Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Laws exist to be exploited, right?

Recent events in the political sphere would certainly suggest that loopholes and interpretations of convenience can subvert well meaning regulation. Laws governing the environment are not an exception to these problems. Hence the need for the occasional overhaul.

The Victorian Government is running a review of the 1988 Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. You can find details on this review here, including a copy of the review consultation paper, and how to make a submission. Closing date for submissions is March 28.

The act is overdue for an overhaul. Conservation groups have called for five key elements to be included in new legislation:

‘- A fair go for threatened species by removing exemptions and special treatments for government departments and some industries.

‘- Stronger stop and protect powers with clear requirements for the Minister to intervene when important species or habitats are under threat

‘- A nature cop on the beat with stronger enforcement, real penalties and better monitoring

‘- Clear targets and timelines to direct investment and programs for threatened species protection and recovery, across the whole state.

‘- Giving community power to act, including capacity to determine regional plans and ability to initiate legal action to protect threatened species.’

Local conservationists will find the first of these elements particularly relevant, given the spectacular vandalism perpetrated by Vicroads at Ravenswood in the name of highway efficiency.

 

Next Saturday March 4 there’ll be a celebration at the Monster Meeting site on Golden Point road Chewton, to mark the purchase of the site by the state government.

The site is on Dja Dja Wurrung land, and its return to the public land estate is of some significance.

The monster meeting, held on 15 December 1851 in Chewton, is believed to be the first mass protest against a government in Australia, predating the Red Ribbon Rebellion and Eureka Stockade. It was a model of peaceful protest, vigorous and clear in its aims, but notably free of threats of violence and weapon display.

FOBIF’s founding president, the late Doug Ralph, was a strong supporter of the memorialisation of the meeting. It was part of his determination to respect the great traditions of the goldfields while remaining clear eyed about the damage wrought by gold, and the need to repair that damage.

The meeting will take place from 11 am to 1 pm. All are welcome. You can

RSVP at seamus.haugh@delwp.vic.gov.au or 5430 4685

After countless hours of work, residents are making progress towards eradicating Needle Grasses (stipoid weeds) in Castlemaine. Some previously infested areas now appear to be free of them, and many other areas have less than half of the original infestation.

Needle Grasses are introduced weeds that do great harm to natural ecosystems (especially grasslands) and to agricultural land.  If you love nature, eat and wear clothes, this affects you.

As well as Chilean Needle Grass (Nassella neesiana) – a Regionally Controlled noxious weed – 3 other Needle Grasses are in Castlemaine.  One of these, Cane Needle Grass (N. hyalina), is on a National Alert List of 28 Environmental Weeds.

There is an opportunity to help rid Castlemaine of these. Small working bees are held (mainly between October and March) to dig them out of roadsides, parks and a privately owned paddock.  If you volunteer to help, you will be shown how to identify them and to distinguish between different grasses.  Any amount of help, ranging from one hour to many, will be gratefully accepted.

The volunteer work complements paid work which was done with a Council Community Grant to Connecting Country during 2016-17.  FOBIF has applied for another Community Grant to continue this work in 2017-18. 

If you’d like to help, or would like more information, please phone Margaret on 5470 5072 between 7am and 7pm.

You can find a good photo of Chilean Needle Grass  here and a good drawing and photo of Cane Needle Grass here.

Fungi expert and photographer, Alison Pouliot, is running her popular fungi workshops from April to June this year.

Most workshops will focus on the ‘curiosities and delights of fungi’. There are also several on  photographing fungi and these would be good for anyone interested in macro photography.

At least one workshop is booked out already so if you are interested book soon. All the information is here.

 

FOBIF has been successful in our application to the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) for a Maintenance/ Start Up Grant through the Victorian Landcare Grants Program for $500. This money will go towards paying for public liability insurance for our group so we can continue to host our activities safely.

Local Landcare groups have shared in more than $204,000 to carry out environmental projects that improve biodiversity and land health across the catchment through this program.

This year, about 20 local groups project grant applications in the  region were successful. “Each year the quality of applicants is impressive, and this year was no exception,” North Central CMA Regional Landcare Coordinator Tess Grieves said.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio congratulated the local groups on their projects. “The Victorian Landcare program is an investment in our future and it’s fantastic to see these local groups receiving grants to support their important environmental projects,” she said.

Thanks to Tess and the team at the NCCMA for their work in making this successful application possible.

 

Tasmanian-based naturalist Sarah Lloyd has recently started a blog on Myxomycetes commonly known as slime moulds. Sarah was the guest speaker at the FOBIF AGM in 2015 where she shared her expertise on these often neglected organisms to a fascinated audience.

Sarah has been collecting and identifying slime moulds on her property in Northern Tasmania since 2010:

In the years since starting my research I have amassed over 1500 collections representing approximately 110 different species. This seems extraordinary given that all specimens have been collected within two kilometers of our house, and only 42 species had hitherto been officially recorded for Tasmania.

On the site and in her two recently published books on slime moulds* and Tasmanian native birds** Sarah uses plain language to draw in the general reader. And she is a terrific photographer. The two photos below from the blog are examples of her beautiful work.

So to find out everything you always wanted to know about slime moulds, click here and have a look at Sarah’s blog.

*  Where the slime mould creeps: the fascinating world of myxomycetes (2014)
** The feathered tribes of Van Diemen’s Land (2015)

People interested in contributing their local knowledge to national systems should consider going to a video conference in Bendigo on February 2nd on DELWP and citizen science data bases. The conference will be held at the DELWP office, 1 Taylor Street Epsom, from 9,45 to 12.45, and light refreshments will be provided. Topics include:

–Atlas of Living Australia – Peter Brenton (CSIRO)

–Victorian Biodiversity Atlas – Mel Hardie , DELWP

–Bowerbird – Ken Walker, Museum Victoria

–Visualising Victoria’s Biodiversity & SWIFFT – Rob Milne, Centre for eResearch & Digital Innovation (CeRDI), Federation University

Numbers are limited. If you’re intending to go, email  peter.johnson@delwp.vic.gov.au

Ah…Facebook. FOBIF is a bit derelict, we have to confess, in putting material on its Facebook page; interpret that as you like…

And we’re not great at following other Facebook pages, or at coping with social media generally. Twitter? Oh…must think about that…Instagram? Um, er…

But this week our attention was drawn to Parks Victoria’s Facebook page, which had a pic of Expedition Pass reservoir, and the advice:

‘Feeling the heat? Come along and enjoy Expedition Pass Reservoir near Castlemaine. It’s a great spot for the family to enjoy a swim in the cool waters.’

More than one of the responses on the page pointed out that it was pretty astonishing that Parks should be promoting the Res as a hot weather destination when it’s already stressed to the limit on hot days, that parking there is sometimes a nightmare, and that there are unresolved problems with dogs.

Maybe someone in Parks’ Melbourne office was looking for something to put on the Page, and didn’t worry too much about local conditions. In any case, you sometimes do get the impression that Parks Victoria’s management is much more interested in pretty promotions than providing the resources to protect our environment. Maybe we need more rangers, and less promotion?