Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Following the state government’s recent decision to keep Victoria the only state in the country where recreational duck shooting is allowed, FOBIF has endorsed the letter below to the state premier. The letter, drafted by Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting,  was also endorsed by Castlemaine Field Naturalists and Castlemaine Birdlife.

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Dear Premier,

We write to request your urgent assistance in making Cairn Curran Reservoir and surrounding wetlands exempt from native bird hunting which is due to start April 10.

As you are aware, there is strong support for a ban on native bird hunting from the local community. The number of local groups including First Nation Clans who signed our joint letter is significant.

Further, our local petition in 2021 (which Maree Edwards MP has viewed) showed those in the area wanting bird shooting banned, was 23 times higher than those wanting it to stay. (Our petition, which was deliberately run quietly, obtained over 480 signatures, mostly local. A petition by shooters to keep bird hunting in the area obtained just 21 signatures, only 11 of them local.)

Cairn Curran: a recreation area for a small minority?

In general terms, a UComms Poll of over 1000 metro and regional Victorians in 2021, found while most Victorians supported a ban on duck shooting, the strongest support for a ban came from the regions. As you know, in your own electorate of East Bendigo, the majority supported a ban also. In terms of Cairn Curran and surrounds, reasons for constituents wanting the area exempt from native bird hunting include:

• Safety concerns. We note that other wetlands, such as two in Mildura in 2019, were closed to shooting for public safety concerns– without 480 signatures.
• Despite one in four Victorians now living in regional areas, there has never been any public consultation, nor risk assessment, nor even desk top studies to consider the impacts – physically or mentally, of shooting on residents and other recreational users. As you can see by the petition comments from community, impacts are real and ought be a significant concern to policy makers.

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Like many voluntary associations, FOBIF is bound by the Model rules of association, which define the governance of the group–access to membership, running of meetings, elections and so on.

The Victorian government has recently modified these model rules. The changes, as far as we are concerned, mainly relate to the influence of new techology on meeting attendance. You can see the new changes here.

Here’s an exerpt from a DEECA press release dated last Wednesday March 6th:

‘On a day of Total Fire Ban in the South West fire weather district last week, a campfire escaped at the Rocklands Reservoir in the Grampians and while campers managed to contain the fire, it burned 0.1 hectares before Forest Fire Management crews arrived. Three tankers, 10 firefighters, and one air support
crew were required to completely extinguish the fire.

Mount Alexander near the Leanganook campground, January: this potential disaster –caused by a neglected campfire–was headed off by timely intervention by fire fighters.

‘Since 1 January 2024, authorities have detected more than 170 unattended campfires in parks and forests across the state, and with Victoria recently experiencing some of its most dangerous fire days, any unwatched campfire has a significant risk of escaping and spreading rapidly out of control.’ [FOBIF emphasis]

The release goes on to tell people to be careful. Given the above statistics, you would think the Department would show some decisiveness and go for a ban on campfires any time in the fire season. Polite advice doesn’t seem to be working.

Why doesn’t it? Well, our guess is that DEECA has a notion that campfires are some kind of sacred tradition, which can’t be touched. If so, it’s time they showed a bit of gumption, and leadership. The stakes are too high to indulge something that’s no longer necessary.

We’ve had lots of feedback to our post two weeks ago about fires at Leanganook: all confirm that there are too many fires, too many carelessly situated fires, and above all, too many large fires quite out of proportion to what might be needed to keep someone warm. Further, the ground around the camping area has been stripped of timber, including large logs which are not a fire problem and are important habitat.

News flash: the summer season is usually warm…and potentially dangerous. Even in mild or cooler days, fires are not necessary.

This should not be a matter for controversy: sometimes common sense and a bit of gumption make a good combination…but one which is often surprisingly absent.

Our first walk next Sunday (17 March) is a 5 km loop on Mount Mooral which is just outside Maldon. We will have lunch at the Rock of Ages where will be able to take in stunning views of northern plains, Mount Tarrengower and the Maldon township. 

Meet as usual at the Community House at 9.30 am. If you live close to Maldon you can join us at 9.45 am outside the Maldon Post Office (95 High Street). Ring Bronwyn Silver 0448751111 if you need further information.

Looking north in the early morning from the Rock of Ages.

Landscape photography can be a problem. It can have a tendency to prettify nature—the ‘chocolate box’ effect, the one seen too often on calendars; or it can be tempted to ‘disaster chic’, with an emphasis on ruins and devastation.

The goldfields offer pitfalls in both these directions, but Julie Millowick’s current exhibition, Surrounding, avoids both. In so doing, it offers a compelling and powerful insight into our region. Without trying for epic scenes, she presents the beauty of this ‘strangely poignant’ landscape ‘in tumult and recovery’. The photos show the ‘devastating  effects of mining and invasive plants, but also remind us of the interconnectedness that links all parts of this landscape, including its human occupants.’

Clothes hanging on a line, decaying walls, light filtering through trees, scatterings of Cassinia seeds, vegetation colonising mining sites, a small boy standing on a mullock heap, rainsoaked bush…There’s an unpredictable variety in these photos, but every one compels a close look. The poet Les Murray once referred to ‘the commonplace and magnificent roads of our lives.’ Somehow these pictures recall that phrase.

This exhibition captures the real spirit of the goldfields–ruin, abandonment, redemption–and the affection that can be felt for these astonishing landscapes. It’s to be hoped that the proponents of World Heritage listing for our region will come along for a good look.

The exhibition is at the Castlemaine Gallery [open Thursday to Saturday  11 am to 4 pm, Sunday 12 noon to 4 pm] till June 16. Don’t miss it.

Prompt action by firefighters confined a potentially dangerous fire on Mount Alexander to less than half a hectare on February 4^th.

As the photo below shows, the fire, though confined in area, was not a minor affair. We believe it started from a neglected campfire. The site is only a couple of hundred metres from Leanganook campground, which has been heavily used on summer weekends.

Part of the Mount Alexander fire area. A small fire, but with significant damage.

There seems to be a widespread belief that our bush is so flammable that it could spontaneously go up at any minute. So this might be the occasion to brush up on a few stats to do with the actual causes of fire. Here they are:

‘The majority of bushfires are started either intentionally or unintentionally, by people.

‘The Institute [of Criminology] found the top attribution was “suspicious” followed by “accidental”.²:

• Suspicious 37%
• Accidental 35%
• Deliberate 13%
• Natural 6%
• Reignition/spot 5%
• Other 4%’

There is a common idea that we are innocent victims, the bush is our enemy, and needs to be kept under control. It might be more accurate to say, we are the enemy of the bush.

Given the above figures, it’s quite surprising that campfires are even permitted in the fire season in Australia. Of course, fires are meant to be confined to proper fireplaces: but a quick look at Leanganook shows that campers have spread outside the main camping area, and some pretty dodgy campfire sites are easy to see.

Of course, a campfire is a romantic thing. A bushfire, not so much.

In any case, you would think a lot of resources would go into educating the public about fire behaviour. There are plenty of worthy programs around, but there’s obviously room for improvement in this area.

Not very Fun fact: Every year, more than 4500 fires across Australia are caused by cigarettes and at least 77 people lost their lives in fires started by cigarettes between 2000 and 2005. OK, that stat is a bit out of date, but bizarrely, in 2019, more than 200 people were caught tossing a lit cigarette out of a vehicle in NSW.

And here’s an even less fun fact: according to According to Chloe Hooper, ‘It is estimated that only 1% of bushfire arsonists are ever caught.’

FOBIF subscriptions for 2024 are now due. If you haven’t received information in the mail or would like to become a new member you can find the form here. Members who haven’t changed their details can skip filling out the form and deposit their subscription in the FOBIF bank account (include your surname/s). 

Our 2024 walks program is now online and you can read our latest newsletter here.

Parks Victoria has closed the Loop Track to vehicles at the south end of the Diggings Park, in an effort to control the spread of a possible infestation of Cinnamon Fungus in the area. FOBIF walkers had expressed concerns some months ago about the deaths of numerous plants along Loop Track and the southern end of Porcupine Ridge Road, near the Goldfields Track. Suspecting possible presence of the fungus, Parks undertook to take soil tests and consider limiting access. This closure is the result.

Scented Bush-pea die off, Porcupine Ridge Road, Summer 2023…

‘Known variously as die back, root rot and Jarrah dieback, PC and Phytophthora, Cinnamon Fungus derives its name from the bark of Cinnamon trees where it was initially isolated in Sumatra in 1922. Phytophthora literally means plant killer and this pathogen has lived up to its name, destroying vast tracts of vegetation around the world.

‘It is listed in the top 100 of the world’s most invasive species and is Victoria’s most significant plant pathogen affecting both native ecosystems and the horticultural industry.

Dead bushes, spring 2023. Cinnamon fungus is the suspect. Walkers should clean their footwear before going into the area.

‘Cinnamon fungus was first detected in Australia in 1935 and has since spread across the country infecting hundreds of thousands of hectares of native vegetation in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland. Heathlands, coastal woodlands and dry Eucalypt forests are most at risk.

‘Within Victoria, the pathogen has had serious impacts in the Brisbane Ranges, Grampians, Great Otway, Lower Glenelg, Point Nepean, Kinglake, Croajingalong and Wilsons Promontory National Parks in addition to Lerderderg State Park, Lake Tyers, Anglesea Heathlands and the coastal forests of east and south Gippsland.’

The pathogen (it’s not actually a fungus!) is easily spread by soil adhering to car tyres and walkers’ boots. Walkers entering affected areas should clean their gear before and after each trip. FOBIF strongly recommends that anyone entering such an area pay particular attention to footwear. Cleaning spray will be available to all participants on our monthly walks this year.

For more information check https://wild.com.au/news/prevent-cinnamon-fungus-spread/

Over 70 Victorian conservation groups, including FOBIF, signed an open letter to Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, late last year, urging better management of Central West forests. The letter was initiated by the VNPA and Wombat Forestcare, and reads as follows:

Congratulations on your recent appointment to Premier.

We celebrated the Victorian Government’s 2021 public commitment to create new protected areas. We applauded the decision to end native forest logging in the east of Victoria by 1 January 2024. In doing so your government acknowledged the incredible natural diversity and cultural importance of these areas.

Yet VicForests has plans to log over 60,000 hectares in the fragmented and cleared landscape of the west. If your agencies continue to log this habitat, plants and animals like Powerful Owls, Brush-tailed Phascogales and Mt Cole Grevillea risk becoming locally extinct.

It’s now time to demonstrate leadership by permanently protecting the surviving wildlife, forests and woodlands of western Victoria. It’s time to look after the complex web of natural life in these forests and restore what we have left. We call on you to immediately:

• Halt the taxpayer-funded destruction of our natural heritage and end native forest logging statewide.
• Legislate the promised Wombat-Lerderderg, Mount Buangor and Pyrenees national parks.
• Cease all firewood harvesting in Wellsford Forest and include it in the Greater Bendigo National Park.
• Enact formal protections promised for the nature-rich Cobaw Conservation Park, and other regional parks and conservation reserves.

This is a rare opportunity to create a profound legacy for future generations and:

• Provide vital habitat for over 370 rare and threatened animals and plants.
• Support First Nations joint management of new parks.
• Help reduce the impacts of climate disruption by trapping millions of tonnes of stored carbon.
• Support rural and regional livelihoods through visitation and nature-based tourism.
• Protect river headwaters that flow from these forests to create water security for farms and communities.
• Help forestry workers to transfer their skills to nature-positive jobs.

Creating new national parks and phasing out destructive native forest logging isn’t only about protecting wildlife and beautiful places. It’s about clean air and water, a liveable climate and people’s livelihoods.