfully various country at the south end of the Diggings Park: substantial moss covered rock walls, wide green valleys, rocky ascents, unusually impressive giant eucalypts. The south point was the strongly running Middleton Creek. Fungi were in abundance, and the recent wet weather had given the bush a particularly lush appearance.

Our thanks  to Jeremy Holland for as usual providing an intriguing route through little known corners.

Next month’s walk is in the wildflower hotspot of the Maldon Historic Reserve. Check the website for details.