Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

FOBIF has written to the RACV asking for clarification on its view of 4WD practices, in particular the practice of driving along beaches and other off road places [see our post].

In connection with the article we complained about in the July issue of RoyalAuto, we asked:

1. Where is the apology/retraction of the offending parts of the article?
2. What do the editors of RoyalAuto understand by the word ‘pristine’, when they can apparently accept that it applies to a scene with a car and numerous tyre marks on the ground?

We also pointed out that the Code of Conduct for off road driving for Four Wheel Drive Australia includes the following points:

‘3. Respect our flora and fauna. Stop and look, but never disturb. 4. Keep to formed vehicle tracks.’ [our emphasis]

And we asked: ‘does the RACV not endorse these protocols? Ninety percent of 4WD drivers are sensible and law abiding. It is a source of great irritation that advertisements for these vehicles regularly show them plunging recklessly through creeks or churning through vegetation: this encourages the minority of cowboys who think that trashing our environment is great fun. It’s a pity that in this case the RACV seems to be on their side.’

We’ll let you know if we get a response.

The State Government is currently running a number of online public consultations under its Engage Victoria process. You can sign up for this easily by going to https://engage.vic.gov.au/

Two current consultations are of interest to us: one is on the decision to phase out single use plastic bags, and the other on the banning of e-waste from landfill. Both are on the face of it good policies, but as in everything the implementation could make or break them. For example, the government has allocated d $15 million to design and implement a program to upgrade Victoria’s e-waste collection network, and $1.5 million on public education on e- waste. Is this enough, or will we see an increasing number of TV sets and computers dumped in our bushlands?

When you register, you can find out about current consultations at https://engage.vic.gov.au//waste

Consultations on these matters close on January 25.

Connecting Country set 150 nest box sites in 2010 to provide habitat for this species through the Mount Alexander Shire. They have since monitored many of these nest box sites every two years, and now have a number of years of data on this species occurrence in the region. I selected 50 of these 150 sites, stratified according to landscape context (ie. the amount of tree cover surrounding each nest box site). Between April and June 2016, while Connecting Country conducted their nest-box checks, I set two cameras at each of these 50 sites.

In this study, I model the occurrence of Brush-tailed Phascogales in the Mount Alexander Shire with landscape attributes, such as the size of a forest patch, and a number of habitat attributes collected in the field, including forest productivity, forest structure, logs and leaf litter, and tree size and species.

One  property near Axe Creek was home to a particularly active population of Brush-tailed Phascogales, and you can watch a video of the sort of footage we detected” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTklMGskLyYc

Tuan in nest box at Welshmans Reef. Photo by Jess Lawton.

There’s something very striking about advertisements for SUV’s: almost every one contains an image of a car either tearing up some country, plunging through a waterway, or driving along a remote beach. TV advertisements of these cars will sometimes do all three, as watchers of sporting broadcasts can attest.

The gist of this quite substantial propaganda barrage is: ‘go for it, rip up the country, that’s what these machines are for.’ There might be an additional message: ‘be a man: show the country who’s boss.’ We’re not sure about that one.

Isn’t it great tearing up the country? Illustration of a ‘review’ of Jeep Cherokee in the Age, which should know better.

This is just hoon behaviour, and most 4WD drivers don’t go for it, fortunately. In fact, the Code of Conduct of 4WD Australia includes the following:

‘1. Obey the laws and regulations for Recreational Vehicles that apply to public lands.
‘2. Respect the cultural, heritage and environmental values of public/private land,
by obeying restrictions that may apply.
‘3. Respect our flora and fauna. Stop and look, but never disturb…
‘7. Adopt minimal impact camping and driving practices.’

There are enough drivers around, however, who seem to think that ripping the country apart is what life is all about, and it’s a pity that they should be getting as much encouragement as they are. The results can be seen all over the country, and the photo below is a sample.

Section of the Goldfields Track near Irishtown, October 2: this kind of destruction is the direct consequence of irresponsible advertising of recreational vehicles.

Most drivers don’t behave like this, and it’s about time the industry and its publicists grew up and stopped promoting hoon behaviour.

Here’s a curious footnote, in this letter to the August issue of the RACV RoyalAuto magazine, and the editor’s response, under the heading, ‘Keep off the beach’:

‘Your writer recently visited Kangaroo Island with his 4WD and left an intrusive footprint on the formerly pristine Snellings Beach (“The Other Kangaroo Island,” R A July). Snellings is a small beach that can be walked in a few minutes. This allows you to experience how nature does perfection. A bonus is that pedestrians might see the rare hooded plover eggs and the birds get a chance of survival. We have roads for cars, beaches are for the creatures that depend on them. It is a privilege for humans to enjoy them.

Trish Edwards, Balliang

Editor’s note: The online version of the story has been modified to include our apology and to take out reference to driving on the beach.’

Out of curiosity, we just checked the online version of the July RA. The offending article doesn’t seem to be modified at all. It’s headed by a large photo of a  beach, a car parked in the foreground, and numerous tyre marks on the sand. The text reads, in part, ‘Within minutes we’d driven down onto the beach ourselves, our 4×4 rolling confidently over the firmly packed sand. Maybe five other people were scattered along Snelling’s pristine length. We’d found the other Kangaroo Island.’

Not so ‘pristine’ now, maybe. We’ve contacted the editors of Royalauto for a clarification. Oh, and we couldn’t find the apology, either. On the other hand, it’s not easy to find things in online versions of magazines.

Intermittent Swampy Woodland, Aquatic Herb land with emergent Red Gums, Scotties Billabong, Lindsay Island

SERA 2016 award winning ecologist Damien Cook and Elaine Bayes have sent us information on their upcoming wetland courses.

NEW: THE WONDERFUL WETLAND ECOLOGY BUS TOUR, 12 & 13 OCT 2017
Join us on a bus tour through some of northern Victoria’s most ecologically diverse wetlands that will be looking their best because of recent rainfall and flooding. Learn how ecological drivers determine wetland ecology. Dixie Patton, Barapa Traditional Owner will share knowledge on aboriginal uses of these amazing wetlands.  Other land managers will meet us along the way.

NEW: WETLAND RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT, 16 & 17 NOV 2017
Learn about wetland restoration and management over 2 days with Damien Cook by visiting ‘Waterways’; a SERA 2016 award-winning wetland restoration project which he was involved in planning and implementing, followed by the 200 hectares of coastal park at the Victorian Desalination Plant, Wonthaggi.  Learn more about these projects here.

THE WETLAND PLANT IDENTIFICATION DAYS STARTS OCT 2017 – MAR 2018
Learn to identify the most common wetland plants. Choose 1, 2 or all 3 days. Continue reading →