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Victorian National Parks Association newsletter – Number 6

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Victoria’s ‘Thirsty 13’ are dying for a drink

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Squirrel Glider, photo DSE, Peter Robertson

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Nick Roberts Water for Parks Project

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Murray Cod, photo Gunther Schmida White-Bellied Sea-Eagle, photo Dean Ingwersen

he VNPA has joined forces with Environment Victoria to call on the Brumby Government to recover environmental water for our new River Red Gum parks.

Many threatened species are being put in danger by drying and dying red gum wetland forests, and despite the recent rainfalls, leadership is needed to secure the future of our red gum parks.

To make our point, we’ve produced a report focusing on 13 flood-dependent species that are under real threat from the lack of action by the Victorian Government.

To remain healthy, red gum forests and wetlands, and their plants and animals, need a regular drink every few years. To ensure this the next Victorian Government must deliver high-security guaranteed water entitlements.

Without strong leadership and action, the Thirsty 13, and countless others, may not survive.

For the complete Thirsty 13 report, see www.thirsty13.vnpa.org.au.

Giant Banjo Frog, photo Gunther Schmida. © MDBA

Blue-billed Duck

Go to www.thirsty13.vnpa.org.au to find out how you can help save the Thirsty 13! > More about recent floods and the Thirsty 13 on pages 6 and 7.

Your environment, your future, your vote!

In the lead-up to the 27 November state election, parties and politicians will be trying to impress you. Make sure of their commitments!

To help you make an informed vote, Victoria’s leading environment groups are assessing the policies of

the major state political parties on key environmental questions.

The VNPA has teamed up with Environment Victoria, Friends of the Earth and The Wilderness Society to ensure that political parties understand the issues facing the

environment, and that people are informed about what the parties are committed to.

All the groups are independent and unaligned politically. We use public education, advocacy, negotiation and continued page 2

Will Victoria’s next government further the aims and principles of the International Year of Biodiversity?

New chief for Parks Victoria International environmentalist Dr Bill Jackson has been appointed as the new chief executive of Parks Victoria, Environment Minister Gavin Jennings announced on 27 September.

Dr Jackson is currently Deputy Director-General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), based in Switzerland, where he has been working for the past 15 years.

He has worked in a number of senior forest management and development roles overseas, as well

as in fire management roles in the NSW State Forests Department.

He succeeds departing chief executive Mark Stone, who has taken up the role of head of Tourism Victoria after 12 years with Parks Victoria.

Dr Jackson will commence full-time work in Victoria in January 2011.

The VNPA congratulates Dr Jackson on his appointment, and we look forward to working with him. We also wish Mark Stone all the best in his new position.

We welcome Dr Bill Jackson, new CEO of Parks Victoria.

Photo courtesy IUCN

... from page 1

research to promote and support environmental outcomes.

As in previous elections, we are producing scorecards on the parties’ policies so you can make an informed choice.

In November 2009 we released Turning it Around: A 2010 state election agenda to safeguard Victoria’s environment. This document summarises the actions we believe are necessary to match the environmental challenges we face, and the commitments we need from our next state government to put Victoria on a more sustainable footing.

In early September we sent the ALP, the Coalition and the Greens a slightly modified agenda which scored specific policies across seven themes. These cover many of the most pressing environmental challenges facing the

Editor: Michael Howes Design: John Sampson Printing: Tara Press Nature’s Voice is the VNPA’s quarterly newsletter. The deadline for our February edition is 14 January 2011.

Address: Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053 Tel: 03 9347 5188 Fax: 03 9347 5199 Website: www.vnpa.org.au Email: vnpa@vnpa.org.au ABN: 34 217 717 593 ISSN: 1837-6681 SAVE PAPER! If you would prefer to receive Nature’s Voice by email, please contact us on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au c: 60 m: 0 y: 100 k: 27

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VNPA logo & style sheet

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Weeds like Bridal Creeper are a major threat to biodiversity.

state. The themes most relevant to the VNPA are: • Restore our rivers and wetlands to health.

• Protect biodiversity by managing and restoring ecosystems and relinking areas of habitat.

• Increase and resource the protected area system.

• Protect our native forests.

Three versions of the scorecard will be produced, based on responses from the parties – in the third week

Photo courtesy CSIRO

of October, the second week of November and the final week of the election campaign.

Updated results will be available at www.scorecard.vnpa.org.au and advertised in a number of local and regional newspapers. Media stories, letterboxing and further paid ads will also be used to get the message out.

TAKE ACTION! Can you help with letterboxing in inner Melbourne and suburbs? If so, please contact the VNPA office.

Port Campbell still under threat The Corangamite Shire Council has approved a permit extension for the controversial Southern Ocean Beach House development at Port Campbell headland, despite advice from the council’s planning officer recommending the extension be refused.

Marion Manifold from the Port Campbell Community Group says there appears to be no good reason why the original permit conditions were not completed, including an all-important geotechnical condition report.

The group believes the coastal development application should have been refused, citing significant

2 – Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010

Huge waves batter Port Campbell jetty and headland.

Photo: Marion Manifold

changes in coastal policy, new specialist geotechnical reports, and the discovery of a karst tunnel under Port Campbell headland.

The community group has recorded Southern Brown Bandicoot sightings on the headland and more frequent big seas.

Victorian National Parks Association

Marine life stars in new TV ad campaign

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he VNPA has launched a new TV advertisement featuring some of Victoria’s beautiful marine life.

It’s part of a new campaign to raise awareness of our marine environment and some of the threats facing it.

VNPA marine and coastal project officer Simon Branigan said that the seas and shores around Victoria hide many natural treasures, and he hopes this ad will show how amazing yet vulnerable they are.

The awareness campaign follows the release of a VNPA-commissioned scientific review which explains the urgent need for further research and initiatives to protect our marine environment better.

It’s 17 years since Victoria’s last (and only comprehensive) statewide study of the marine environment was carried out, and eight since the state’s last major marine protection initiative.

Victoria needs a comprehensive, science-based inquiry into its marine habitats, values and threats to fill the many gaps in our current knowledge.

The inquiry, which could be conducted by VEAC or a similar

Marine action pack We’ve produced a fantastic marine action pack filled with educational materials, a marine sticker, letter writing kit and postcards to help you become a marine defender.

Order one by emailing us at vnpa@vnpa.org.au or phone 03 9347 5188.

Marine postcards We need more postcards from you calling for marine protection.

Please post them to us as soon as possible. If you need more cards, contact the VNPA office.

Have you seen our new marine TV ad? If not go to www.vnpa.org.au to view it online.

Our marine defender action pack includes this great sticker and a beautiful postcard depicting a school of Old Wives.

qualified body, should also consider opportunities for new protection initiatives, and consult with the community and relevant stakeholders.

Visit us at www.vnpa.org.au to watch our new marine ad and find out how you can help protect our marine environment.

Alternative Bastion Point plan launched The Save Bastion Point group has developed a concept plan for improving ocean access at the existing site as an alternative to the East Gippsland Shire Council’s Option 3b for Bastion Point in Mallacoota.

The group says their alternative plan preserves Bastion Point’s natural values while improving ocean access and tourism.

Visit www.savebastionpoint.org

for more information and for points you and your friends can make when writing to Environment Minister Gavin Jennings about this important issue.

The group thanks VNPA members for their ongoing support.

For any queries phone 5158 0720 or 0418 427 768, email coordinator@savebastionpoint.org or write c/o PO Box 192, Mallacoota, Victoria 3892.

Mallacoota residents make their views known at a town meeting in July last year.

Photo: Michael Rayner

Life on the Rocky Shores is here!

www.vnpa.org.au

Our new full-colour pocket guidebook on intertidal life is now available. Order from the VNPA office by phone on 9347 5188, send a cheque, or purchase via our website – www.books.vnpa.org.au.

Life on the Rocky Shores of SE Australia, by C.M. Porter, G.C.Wescott & G.P. Quinn. Size: 148x105mm. 128 pages.

RRP $18.50, VNPA member price $15.50. Postage and Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010 – 3 packaging $5. Discounts for bulk orders (schools etc).

Survival needs of forest species must be assessed The VNPA and other environment groups have called for a comprehensive assessment of the survival needs of forest-dependent species before amendments to East Gippsland Forest Management Zones, which could allow for forestry activities, are decided.

They say that the levels of research knowledge available, and the monitoring being applied to forest management, are inadequate to meet the State Government’s obligations on flora and fauna protection.

The impacts of climate change, fire, weeds and feral animals, and logging, plus changing demographics and community attitudes to forest management, all point to the need

for a major independent assessment and overhaul of current logging arrangements.

Forest values for carbon storage, water production, ecosystem services, habitat protection, local amenity and tourism potential all need to be broadly assessed and considered against the current bias towards logging and pulp-log production.

The groups believe that the proposed rezoning process is seriously flawed. They want East Gippsland’s conservation values comprehensively reassessed before any further attempts to change the zoning scheme are made.

See our website www.vnpa.org.au for the full submission.

The Long-footed Potoroo (top) and Spotted-tailed Quoll are two of East Gippsland’s threatened animal species.

Photos courtesy David Hollands, Harriett Swift

Winton Wetlands to be restored

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he biggest wetland restoration in the Southern Hemisphere is under way, with Lake Mokoan in north-east Victoria being handed over to the Winton Wetlands Committee of Management.

Travellers on the Hume Highway see the lake as an area of dead red gum trees between Wangaratta and Wodonga.

Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said in August that the committee will oversee a $20 million environmental project to restore the 8000 hectare wetland system and create a significant tourist attraction and environmental asset.

The wetlands will be restored to an area of large and small red gum wetlands surrounded by open grassy and box woodlands.

This should see the return of abundant wildlife and native vegetation, and create perfect habitats for threatened bird species. There will be education and research opportunities in addition to environmental benefits.

Mr Jennings said the Winton Wetland Committee of Management would be responsible for implementing a Future Land Use Strategy over the next eight years.

Lake Mokoan is being restored to its original wetlands and woodlands. Photo: Dave Pasztalenic

It proposes the construction of a visitor centre, bike paths, boardwalks, trails and picnic facilities.

Lake Mokoan was a man-made lake built in 1971 on wetlands in the Broken River system as a water storage for irrigators in the Goulburn system.

The lake was Victoria’s most inefficient water storage, losing three in every four litres of water. It has been decommissioned, and the water saved is being returned to rivers.

4 – Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010

Committee Chair Bill Hill said the committee will work closely with the local and regional community to return Lake Mokoan to its natural state.

“We want to restore a world class wetland that north-east Victoria will be proud of and that will attract visitors to the region,” he said.

“Work has already started to create an indigenous seed bank to assist the natural regeneration of plant species that once covered the area.”

Victorian National Parks Association

Some but not all of East Gippsland’s old-growth forest is now protected in national parks and other reserves.

Photo: John Renowden

Partial protection for East Gippsland icons E

nvironment Minister Gavin Jennings announced on 1 October that 45,500 hectares of old growth and other forest in East Gippsland would be added to Victoria’s conservation reserves.

Old-growth forest icons like Goolengook and part of the Yalmy River forests are outstanding additions to the state’s park system, for which the Brumby Government should be congratulated.

But this is only a partial delivery of Labor’s 2006 election promise to preserve Victoria’s old-growth forests.

Matt Ruchel VNPA Executive Director

A number of the areas being added to the reserve system were already unavailable for logging, while other nearby old-growth forests, such as Brown Mountain, remain unprotected.

Less than 8% of Victoria’s oldgrowth forests still survive. There is an urgent need to protect all remaining old-growth areas.

In the lead-up to the 27 November state election, we call on the Victorian Labor and Liberal parties to commit to protecting carbon-dense old-growth forests, water catchments and endangered wildlife habitat.

Timber company Gunns Limited’s recent announcement it is moving out of native forest logging in Victoria and Tasmania shows the time is right for political leaders to support the logging industry’s move into plantation forests.

And with Victoria’s huge plantation resource now on-stream, there is no excuse not to do so.

Vigilance pays off with forests transfer backflip Conservation groups welcomed the Brumby Government’s 30 September backflip which overturned its May transfer of forests in western and central Victoria to VicForests.

“Without vigilance from environment groups this decision would have gone unchecked, and precious forests like Wombat and Wellsford could have been woodwww.vnpa.org.au

chipped by VicForests,” said VNPA spokesman Nick Roberts.

After years of embarrassing court battles and mismanagement of eastern Victoria’s forests, the State Government has correctly decided that VicForests can’t be trusted with the forests of western Victoria.

Conservation groups appreciate that the government has listened

to the community on this issue and responded accordingly.

“But this decision only returns us to the status quo, and offers no longterm protection for these precious forests. The Brumby Government must now move to protect all these forests in state parks,” said Stuart Fraser from the Bendigo and District Environment Council.

Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010 – 5

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thirsty species

Rains have brought much-needed water to Victoria’s rivers and red gum parks.

Photo: Shepparton News

Recent floods not a long-term solution

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ecent rainfall and floods have helped red gum forests and wetlands, but have by no means ‘solved’ the drought crisis.

There has been some flooding in the new parks, birds have started breeding, and wetlands and forests are responding well, but one wet winter isn’t going to solve the situation still facing our parks and rivers.

The National Climate Centre says that the end of September marked 14 years since the start of a very long meteorological drought in south-east Australia.

And while the rains have alleviated short-term dry conditions, they have failed to end the long-term deficiencies still affecting large parts of southern Australia.

Murray-Darling Basin Plan The Murray Darling Basin Authority will hold a community information session about its Basin Plan on Thursday 28 October (2-5pm) at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, 25 Collins St. RSVP to 1800 230 067 (free). We encourage VNPA members to attend.

While some parts received above average rainfall, most notably in the Murray-Darling Basin, drought-affected regions in the far south-east have experienced near-normal conditions.

Environmental water vital On its own, the recent rain can’t supply the prolonged water and flooding

vital to create breeding and spawning grounds for threatened species.

With climate change, we can’t rely on nature to step in and avert possible future catastrophic losses of our red gum forests, wetlands and wildlife.

The next State Government must secure environmental water now and for future drier years.

Please help the VNPA’s work to secure water for our new parks.

Donate now to this urgent River Red Gum appeal! Complete the coupon on page 11, phone us on 9347 5188 or donate online at www.redgumappeal.vnpa.org.au.

Many thanks to those who have already donated to this appeal.

– Nick Roberts, Emily Clough

Forum: Water for red gum parks Capital Performing Arts Centre, 50 View St, Bendigo.

Thursday 28 October, 6-7.30 pm.

Come and hear why our red gum parks need water and how we can get it for them. Hosted by Environment Victoria, in association with ACF, FoE, TWS and VNPA. More info and to RSVP: phone 9341 8100 or email admin@environmentvictoria.org.au.

6 – Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010

Victorian National Parks Association

Why these 13 thirsty species need guaranteed water 2

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1. Murray Cod

Floods are essential for the survival of the Murray Cod, especially in its early stages of development when it needs the additional food sources more water can supply.

Photo: Gunther Schmida

2. Inland Carpet Python

Frequent flooding of riverine areas is important for this python by helping to maintain the types of native vegetation it uses as habitat.

Photo: Gunther Schmida. © MDBA

3. Brolga

A robust environmental watering program is critical to the Brolga’s survival because it will provide the prolonged flooding events that create the conditions needed for good nesting and breeding.

Photo: Chris Tzaros

4. Blue-billed Duck

To promote the best feeding conditions for the duck, clear and permanent freshwater bodies must be maintained by regular environmental water flows.

To protect and restore the dense vegetation it uses for nesting, seasonal inundation is needed.

Photo: Valorix

www.vnpa.org.au

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5. Plumed Egret

A secure water allocation for Victoria’s new River Red Gum parks will promote flood events that attract the Plumed Egret to nest and breed, with the water providing nesting vegetation and food for adults and chicks.

6. Giant Banjo Frog

Environmental water will not only promote and maintain the wetlands and woodlands this frog calls home, but it will also encourage breeding and provide water for young tadpoles to grow in.

Photo: Gunther Schmida. © MDBA

7. Squirrel Glider

A lack of environmental water has reduced the amount and health of native bushland this mammal needs to feed on. Giving River Red Gum forests a drink will help secure its future.

Photo: DSE, Peter Robertson, © The State of Victoria

8. Superb Parrot

The Superb Parrot relies on biologically rich, multi-aged forests and woodlands for its survival. Starving River Red Gum ecosystems of water reduces the growth and complexity of plant species this bird needs for food and nesting. A regular environmental watering program is essential to ensure its survival.

9. Moira Grass

Environmental watering in Victoria’s new River Red Gum parks will support the existing Moira Grass populations and give the species a fighting chance for survival.

Photo: Gunther Schmida

10. White-bellied Sea-eagle

More water in the new parks will help ensure sufficient tall trees into the future for nesting White-bellied Sea-eagles.

Photo: Dean Ingwersen

11. Broad-shelled Turtle

Environmental watering is critical for this species because the timing and duration of floods contribute to the creation and maintenance of large bodies of water the Broad-shelled Turtles live in.

Photo: Gunther Schmida. © MDBA

12. Silver Perch

The Silver Perch stands the best chance of survival if flow regimes designed to mimic natural frequency and quantity of water are restored to the wetlands and rivers in Victoria’s new River Red Gum parks.

13. Mueller Daisy

An ecologically robust watering plan for Victoria’s new River Red Gum parks should provide ideal conditions for this attractive plant to bloom into the future.

Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010 – 7

That alps plan rolls ever on …

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ore than two years after Parks Victoria started its web-based wiki process to develop a landscapescale ‘management plan’ for parks in the alpine region, the draft plan has gone back to the drawing board.

It seems as if PV has somehow lost the capacity, and the skills, required to develop a strategic approach to park management.

In the meantime the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), ultimately responsible for park management in Victoria, is developing biodiversity management planning processes across the state, in response to last year’s land and biodiversity White Paper.

It is clearly time for DSE to take control of park planning processes, and see that park plans are everything they should be, and that they fit into landscape-scale biodiversity management across Victoria.

It’s also important that park management plans clearly take

Buckety Plain, Alpine National Park, is recovering from heavy grazing by cattle. Monitoring of ecological condition in our national parks is essential if we are to manage them well.

account of the problems natural ecosystems face from climate change impacts.

The recent Auditor-General’s report on invasive species management in our parks was scathing about PV’s capacity to deal with the problem, and highly critical of its planning processes.

It called for management plans to “include targets, performance indicators and monitoring standards for invasive species” and “identify specific actions to manage threats”, and for PV to “structure invasive species resource allocation so that it is transparent, and funding matches

the extent and ongoing nature of the problem”.

In the lead-up to the state election, the VNPA calls on all political parties to increase funding significantly to improve on-ground management of protected areas, and park planning.

We call for an increase in allocations for ecological management of parks and reserves to $50 million a year to deliver clearly defined nature conservation outcomes, including better management of pest plants and animals, fire, and climate change impacts.

– Phil Ingamells

Westerfield bushland bulldozed VNPA lodges tree On 28 September, contractors of the Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA) cleared bushland of high conservation significance on the ‘Westerfield’ property in Frankston.

The clearing took place in spite of strong community protest. Last year Planning Minister Justin Madden appointed a panel to inquire into the impacts of the Peninsula Link freeway.

All the ecological experts who made submissions agreed that the freeway route should avoid the property. The panel recommended realigning the bypass.

The Environment Defenders Office is representing the Frankston North Community Group in VCAT proceedings, alleging that the LMA has not identified offsets for the cleared vegetation, including that on ‘Westerfield’, which it is required to do before commencing construction, under the planning

clearing objection

Police and protestors at ‘Westerfield’.

Photo: Rod Binnington

schemes that apply to the site.

The LMA’s ecological experts have stated in their report that appropriate offsets for some of the vegetation lost will be difficult to find.

The VNPA deplores the loss of this significant vegetation, and calls for much better planning procedures to avoid such situations in future.

– Environment Defenders Office

8 – Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010

The VNPA has written to the West Wimmera Shire Council objecting to a proposal to remove 2200 large Grey Box and Yellow Box trees from private land just south of Little Desert NP. These trees are critical habitat for a range of woodland birds, including Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

See the VNPA website for the full text of the letter.

Eastern Barred Bandicoot release The French Island community has agreed to the trial release of Eastern Barred Bandicoots on the island.

The release and radio-tracking of sterile or non-breeding animals is a first step in evaluating the risks and likelihood of success of an introduction of this threatened species on the island.

Victorian National Parks Association

Victoria’s burn target tripled to 385,000 ha Phil Ingamells Park Protection Project

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he Victorian Government has accepted the Bushfires Royal Commission’s recommendation to triple the state’s annual prescribed burn target from 130,000 to 385,000 hectares per year.

The plan is to increase burning rates gradually, building up to 275,000 ha/year by the 2013-14 season, after which there will be a thorough review of the program.

The Commission has also recommended annual reporting on the effectiveness of burns for fuel reduction, and their impacts on biodiversity.

That can’t be done without effective, and comprehensive, monitoring.

The government has allocated $6 million to a fire ecology program, and a further $2 million to a ‘risk and adaptive management’ program.

That’s a big improvement on the negligible monitoring of previous years, but funding has to be boosted considerably to achieve the levels of accountability the Commission has asked for.

The VNPA would like to see a

Many eucalypts recover well after fires, but we need to monitor the impacts of fuelreduction burning on all our biodiversity.

$40 million ecological research and monitoring program established over four years to: • Monitor the statewide impacts of the fuel-reduction burn program on biodiversity.

• Implement a science-based program to refine local burn targets and programs.

• Establish a national centre for bushfire research.

This amount is around 10% of the existing $400 million fuel management budget allocation.

But money isn’t the only problem.

Victoria has little reliable baseline data for natural areas. Much of our

data on Victorian flora and fauna, compiled in the 1970s, is now unreliable.

Another big problem is that our management agencies are short of skilled staff. There are no entomologists or mycologists (fungi specialists) in Parks Victoria. And DSE has just two entomologists (both freshwater specialists) and no mycologists.

Botanists, zoologists and ecologists are also thin on the ground.

The VNPA will be working to ensure that the Royal Commission’s call for accountability in fire and biodiversity management is honoured.

Climate bill allows carbon rights The State Government’s Climate Change Bill 2010, recently passed by the Victorian Parliament, will enable DSE to enter into Carbon Sequestration Agreements with associated carbon rights with organisations wishing to participate in carbon sequestration on Crown land, including national parks and other conservation reserves.

Organisations could partly offset their greenhouse gas emissions by paying for the protection and www.vnpa.org.au

enhancement of vegetation on Crown land.

The VNPA and the Environment Defenders Office raised concerns that, without appropriate safeguards, this could be equivalent to privatising Crown land, or could produce unforeseen ecological outcomes.

Although the government refused to amend the Bill, Environment Minister Gavin Jennings committed in a letter to the VNPA and EDO that it will move towards

an initial pilot-scale use of the framework established in the Act, with community and stakeholder engagement. It will also develop a Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity Code to guide the use of public land for carbon sequestration.

These actions will be part of a Climate Change White Paper Implementation Plan. We will keep a close eye on developments, and keep you informed.

– Matt Ruchel

Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010 – 9

NatureWatch

Examining the head scale patterns of a Striped Legless Lizard.

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Volunteers check under roof tiles for lizards, frogs and snakes!

NPA NatureWatch volunteers gather data on our natural environment to help with management of species and habitats.

Congratulations Caitlin and Adam!

It’s a great way to contribute to nature conservation and learn more about plants and animals at the same time!

We are delighted to announce that NatureWatch Coordinator Caitlin Griffith’s baby Brynn Heath Clark Barber was born on 26 August.

Training day Our new Striped Legless Lizard (SLL) monitoring project has attracted many enthusiastic volunteers. Dr Megan O’Shea from Victoria University is undertaking the monitoring with NatureWatch volunteers and the Friends of Iramoo.

Over 30 people attended a very successful SLL training day at St Albans on 11 September. It was a fantastic start to this project, which runs to the end of December.

October-December 2010 We will be monitoring Golden Sun

Mother, baby boy and father are doing well!

Moths in grasslands west of Melbourne on 7, 13 and 21 November, and 5 and 11 December (dates are weatherdependent).

Look out for monitoring of other threatened grassland species over the next few months.

Thank you!

Thanks to all the volunteers, team leaders and NatureWatch partners for

your support and contributions to the program.

And a big thank you to members of the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club who kick-started this season’s Brisbane Ranges grass-tree monitoring!

To get involved, phone Ada Nano on 9341 6513 (Wednesday and Friday), email adan@vnpa.org.au or visit www.naturewatch.vnpa.org.au.

VNPA loses a committed friend Vale William Keatley 1924-2010

VNPA Councillors, staff and members were saddened at the passing of long-standing VNPA life member, supporter and Excursions Group convenor William Keatley, who died on 18 September, aged 86.

A VNPA member since the early 1950s, William planned, organised and managed the VNPA excursions program over the past 14 years (and

was involved in it for many more years), helping raise thousands of dollars for VNPA conservation campaigns.

He was also a generous individual donor to the VNPA. VNPA President Fred Gerardson, staff and members attended William’s funeral on 23 September and presented a tribute on behalf of the Association.

A detailed tribute will appear in December Park Watch.

10 – Nature’s Voice | No 6 | October-November 2010

Victorian National Parks Association

Locust plague highlights need for monitoring Phil Ingamells Park Protection Project

Victoria’s locust plague raises some big questions in the ‘man vs nature’ debate, and some real issues for national park management.

First and foremost, the Australian Plague Locust, though legally an ‘exotic’ pest, is actually a native animal doing what it normally does – turning up in great numbers from time to time, and providing a welcome feast for many birds and other creatures.

But most of Victoria is farmland these days, and managing a plague of the proportions expected this year has serious implications for farmers, and for the coming state election.

Our land managers’ dual legal responsibilities – handling a rural pest on one hand, and protecting our natural areas on the other – have brought about a complex locust strategy.

For natural areas: • There will be no spraying at all in national parks where there is 10%+ tree cover.

• Native grassland reserves like Terrick Terrick NP, and Ramsarlisted wetlands and other waterways, will be exempt.

• In more open areas in national

Flocks of ibis attracted by locust migration, and inset, a ‘plague’ locust.

Photos: courtesy Eris O’Brien

parks and other reserves, an insecticide called ‘Green Guard’ will be used – it’s actually a fungus (Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum) claimed to affect only grasshoppers.

There is evidence that it will affect other groups of insects, and also fish embryos, but little monitoring has been done.

Sadly, the all-important monitoring that should be happening this time has been the victim of confused responsibilities between DSE, PV, DPI and the EPA, and a lack of funding.

It now appears there will be no monitoring of the impacts of either spray on terrestrial ecosystems, but some monitoring of the impacts on waterways.

There is almost no routine baseline monitoring performed in our parks, so any assessment of the impacts of management actions over time is impossible.

If ‘adaptive management’ is to mean something more than just making it up as we go, effective monitoring has to be a standard part of park management.

And we need real resources, and real commitment from our park managers, if that is to happen.

More information Government information can be found at www.dpi.vic.gov.au.

For an alternative view visit www.savethelocust.com.

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Address .................................................. /

Cardholder name .................................................................

Signature .........................................................................................................................................

Direct Debit from my Account Financial institution ...........................................................................................................................

................................................................

Suburb/Town ..........................................

Postcode ................................................

Tel (BH) ...................................................

Email ......................................................

Bank/Branch (BSB#) ........................... Account number ................................................................

Account holder(s) name ........................................................ Signature ..........................................

Donations over $2 are tax-deductible.

Please post or fax with payment to VNPA, Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053 OR you phone us on 03 9347 5188, fax 03 9347 5199.

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