ANDREWS GOVERNMENT CONSERVATION ACTIONS MARCH 2015 NO 260 PARK CAMPSITE BOOKINGS AND FEES ECOLOGICAL DEBT WESTGATE FRIENDS CAPE SCHANCK PROTECTING NATIVE VEGETATION BENEFITS OF BUSHWALKING FORESTS FOREVER EASTER ECOLOGY CAMP 3-6 April 2015 Goongerah, East Gippsland. For details please see back cover. Be part of nature

PRESIDENT Russell Costello DIRECTOR Matt Ruchel CONTENTS Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton, VIC 3053 3 From the President ABN 34 217 717 593 3 From the Editor Telephone: (03) 9347 5188 Facsimile: (03) 9347 5199 4-5 Conservation initiatives for the E-mail: [email protected] Andrews Government Web: www.vnpa.org.au 6-7 Paddling the Lower Glenelg VNPA’S VISION 8-9 Park camping fees hike We share a vision of Victoria as a place with a diverse, secure and healthy natural environment cared for and appreciated by all. 10 Higher camping fees may lock families out

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE 11 The skills we need Matt Ruchel, Philip Ingamells, Michael Howes. 12-13 From grasslands to rainforests: ADVERTISING Protecting terrestrial ecosystems Emily Clough, [email protected] 14 Lake Wishful Thinking GETTING INVOLVED IN VNPA 15 Burn target gets a welcome review Everyone can help in the conservation of Victoria’s wild and beautiful places. 16-17 Ecological debt and deficit You can: • make a donation 18-19 Brighter future for Victoria’s seas and shores • become a regular giver or member 20-21 With a little help from its Friends • volunteer. You’ll be welcome in the office, on a campaign or in a park • leave a bequest to VNPA in your will. 22 Nick Roberts reflects

PUBLISHING POLICY 23 Where are the Growlers? All advertisements should be compatible with VNPA policies. Publication 24-25 In Parks: Cape Schanck – a magnificent of an advertisement does not imply endorsement by the VNPA Inc. of the coastline advertised product or service. The VNPA reserves the right to refuse any advertisement at any time. 26 Reframing the planet Park Watch may be quoted without permission provided that acknowledgement 27 Native vegetation protection and offsets is made. The opinions of contributors are not necessarily those of the VNPA Inc. 28 Outstanding Grampians park manager retires GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS You’re always welcome to contact the editor to discuss ideas for articles. 28 Congratulations! Phone the VNPA or email [email protected]. Articles may be 29 Thelma Grace Argall – a tribute submitted by email, on disk or as hard copy. Include your contact details and brief biographical information. Photos, maps and drawings are needed too. 30-31 A place that keeps giving Digital photos should be 300dpi and around 8cm by 12cm. 32-33 The Prom – an artist’s inspiration COPY DEADLINE for June 2015 Park Watch is 1 May 2015. 34-35 For your mental health, get back in touch DESIGN Mary Ferlin PRINTING Adams Print with nature FRONT COVER 36-37 Rambles on a Monday We hope these brilliant everlastings near Mount Loch in the 37 Book review: Dexter, the Courageous Koala Alpine National Park symbolise the start of a new era for parks and conservation in Victoria. Photo: courtesy David Tatnall. 38 Bushwalking: Bring a Friend for Free! Park Watch ISSN 1324-4361 38 Boneseed blitz

2 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 From the President PHOTO COURTESY RUSSELL COSTELLO COURTESY PHOTO

Is this the dawn of a new era? It seems we’ve been dreamt it up are still in the Environment Department’s head fighting forever just to protect nature and our park system office. They still have their focus on offsetting rather than against government attempts to exploit and massively protecting native vegetation, and they still seem to want the under-resource them. decision-making within their central control. It’s been at least four years since we had a Minister FOR the In this Park Watch, there is a great article by George Environment! Can we now focus on trying to achieve positive Monbiot about how new offset methodology in England things for the environment again? is allowing an ancient woodland to be destroyed for The signs are good. In the first month, new Minister Lisa development. He rails against mechanically ‘valuing’ Neville has ended the ludicrous ‘scientific’ cattle-grazing trial in priceless natural and historic beauty. It rings true when the Alpine National Park and moved to end the shonky last- he says: “The natural world will be reduced to a column minute deal to ‘sell off’ part of Point Nepean National Park with of figures”. a 50+50 year private lease. Excellent work! Sounds familiar? As in Victoria, the UK ‘environmental While in Opposition, Ms Neville also led her party skilfully watchdog’ has set up an Environmental Bank (BushBroker?) to challenge and defeat the unwieldy, unworkable Native to trade environmental works and offset environmental Vegetation Credit Market Bill (the ‘offsets bill’) last year. This destruction. Ancient forests can be ‘replaced’ by lots of bill had a multitude of complex equations for the works needed new seedlings. to offset any proposed clearing of native vegetation. In Victoria, real losses of native vegetation are mostly offset The warning is this. Though the government that put this with legal promises by others not to do bad things to their appalling legislation forward is gone, the ‘complexophiles’ who own native vegetation. There is usually little or no actual physical gain in the extent or quality of native vegetation. Increasing the extent of native vegetation is not valued much at all, even when it makes remnants viable. The now-superseded 2002 Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management – a Framework for Action had it fundamentally right, though it also over-complicated things. It said “all native vegetation has value” and set out an on-ground process for prioritising that value. It also said that all From clearing proposals should follow the three-step approach: the Editor avoid or minimise losses, then think ‘offset’.

PHOTO: MARY FERLIN MARY PHOTO: In practice, this meant: In all cases, take practical and reasonable steps to avoid clearing native vegetation, or at Welcome to the firstPark Watch for 2015! In terms of parks least minimise unavoidable losses, and only then consider and conservation, I think we’re all feeling much more offset measures. optimistic and energised about the future. In 2013, we moved away from this principle with computer- I’d like to thank Evelyn Feller and Jenny Norvick for their generated maps – valuable at a regional level but so dodgy generous help with this issue, and also ‘new’ contributors at site scale – making the decision to clear with offsets in the Carlota Quinlan, Lynn Gunning, Barbara Vaughan, Gabrielle majority of cases. Local offset schemes, like the innovative Bridge, Neil Moorhouse and Pamela Ashcroft – great to have one by the Shire of Yarra Ranges, have been gazumped by you writing for us! Thanks too to journalists George Monbiot and Ross Gittins for allowing us to reprint their excellent BushBroker’s centralistic ambitions. articles, and to all our regular contributors. The test will come when the promise to overhaul this flawed I’m taking some leave this year, so the next (June) Park Watch system is given legs. Will it be the same non-consultative, will be edited by marine and coastal campaigner Chris Smyth, complex, centralist, secret laboratory that gave us the who has extensive experience with publications. Please present scheme doing the revision, or will the task be given to a body like VEAC, with no vested interest in seeing support him by contributing stories and photos! • PW BushBroker a financial success? • PW Michael Howes Russell Costello, VNPA President

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 3

Cattle out Conservation of Alpine NP initiatives for the Andrews Government

VNPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MATT RUCHEL REVIEWS THE NEW GOVERNMENT’S ENVIRONMENT POLICIES.

The VNPA congratulates Daniel Andrews and his party on their victory in the 31 November state election. In particular we welcome Lisa Neville, the new Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water. We look forward to working constructively with the new government. The environment policies of the new Labor Government will reverse many of the Baillieu/ Napthine Pt Nepean Government’s retrograde moves that lease reviewed have downgraded the protection of our INNER LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY MACKAY, MATTHEW COURTESY PHOTO: PHIL INGAMELLS PHOTO: unique natural areas and magnificent Protest against Point Nepean lease, 26 October 2014. national parks. The VNPA is committed to working 5. Review the Flora and Fauna Some of these commitments, with the new government to make Guarantee Act, and institute a like a new Marine and Coastal sure that it does more than just reverse statewide biodiversity strategy to Act, are major initiatives that those backward steps. We need to protect Victoria's habitats and wildlife. will take time to develop; others, make Victoria once again a leader in 6. Add the nationally significant such as stopping the previous nature conservation, as it has been in Anglesea Heathlands to the government’s flawed cattle grazing the past. Great Otway National Park. ‘trial’, are already being carried out 7. Develop a new Marine and Coastal or are planned. Ten conservation actions to which Act, and institute five-yearly State the Andrews Government has The VNPA’s job, as always, will of the Bays reporting to monitor committed are: the health of our coasts, bays be to ensure that the government 1. Ban cattle grazing in the Alpine and waterways. delivers on these commitments and does more than simply repair National Park and River Red Gum 8. Develop a strategy to improve our national parks. the damage, but actually improves riparian land and rivers, and establish protection and management of 2. Rule out large-scale private a Yarra River Protection Act. our natural areas. development in national 9. Support Trust for Nature to parks, and cancel the Victorian facilitate private land protection Many things need to be done. Government's ability to grant and rehabilitation, and support Our recently released Nature 99-year leases in parks. Landcare facilitators in protecting Conservation Review lists over 3. Review lease arrangements for a our environment. 200 recommendations and hotel and spa development at the 10. Provide $5 million to establish and identifies many gaps in how we Quarantine Station (Point Nepean upgrade new facilities in parks and manage our natural areas. We National Park). reserves across the state, and $19 know that not everything can be 4. Review the Coalition's flawed million to build the Grampians done at once, but we do have a native vegetation regulations. Peaks Trail. plan – the NCR!

4 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Unfinished business: Murray River Park as part of the historic but this destructive action must be actions required from the red gum parks package. New national reversed urgently. Andrews Government parks such as Barmah and Gunbower had been declared previously, and a new Mount Stirling: In July last year the Funding for parks: Labor’s Murray River Park was to incorporate VNPA launched a VCAT challenge commitment of $5 million in additional the smaller connecting reserves along the against a planned road across Mount funding for parks is not nearly enough. river from Wodonga to the SA border. Stirling. It was first proposed by the Parks Victoria's budget, including Mount Buller and Mount Stirling Alpine its funding for pest plant and animal The ALP lost that election and the Resort Management Board in 2008, control, has been severely cut in recent Coalition won office. Parks Victoria had put on hold in 2010 and then re- years. The agency now has fewer staff commenced phasing out grazing licences launched in 2013. than when it was created in 1996, but this was halted. Over 200 licences even though the area of parks has were returned and the cows went back This road, which essentially goes significantly increased. Parks Victoria in. The linking Murray River Park is nowhere, would destroy high urgently needs extra funding, and unfinished business, and it could be conservation value alpine forest and enough staff and appropriate expertise upgraded to have better protection as a threatened species habitat, and appears to properly manage our park system. regional park or similar. be of limited value in an emergency. Deliver a Great Forest National Park: The previous government dropped its A week before the planning application Conservationists have been pushing questionable ‘ecological thinning’ trial on was to be heard at VCAT, former for a government commitment to a the eve of the election, and the ALP has planning minister Matthew Guy ‘called new national park in Victoria's central agreed not to revive this. it in’, effectively shutting down public highlands. This was the ‘big ticket’ scrutiny. We understand the application conservation item of the campaign, Work for better protection of the has not yet been approved and is with with widespread support across the Wellsford, Wombat and Strathbogie new Planning Minister Richard Wynne. community. Labor failed to support forests: Strong local campaigns were the new park in its policy, instead undertaken for better protection of these The VNPA has asked repeatedly for proposing to 'facilitate and support’ forests, but Labor has failed to commit some justification for the road’s value the establishment of an industry to any reviews of public land use and in the case of an emergency, but we taskforce to find common ground baulked at launching VEAC inquiries have heard nothing substantial from on forestry issues. into the forests. In a last-minute move its proponents. We are asking that this Complete the red gum parks system: before the election, the Coalition handed application be rejected once and for Prior to the 2010 state election the control of native forests in western all, and that the government consider Brumby Government was on the verge Victoria to its commercial forestry arm adding Mount Stirling to the national of formalising the widely supported VicForests. The details are still unclear park estate. • PW

National parks & protected areas PHOTO: NICK ROBERTS PHOTO: Murray River Park Indicative cattle grazing licences Wildlife (Game) reserves

The proposed Murray River Park will complete the red gum parks system

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 5 Paddling the Lower Glenelg

VNPA MEMBER LYNN GUNNING IS AN ACCREDITED EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGIST AND FREELANCE WRITER WHO LOVES BIKE RIDING, BUSHWALKING AND CANOEING, AND ENJOYING AND ADVOCATING FOR AUSTRALIA'S GREAT OUTDOORS AND ITS FLORA AND FAUNA. PHOTO: LYNN GUNNING LYNN PHOTO: Canoeing the Glenelg.

A wildlife and relaxation paradise, Lower Glenelg National Park, about Booking blues 380 km west of Melbourne, is a hidden treasure offering great hiking, boating, Parks Victoria introduced a new “The lack of campers with permits has camping and paddling opportunities. campsite booking system with created a vacuum, and unfortunately, the increased fees in 2014 and it hasn’t thing that is filling that vacuum is illegal The perfect way to take in the been smooth going for the park since camping,” says Ross. then. The first time I used the system I surroundings is by paddling at a “Where there were once six or eight other found it unwieldy and hard to navigate leisurely rate along all or part of the campers keeping an eye on unruly groups, when you need to change campsites 46 km stretch of the Glenelg River asking them to quieten down or pick up their each night. The key issues are: within the national park. With elusive rubbish, now there’s nobody to moderate bad platypuses, koalas, shingle-back 1. The system is designed for stays of behaviour.” lizards and birds, plus dedicated canoe several nights and does not easily Then there’s the significant increase in prices camping sites, it’s the place for a break cater for one-night stays and daily for hiking and canoeing, to $10 per night per that’s both incredibly tranquil and very changes to site bookings. person and $50 per night for vehicle sites. invigorating. 2. One site can accommodate up to By comparison, a family can stay at a nearby four people. So camping areas with private caravan park with all amenities for You don’t have to own all the paddling six sites can take up to 24 campers. around $35 per night. gear needed as it’s easily hired from local However, many confused users book School groups have been particularly operators. Ross and Marg Atkins run one site for each person. Thus in hamstrung. First they have to use the Paestan Canoe Hire and kitted us out campsites with four sites you may cumbersome booking system, with bookings with boats, paddles, personal flotation find only four people instead of 16. required for each individual student. Not devices and barrels to put all our gear in 3. Groups of more than 16 people are (see www.canoehire.com.au). much fun when you’re taking 40 kids. excluded (even though some sites Teachers are able to email details through, can take up to 24 people). They also dropped us off and picked but this is not seamless or foolproof. us up from our entry and exit points. Ross has noticed his business has Schools are also being charged twice as The only hassle was navigating our dropped 10-15% in the last two years. much as they used to be, despite some of way through the new Parks Victoria Meanwhile campsites along the river them doing volunteer maintenance while booking system, which has individuals that were once only available by ballot they are in the park. Imagine the increased and school groups alike scratching over the very popular summer period overall costs if this volunteer labor were their heads and sometimes giving up in are now often vacant. dissuaded from continuing to visit! utter frustration.

6 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Clockwise from top left: Calling on a koala; Superb Fairy-wrens are abundant along the river; Shingleback lizard; ‘Wedding cake’ formation, Princess Margaret Rose Caves; tent with a view (and kangaroo); echidna at work. PHOTOS: LYNN GUNNING LYNN PHOTOS:

We chose to paddle upstream from for a sleep-in for those still unwinding Our international guest was surprised Dry Creek to Pritchards over four days. from the rat race. As shelter is available and thrilled to be able to see so many With limited canoe camps, the length at this campsite, we were able to native animals in their natural habitats of each leg is largely determined by the keep dry amid passing showers and along the river – something he had capability of the paddlers and the prepare a gourmet meal – all the while never experienced before. availability of the next camping site. watching kangaroos hop down to feed by the river, or the resident possum As we disembarked from the canoes All campsites have drop toilets and sneak out after dinner to try his luck at we couldn’t take the contented grins picnic tables. With a large group of eight securing some easy pickings. from our faces. Completely free people of differing abilities, we opted for from mobile phone coverage for the two short days of around 6 km each to The shorter paddle leg also gave us duration of the paddle, we’d been start with. This gave us plenty of time to the opportunity to hike a section of able to truly connect with each other visit the Princess Margaret Rose Caves the Great South West Walk, where we and with the inspiring environment on the afternoon of the first day. spotted an echidna foraging for ants. around us. • PW

This 90 minute side-trip offers a welcome Day three is a longer 12 km paddle to break and an intriguing look at some one of my favorite sites: Georges Rest. The Great South West Walk great limestone formations. The caves We stopped along the way for lunch A section of the 250 km Great are leased from Parks Victoria by a and explored another car camping site South West Walk (which starts commercial operator and car camping (where we discovered a tiger snake). and finishes at Portland) hugs the is available on site. We had the campsite to ourselves and river for three days of walking and spent some of the afternoon cooling off is very popular with hiking groups. With an international guest in our in the river, later to fall asleep listening From Moleside camp, hikers have group, the highlight of our first night to the somewhat intimidating grunting dedicated campsites at Battersbys, at Lasletts campsite was a local wombat calls of the koalas. Murrells, Pattersons and Simpsons, feeding away happily only five metres and can walk the 50 km through from our tent. Our final day was an 8 km paddle to to Nelson in three or four days. our pickup point at Pritchards. We More information is available at The second leg to Pattersons canoe camp saw two koalas in the trees along the www.greatsouthwestwalk.com took less than 90 minutes and allowed riverbanks, and one Azure Kingfisher.

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 7 Charges for Tidal River campsites have almost doubled.

Park camping fees hike

VNPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MATT RUCHEL LOOKS AT RECENT INCREASES IN CAMPING AND ACCOMMODATION FEES IN PARKS, WHICH ARE UPSETTING CAMPERS, HIKERS, GREY PHOTO: PROM CAMPERS ASSOCIATION CAMPERS PROM PHOTO: NOMADS AND MANY OTHERS. So what has driven the increase in camping and accommodation fees in In July 2014, the Napthine Government parks? Is it ‘competitive neutrality’, introduced a new fee structure and a i.e. ensuring the government isn’t new on-line/ phone booking system for competing ‘unfairly’ with private camping in Victoria’s parks. providers like caravan parks? Is the increase justified and fair, or The new fee regime increases the counterproductive? amount paid for campsites, expands the number of parks in which fees are Key questions include the current applied, and requires campers to book pricing system for ‘special services’ sites in advance on line or by phone. (such as roofed accommodation, guided walks and powered sites), the For overnight hikes, large groups, a few fairness or otherwise of the fees, and campsites such as Glenelg NP canoe GEOFF DURHAM PHOTO: whether they disadvantage visitors or sites, and successful bookings involving Not a good welcome to a park. discourage the use of parks. a ballot or advanced booking, there is also a booking fee. Drivers Heavy-handed The booking system seems very There seem to be four key drivers for confusing and the schedule of fees is Some have also complained about introducing the new fee structure: what appears to be non-welcoming difficult to follow. And when you ring, • recovering costs you often have to wait quite a while to and heavy-handed wording on park • creating a source of revenue talk to anyone. signs, which may deter some people from visiting or staying in the parks. independent of government funding Fees vary according to the facilities The signs are also visually intrusive and • claims it makes for a fairer system provided at sites. Those for ‘basic/very detract from the natural bush setting. for camping in public reserves as it basic’ camp grounds are $13 a night ‘provides affordable, convenient and for up to six people, and those with ‘Warrnambool Bushwalker’s’ comment certain site bookings’ ‘very high’ standard facilities are in Bushwalking Victoria News highlights the fee issue. • Parks Victoria is broke and can’t see $59.20 a night for up to eight people any other way of raising the money. at peak periods ($65.90 for a powered Rises in camping fees at Victorian According to the Regulatory Impact site at the Prom). national parks could be counter- Statement accompanying the new productive, the Warrnambool Many people are happy to make a fee regime, in 2011-12 the cost to Bushwalkers group says. Group contribution to the costs of managing Parks Victoria of the camping and spokesman Lothar Satzke said some parks, but some have complained to accommodation facilities in parks and of the big increases, such as the $34 a the VNPA that they dislike the booking reserves under its management was night charge to camp at the Borough system, particularly in remote areas. estimated at $12.3 million, whereas the Hut campground near Halls Gap, could revenue earned was $4.2 million, an discourage people from camping [in If you want to stay in a park but don’t apparent $8.1 million shortfall. have access to the internet, or there’s no parks] and reduce government revenue. mobile coverage, or you want to book “At $34 a night, it's cheaper to stay at The Statement used these figures to by phone and it’s after hours, you won’t a Youth Hostel, where I can have a hot estimate dramatically increased costs be able to book a site. shower,” Mr Satzke said. of $17.8 million a year on average over

8 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 A family now has to pay $414.40 to camp for a week in summer at Tidal River. Previously it was $259.70.

• revenue raised in parks through fees should be paid into a fund set up for that purpose, and expenditure from that fund should be based on priorities for the statewide park system • fees should be scaled so as not to attain levels which would encourage avoidance of payment, nor discourage visits to the parks on which they are levied • fees should not be set at a level which excludes disadvantaged people from parks PHOTO: PROM CAMPERS ASSOCIATION CAMPERS PROM PHOTO: • camping areas should be maintained to the period 2013-14 to 2022-23, leaving The same argument could be applied a high standard so the public can ‘see a shortfall of $11.3 million per annum. to camping in or use of parks. The their money at work’. According to Parks Victoria, this is health and wellbeing benefits of getting neither fair nor sustainable. out into nature have been extensively Personally, I think some of the well- documented, but do not seem to have serviced accommodation options and Based on these estimates, the total been taken into account in assessing powered sites are probably ‘special cost of maintaining camping and the costs and benefits of park camping services’. Only time will tell if they are accommodation facilities is around 7% and accommodation. correctly priced. of the annual Parks Victoria budget. And this does not take into account In addition, cost recovery principles are The bigger issue for me is the other that about 40% of Parks Victoria’s not applied consistently, particularly in 521 ‘very basic’ camp sites, used by the largest number of people. The vast funding already comes from a direct relation to the environment. The on- majority of users of camping areas (over levy of Melbourne residents through going public subsidy of native forestry 550,000 visitor nights annually, or 75% of the annual Parks Charge on rates is a classic example, as is the fraught all overnight stays in parks) stay in ‘basic’ bills (though technically this money debate about a price on carbon. can only be spent on parks in the and ‘very basic’ camping areas. metropolitan area). VNPA policy To my mind the parks system, and Department of Treasury and Finance The VNPA has a long-held policy that the use of it, should be considered an guidelines seem to indicate that there parks should be funded from general essential service, like education. It is are possible exceptions to the cost revenue, and that there should not something provided by the government for all citizens, and everybody should be recovery rules, such as where costly be fees for entry into public reserves, encouraged to use it. charging could undermine other although fees may be acceptable where objectives. For example, preventive ‘special services’ are provided. The increased fees and the new booking health care helps individuals as well as system seem to be more about business the state by reducing costs of hospital The VNPA policy also contains the planning for Parks Victoria and picking treatment. following provisos: the easiest ways of developing new revenue sources, rather than about assessing the broader societal case and Camping fees compared – a weekend in the Otways dealing with the chronic under-funding Parks Victoria camping areas: of the park system. • PW pit or composting toilets, shared fireplace, no showers. Cost per night: $47.80 (including $10 booking fee) for two people. For more information, see Total for two-night weekend: $95.60 www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/visit/book- your-stay/changes-to-camping-and- Bimbi Park (commercial camping): accommodation-fees flush toilets, showers, full use of other facilities. Cost per night: $35 (peak periods), $20 (off-peak) for two people. $10/$8 for each extra adult. Total for two-night weekend: $70 (peak), $40 (off-peak). See Glen Tempest’s Open Spaces Princetown Recreation Reserve: Publishing website www.osp.com.au flush toilets, showers, coin laundry, undercover barbecue. No bookings. for more analysis of the camping fee Cost per night: $20 for two people, $5 for each extra adult in same car. increases in the blog ‘Healthy Parks Total for two-night weekend: $40. Wealthy People’.

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 9 Higher camping fees may lock families out

CONCERNED ABOUT PARKS VICTORIA’S NEW CAMPING FEES AND BOOKING SYSTEM, THE PROM CAMPERS ASSOCIATION (PCA)

WAS KEEN TO SEE HOW CAMPING ASSOCIATION CAMPERS PROM PHOTO: IN WILSONS PROMONTORY Tidal River campsite possibly damaged by excessive numbers of people using the site. NP WOULD BE AFFECTED. ASSOCIATION SECRETARY CARLOTA QUINLAN REPORTS. Traditionally, the Prom has been a place This summer it was obvious that people for budget family holidays. Formerly were trying to minimise the cost of their a family of four (two adults and two holiday by squeezing more people on to Tidal River campground is always children) would have paid $37.10 per a site. crowded from Christmas Day night ($259.70 per week). until the Australia Day weekend. Extra people per site results in more It’s when families enjoy the Prom With the new price structure, the same pressure on showers, toilet facilities, the in traditional ways. family had to pay $59.20 per night. store, campsites and car parking. It also That is an extra $22.10 per night, or generates greater noise levels, alcohol But this year, changes were obvious. $154.70 a week. A week’s camping now consumption, rubbish and recycling, and Many regular small groups and families costs them $414.40. This is likely to demand for fresh water. were absent. Some campsites were have locked out many families. overcrowded, with two caravans or This January the potential pressure was multiple tents on a site. It also discriminates against smaller fortunately alleviated by the extremely families or groups. The flat fee covers windy and cool weather, unusual even for Campers’ cars were parked in the from one to eight people. A sole parent the Prom, which drove people inside or to Norman Bay carpark or on road with two children, onechild families, arrive late or vacate sites early. verges. Some campervans stayed couples and single travellers now all overnight in day carparks. have to pay the same flat fee. This is Campers discussed these issues at the PCA’s annual public meeting at Tidal River. All this put extra pressure on the park. totally inequitable. Vegetation around campsites was Campsite application forms ask It was widely agreed that a national park damaged by campers using off-site whether you need a small, medium or camping holiday, or one in basic roofed areas for seating, tents and trailers. large site but you don’t know what size accommodation, should remain affordable for all. The price structure should cater for There was also more than usual use site you’re getting until the full fee has been paid. the less well-off as well as those who can of free camping at the Yanakie Hall afford to pay more. (outside the park). Applicants are informed that they have Suggestions included: These changes can be attributed, at least a site and that the full payment has in part, to the increased camping fees been withdrawn from their credit card • Restructure the payment so the minimum and changed fee structure. account. The allocated site number charge is for a small group – say two or is given but the flat fee has already three people. The nearby campground at In January 2014 the minimum fee for been paid. Walkerville charges $33 for two people an unpowered campsite at Tidal River plus $5 for each child and $10 for each As site sizes vary, the allocated site (maximum of three people and one person over 14. car) was $32.80 per night. may not suit a family’s or group’s needs. But cancellation is expensive. • Revisit the fee increase and revise it to In January 2015 the same campsites It looks as if people made do, and reflect only a modest increase, in line cost a flat rate of $59.20 per night. overcrowding occurred. with the CPI. • PW

10 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 The skills we need

PHIL INGAMELLS TELLS A STORY OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE.

I was in a tin shed at the back of one of those towering city buildings, talking to a man called Jack Douglas. It was 1988, and Jack and the shed were both showing their age. PHOTO: PHIL INGAMELLS PHOTO: I’d gone there because Jack, generally Sensitive visitor access at Cape Conran, where Aboriginal middens are common. regarded then as the pre-eminent Most aspects of park management require expertise and experience. Victorian geologist, had agreed to take me through the 600 million years or so of the geological formation of “Ah!” he said, “now that’s an experience), and everyone seemed to the Grampians. interesting story.” know pretty much what to do – or if As we talked among the dusty not, who to ask. cabinets with their multitude He proceeded to tell me that when of marvellous rocks, a Japanese the Geological Survey of Victoria And now? Well … take the making gentleman with a suitcase arrived at started, it consisted of a number of the management plan for Victoria’s the door. He was pointed towards the of young geologists, of whom he Alpine National Park. makings of a cup of tea in the corner, was one. They combed the wilds In the early 1990s, when the first plan while Jack kept on with his story of of Victoria, and accumulated the was written, a team of four park staff the layering of sands, massive uplifts knowledge necessary to advise was given the job. They drew on their and aeons of erosion. any number of industries and land management agendas. extensive knowledge and experience, I had to ask what the Japanese consulted widely and produced a very man was doing there, and it turned But the administrative side of good plan. out he had just arrived for the things was burdening them, so they In 2008 the plan was up for revision, 3rd International Organization of employed a secretary to look after but it seems the expertise necessary Palaeobotany conference, which Jack the phone and the paperwork. She to put a management plan together was running in Melbourne that week. soon hired an assistant, and in time the administration section grew to was by then scarce in Parks Victoria. I felt a bit awkward that Jack had left occupy a ten-storey building. Considerable management knowledge his distinguished guest in the corner was there, but it was thin on the while he continued with me, but he Eventually, poor Jack and the few ground. wasn’t fazed at all. remaining geologists were relegated to the shed. Seven years later, all that has emerged I had come for advice because I is a largely dysfunctional draft. More was gathering information for an Things may not be quite so dire worrying, the vacuum left by the audio-visual at the new Grampians in Victoria’s land management agency’s lack of skills, and a seeming National Park visitor centre. Jack was departments, but there are clear absence of any clear sense of purpose, adamant that there were few things parallels. invited ill-informed and damaging more important than community political interference – the very thing a education; the conference and his It’s hard to get figures on these things, park plan should be designed to avoid. colleague could wait a while. and expertise is hard to quantify, but I seem to remember that when Proper funding for park management But there was another question I was first employed by the National is urgently needed, but it has to be bothering me: Why had the Parks Service in 1985, most of the married to a concerted effort to rebuild department parked him in this professional staff were biologists or the expertise we need to look after old shed out the back? other scientists (either by training or Victoria’s finest natural areas.• PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 11 Some of Victoria’s varied VNPA terrestrial ecosystems. NATURE CONSERVATION REVIEW From grasslands to rainforests Protecting terrestrial ecosystems

EVELYN FELLER SUMMARISES THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THE VNPA'S NATURE CONSERVATION REVIEW, COVERING VICTORIA'S TERRESTRIAL (LAND) ECOSYSTEMS. For more detail, see www.vnpa.org.au/page/ publications/nature-conservation-review/ nature-conservation-review-2014

Victoria’s 23 million hectares of diverse landscapes are inhabited by a multitude of different life forms. Australia is recognised as one of the world’s megadiverse countries. On the 3% of its land area that Victoria occupies are some 80,000 to 100,000 species – half of the nation’s bird species, more than a RHYLL PLANTILLUSTRATION: quarter of its mammals and lichens, about a fifth of its vascular plants. as much as possible now to mitigate threats, • Upgrade protection for conservation foster resilience and facilitate adaptation. reserves by transferring them to the More than 500 species are unique to National Parks Act. Victoria, many yet to be identified. National park and • Establish a fund for purchasing Many are significant for ecosystem services conservation system high priority lands for addition such as carbon storage and pollination. Expanding the national park and to the park estate. About 17% of Victoria is protected in the conservation system is more important • Strengthen measures and national park and conservation system. than ever. About three-quarters of Victoria’s incentives to support conservation Outside parks, small areas of private land subregions remain poorly protected. The on private land. (totalling about 100,000 hectares) are VNPA has identified five priority clusters • Increase the scientific research, policy securely protected and are very important for expanding protection: the South development and management in areas where there are few or no parks. West, central Victoria, Melbourne Metro planning skills of park agency staff. and Catchments, Gippsland Plains and Threats and priorities Strzeleckis, and East Gippsland. Vegetation protection Victoria’s terrestrial ecosystems have suffered Because many priority ecosystems With more than half the state cleared severe losses. More than 80 species are extinct are on private land, strategies like of native vegetation, and much of and over 1000 threatened. Mammals have conservation covenants must be used the rest degraded, the priority must suffered the greatest losses: 19 species are to protect ecosystems outside parks. be to protect what remains, reverse extinct and another 19 threatened. These Unfortunately the capacity of national degrading processes and restore high- losses affect many ecosystem functions, park managers to protect parks adequately priority areas. with consequences for forest health, has been compromised in recent years by vegetation structure and soil recovery. government pressures and actions. The previous government severely undermined protection of native With less than half the land retaining Recommendations vegetation but the Andrews original vegetation, major challenges lie • Commission the Victorian Environmental Government has undertaken to ahead to avert further degradation and Assessment Council (VEAC) to reform vegetation clearing regulations. loss of biodiversity, and restore health to investigate how most effectively to It is critical to protect remnant Victoria’s landscapes. achieve a comprehensive, adequate vegetation; there are many problems Climate change is already increasing the and representative national park and with offsetting, and it does not halt extremes of drought and fire. We need to do conservation system in Victoria. vegetation loss.

12 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Extent to which Victoria’s ecological vegetation classes are protected (as percentage of the NCR’s reserve targets)

Recommendations • Establish new native vegetation laws with an independent regulator to oversee management of native vegetation, and to enforce and administer offset schemes. • Revert to the statewide objective of ‘net gain’ and reinstate the steps of ‘avoid, minimise, and (only then) offset’. • Improve the offsets framework to deliver genuine conservation gains. • Develop a state biolinks plan to enhance landscape connectivity. Stewardship and restoration Victorians face an immense restoration task. Thousands of NCR IMAGE: landholders will need motivation and support to manage their land Forestry laws are poorly enforced and Recommendations better for conservation. Victoria has environmental assessments not required • Assess the need for prescribed been a leader in ecomarket schemes in new logging areas. Removal of fallen burning programs at a local level in which landholders can be paid for wood impacts on biodiversity; demand in the context of other more useful protecting biodiversity. for firewood should also be met from safety measures. plantations. Victoria could be a world Protection of restored habitats will only • Prioritise fuel reduction to areas leader in protecting forest-based carbon occur with mechanisms like conservation critical for public safety and beneficial stores to mitigate climate change. covenants. Though many Victorians to wildlife. are engaged in Landcare and other Recommendations • Replace any annual statewide target restoration projects, it is important to • Transition Victoria’s wood products for prescribed burning by a risk-based evaluate the success of these programs. industry from native forests to approach. Government support for biolink projects plantations for woodchip, pulp and • Apply strong planning rules and which connect areas of high-quality paper products in the next five years, building codes in bushfire-prone areas intact vegetation, and for supporting and for sawlogs within the next ten, to avoid placing homes and people at landholders to manage land better for with industry assistance and regional risk and reduce the need to remove conservation, is essential. development packages. native vegetation. Recommendations • Immediately ban logging in western Victoria, and stop logging in areas Invasive species • Expand and strengthen the use of of high conservation value such as ecomarkets such as BushTender to Victoria’s already dire invasive species Leadbeater’s Possum habitat in the deliver real conservation gains. problems will worsen unless there is central highlands. substantial reform of laws, policies and • Review the Land for Wildlife program • Apply the federal Environment programs to prevent the introduction to see how it can be expanded and Protection and Biodiversity of new harmful species. improved. Conservation (EPBC) Act to all Recommendations relevant forestry activities. Forests • Strengthen biosecurity legislation Because native forests are severely Fire management about harmful invasive species. depleted, it is time for industry to move • Establish regional weed committees The arbitrary state burning target of 5% to plantation forestry. There are already comprising local government, of public land annually is not based on extensive plantations to meet demand. community representatives and land sound science and such burning may managers. Despite being heavily subsidised, forestry not be the best option for reducing on public lands incurs substantial risks to life and property. Other options • Develop training and certification for economic losses. Current subsidies for for protection should be considered all workers involved in weed control. public land logging should be removed and evaluated. Research is needed to • Reclassify deer as a pest species and to make existing plantation timber use identify ecologically appropriate fire implement control programs for both more economically attractive. regimes for the full range of biodiversity. deer and feral horses. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 13 Right: The current leaking tailings dam at the headwaters of the Tambo river. It is proposed to extend the dam wall to an additional 25 metres in height. The dam is expected to do the impossible: it must protect the toxic tailings for at least a thousand years. Lake Wishful Thinking SHOULD WE PRETEND THAT A LEAKING TAILINGS DAM WON’T HARM THE TAMBO RIVER AND THE GIPPSLAND LAKES? PHIL INGAMELLS LOOKS AT GIPPSLAND’S SOMEWHAT PERILOUS LAKE ST BARBARA.

In February 2006, having spent around $7 million of taxpayers’ money trying to fix up an unstable tailings dam abandoned by a failed copper and zinc mining enterprise, the Department of Primary Industries was moved to ask the Register of Geographic Names to call the dam ‘Lake St Barbara’. Among the reasons listed for the naming were that the dam would sit at the headwaters of the Tambo River for a very long time, and that, as it no longer played a part in mining activity, it should not be referred to as a tailings dam. What the department failed to mention to the honourable place names authority was that the dam would hold 700,000 tonnes of toxic tailings for at least a thousand years, that it was still leaking highly acidic waste, and that there was no way to guarantee its long-term stability. The department was, at that stage, right in its expectation that the dam would not be re-used. When a new company, Independence Group, recently applied to re-open and expand the old copper and zinc mine, the Lake St Barbara tailings dam remained exempt from the mining licence area. It wasn’t exempt from Independence Group’s expectations, however – it was central to their plans for handling the new mine’s waste. Indeed, they plan to raise the dam wall to a height CBC KAMLOOPSPHOTO: CRISP LOUISE PHOTO: of 45 metres and store up to 7 million tonnes of toxic waste, The tailings dam for Canada’s Mount Pollie mine failed catastrophically last year. around ten times the volume held by the original dam. The planned rickety tailings dam for Independence Group’s Stockman Mine could bring a situation like this to the Tambo River and the Gippsland Lakes. The waste must remain covered by two metres of water for at least a thousand years. That, frankly, is impossible. Minister Matthew Guy gave his approval. In his assessment he claimed that no objections had been raised over the location of For a start, an independent GHD report has pointed out that the tailings dam, but that is fundamentally false. the membrane (the industrial film used to keep the earth and rock wall impermeable) used in the original dam will only last The Gippsland Environment Group (which has been leading for around 30 years. And the somewhat improved membrane this fight), the VNPA and others made strong written planned for the dam wall extension has a lifetime of only submissions and presentations to the investigative panel about 100-200 years. Neither of them can be replaced or repaired. the inadequacies of the dam and many other issues. And in the lifetime of the dam there will inevitably be many Mr Guy also claimed that a post-closure trust fund of only $5.5 ten-year droughts which will evaporate the crucial protective million would account for catastrophic failure of the dam. But water cover. the report he referenced for that estimate actually recommended a $264 million bond. Then, in his media announcement, he even There’s more. The GHD report listed 67 cases where important got muddled about what the mine was mining! information from Independence Group on how the tailings dam will be managed long-term was either missing or inadequate. The saving grace is that the tailings dam (or Lake St Barbara So, what happens if the mining company does its business and if you’re so inclined) remains technically outside the mining goes west like the last company, leaving a serious toxic legacy approvals so far. And that, we are quite sure, is where it should stay. threatening the Tambo River and the Gippsland Lakes for We implore the Victorian Environment Minister, the Planning generations to come? Minister, and the Minister for Energy and Resources to look The mining operation has now received federal approval and, very carefully at the long-term safety of Gippsland’s waterways, shortly before last year’s election, Victoria’s then Planning and deny final approval for the Stockman Mine.• PW

1414 PARK PARK WATCH WATCH • •MARCH MARCH 2015 2015 NO NO 260 260 A ‘fuel reduction burn’ in the Fryers Ranges, Central Victoria, where there was little fuel in the first place. Some burns in this forest type actually increase the fuel load.

Burn target gets a welcome review

PHIL INGAMELLS BACKGROUNDS THE VEXED ‘BURN 5% OF PUBLIC LAND EACH YEAR’ ISSUE.

Since Black Saturday, for very good reason, the way we manage fire has been one of the most earnest issues occupying PHIL INGAMELLS PHOTO: the minds of Victoria’s land managers.

At its heart is an apparently unsolvable burning the ridge-tops of eastern So we welcome the announcement issue. On days of severe fire weather, Victoria’s forests, and then counting by new Environment Minister, Lisa conflagrations can cause terrible damage the whole area as being fuel-reduced. Neville, that the Inspector-General for and loss of life across the state. Emergency Management will conduct So it’s not surprising that our land an inquiry into whether the target for Yet the stuff that fuels those fires is our managers have been putting burns bushfire fuel management should be natural heritage, the tens of thousands into remote areas like the Mallee and hectare-based, or based on the capacity of species that 500 million years of far east Gippsland, where large areas for bushfire risk reduction. terrestrial evolution has left us with. are more easily burnt. Importantly, the Commission’s own There are no easy answers, and simplistic There has been less incentive to Independent Monitor has already solutions just don’t cut the mustard. perform the crucial smaller, more pointed out that the target was resource- intensive burns around unachievable and expensive, and The Victorian Bushfires Royal townships and settlements, as they compromised good planning. Commission, set up to investigate contribute little to the target. fire management in Victoria after DEPI (now DELWP) has also Black Saturday, was by far the most And in some cases, such as some already done considerable work in exhaustive inquiry into fire management of the Box and Ironbark forests of assessing and planning risk-based fuel we have seen. central Victoria, woodlands with little management. Hopefully, the hectare undergrowth have been burnt, only to target will now be shelved. But one of its recommendations create an almost impenetrable growth has remained contentious: the of highly flammable coffee-bush (the The next step will be to greatly recommendation to burn 5% indigenous ‘Chinese scrub’). That improve planning for fuel reduction (390,000ha) of public land each made no sense at all. programs, and assess them along with year for fuel reduction. the many other programs that improve With an increase in bushfires, almost public safety. We need a program to The Commission believed that the certainly due to climate change, and the encourage people living in vulnerable important issue of fuel management over-enthusiastic burn program, there areas to install their own approved required an easily measured target that has now most probably been more fire bushfire shelter. would make the department clearly in the Victorian landscape than at any accountable to the people of Victoria. time in the past 50,000 years. And we need to improve our capacity for rapid attack. We are already quite But in doing so, it skewed fire DEPI’s last report on the burn good at this, but more aircraft and management programs in ways that program points out that half of training can mean we stop more fires at have led to a less effective burn program, Victoria’s native vegetation is below their source. and unnecessary impacts on Victoria’s its ‘minimum tolerable fire interval’, already struggling natural systems. meaning that any significant fire in That’s good for asthma sufferers, good most of Victoria’s public land could for the wine industry, good for tourism, Since the 1930s, when control burns seriously compromise the health of a relief for hard-pressed CFA volunteers were first recorded, a fuel reduction our ecosystems. and, crucially, good for public safety. burn of 390,000ha has been achieved only once, in 1981, and that was almost We have few long-unburnt areas left, And, yes, it’s also good for our long- certainly due to the foresters’ habit of and many species depend on them. suffering natural areas. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 15 Ecological debt and deficit

MATT RUCHEL LOOKS AT THE URGENT NEED FOR BETTER FUNDING FOR NATURE AND PARKS.

The current catchcry about ‘debt and deficit disasters’, usually followed by a PHOTO: PARKS VICTORIA PARKS PHOTO: statement that future generations will be condemned to paying off our debt, Above: Broom is is often heard from politicians. a serious weed But it’s probably better applied to the in the Alpine natural environment. The damage we do National Park and other parks. now, and past damage, does indeed create a burden for future generations, not just Left: There are in the quality of the environment they thousands of inherit but also in the costs of managing Sambar Deer in Victoria’s parks and (heaven forbid) repairing it. and they cause The natural environment directly significant and indirectly sustains the Victorian environmental damage. economy and society – as the basis for industries such as tourism, fishing and primary production, and by providing a COMMONS IJSSELDIJK,YUSUF FLICKR CREATIVE PHOTO: multitude of ecosystem services. Costs and values (worth $1.5 billion), and from resource escalate if resource constraints are not harvesting and extraction ($1.8 billion), addressed, and relying on short-term Failures to maintain Victoria’s ‘natural mainly from the use of water for funding to address a long-term problem capital’ have exacted an enormous irrigation and urban purposes. is detrimental to effective management. financial cost, seen in the billions of dollars spent trying to rescue the Parks Victoria estimates that the park Threats Murray-Darling system, mitigate system annually generates $1.02 billion Another audit in 2011found that the salinity, restore vegetation and reduce through park tourism (overnight environment department had not allocated greenhouse gas emissions. visitors attributed to parks), $330 million worth of water services and sufficient resources to plan for or respond Yet there is far from sufficient $180 million of avoided health costs. to marine biosecurity incidents, and that investment of public funds to arrest dedicated funding for managing marine environmental decline, condemning A recent study by the Victorian Coastal parks had been used for other activities. future Victorians to spiralling costs for Council found that the annual value Only a small proportion of the restoration and threat mitigation. of Victoria’s non-commercial coastal ecosystem services ($8.4 billion) was Victorian budget goes to support nature So how much do we spend on the similar to that of commercial coastal conservation, at a level that is far from natural environment – and how much activities ($9.8 billion). proportionate to the value of ecosystem should we? And what do we gain from it? services and the resources needed to Numerous auditor-general reports restore biodiversity. A 2002-03 valuation found that the and similar assessments have found gross value to the Victoria economy that because of insufficient funding, For example, funding in 2012-13 for from the use of public lands was about government agencies are unable to Parks Victoria – including from the state government budget, the Parks and $3.5 billion, and the net value about meet many fundamental environmental Reserves Trust and other sources – was $2.5 billion. The economic benefits obligations. came primarily from the more than about $260 million, equivalent to 0.6% of 110 million visits each year to Victoria’s According to a 2010 audit, invasive the state budget, or just $45 per Victorian national parks, beaches and piers species threats in national parks will per year.

16 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Environmental standards should not be compromised for the sake of an agency saving money. OMBUDSMAN VICTORIA PHOTO: VNPA PHOTO:

Above: Damaged signs and other facilities in parks are the result of inadequate funding and staff levels. Below: Bandicoot taken by a fox. Ongoing pest control programs are vital to protect native species. PHOTO: VNPA (JULIEVNPA KIRKWOOD) PHOTO: PHOTO: WWW.FREEIMAGES.COM PHOTO: The Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell NP. Putting a charge on visiting Victoria’s national parks is sometimes suggested as a way of raising revenue.

This is for managing some 18% of the and ‘initiative’ funding for pest control Leader of the Vote 1 Local Jobs party and state’s land area and 5% of its marine undermines its effectiveness. If no new Upper House MP James Purcell, from waters – about 4 million hectares of land management is undertaken for one or western Victoria, proposes a $10 entrance and 50,000 hectares of marine waters, two years, pest species run riot, wasting fee to the Twelve Apostles, which he says plus 35 million annual visits to national or undermining much of the previous would create a $20 million tourism fund to and state parks and 96 million to all investment. employ 50 new rangers and implement a places managed by Parks Victoria. range of tourism initiatives. Resources needed The funding available to manage the This sort of idea could be looked at, but we national park estate for conservation Parks Victoria and our environment must avoid creating too many barriers to outcomes is substantially less than $260 departments need more management people visiting parks. There’s also an equity million. About a third ($88 million, from resources for facilities too. In many of issue, with Melbourne householders already the Parks Charge levy that Melbourne our parks, especially less-visited ones, paying $70+ per year as a parks levy while residents pay) is spent on managing just signs have been damaged or destroyed other Victorians pay nothing. 5000 hectares of metropolitan parks. Large and walking tracks washed away or sums are also spent on managing visitors overgrown. Decrepit picnic tables and The tourism industry is a significant and facilities in parks across the state. other facilities are more of a hazard beneficiary of the parks system, so perhaps than a convenience. a ‘bed tax’ or similar levy on tourists for Parks Victoria employs fewer than 1000 high-volume areas is another strategy worth full-time equivalent staff, which equates to Parks and the environment need more investigating. Any long-term solution more than 4000 hectares of land managed resources, but state governments seem will probably require a series of measures, per employee (many of whom are not field unwilling to pay for what should be perhaps broadening the base or amount of staff). The government cut at least 120 part of their routine core business. Yet the parks levy. jobs from Parks Victoria in 2013. support for national parks is almost universal, as the VNPA’s recent poll If this is too difficult, maybe it’s better just to According to the Community and found. allocate the park system the funding it needs. Public Sector Union, staffing levels in Park Victoria are now as low as when it The previous Coalition government While we do need to look at alternative was established in 1996, yet it manages spent a lot of time attacking the parks funding methods, parks need their fair share an additional two million hectares of system. Even while complaining that of the government funding pie to ensure national parks and conservation areas parks are over-run with pest plants and they remain healthy. animals, it cut budgets and initiated across the state. This is not just an environmental question. strange and unpopular strategies. Many rangers are telling the VNPA In the long run it’s a more efficient use of that they have virtually no funding for While this was spin politics at its worst, taxpayers’ dollars, and should ensure that management activities such as pest the fundamental funding problem our magnificent national parks are in good plant and animal control. This situation continues. The ALP election campaign shape for future Victorians, and that we is especially problematic. As the 2010 commitment of $5 million in additional continue to have a truly world-class parks auditor-general report noted, spasmodic funding for parks is not nearly enough. system. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 17 Port Jackson Sharks at Nepean Bay.

Brighter future for Victoria’s seas and shores

MARINE AND COASTAL EXPERT CHRIS SMYTH OUTLINES WHAT HE HOPES WILL BE THE OUTCOME OF THE NEW STATE GOVERNMENT’S POLICY

TO CREATE A MARINE AND COASTAL VICTORIA OF MUSEUM MARK NORMAN, PHOTO: ACT. CHRIS IS NOW WORKING WITH THE VNPA AS MARINE • ecologically sustainable use of However, in both of these cases and others, AND COASTAL COORDINATOR. Victoria’s marine and coastal the delegated agency would have to manage resources the resource in a way that is consistent Three days out from the 29 November • integrated marine and coastal with the new legislation and the objectives, state election last year the then Labor planning across sectors and agencies targets and timelines in the regional marine Opposition released its environment and coastal strategies and plans prepared • security of access and certainty policy, which included a commitment by the Authority. of process for marine and coastal to establish a Marine and Coastal Act. industries It said: Planning zones • increased knowledge and An Andrews Labor Government will understanding of Victoria’s marine The regional marine and coastal plans undertake a five-yearly State of the Bay and coastal environment would, among other things, contain a set report to monitor the health of coasts, of planning zones with rules, objectives • community and industry stewardship bays and waterways. We will establish a and targets, and what is and isn’t allowed in of Victoria’s marine and coastal new Marine and Coastal Act, bringing each zone. environment, and effective together all management and protections community engagement in planning, This transparent and accountable planning under the one system. management and conservation. process would be carried out in close For more than 40 years there has consultation with stakeholders, regional been talk about the need for an Marine and Coastal Authority marine and coastal advisory committees, coastal municipalities, coast committees, integrated approach to marine and The Act should establish a Marine other agencies and the community, coastal planning and management, and Coastal Authority, a statutory and allocate marine and coastal natural but most ‘solutions’ put in place independent body that would replace resources for ecologically sustainable uses. have revolved around collaboration, the Victorian Coastal Council and interdepartmental committees, hope could have an administrative structure Responsibility for the management of these and a lot of faith in ‘the system’. based on six regions: South-west, zones would rest with the Marine and With this new government Otway, Central (Port Phillip Bay Coastal Authority, but the management commitment, Victoria can now act to and Western Port), West Gippsland, functions would be delegated to other state address the issue. However, there are Gippsland Lakes and East Gippsland. government agencies and coast committees. few details on what the new legislation The Authority would be responsible Regional offices of the Marine and Coastal might actually do. for the integrated planning and Authority would work closely with the Here are some personal thoughts management of what would be the regional catchment management authorities that I developed in the preparation Victorian Coastal Crown Land and to ensure that the quality and quantity of of the report The Coast is Unclear, Waters Reserve. This new reserve water entering coastal estuaries and coastal which can be downloaded from the would include all coastal waters to three waters was adequate to maintain and then VNPA website. The report contains nautical miles offshore (the state limit), improve the health of those estuaries. estuaries, and all coastal Crown land, a much fuller discussion about what In each region the Marine and Coastal excluding the coastal conservation is described here and also about the Authority would establish a Marine estate (such as national parks). protection of coastal nature. and Coastal Advisory Committee The Authority would administer the comprising representatives of the local Marine and Coastal Act planning process and delegate certain council, parks agency, Coast Committee, A Marine and Coastal Act should management responsibilities to state catchment management authority and key establish the framework for integrated agencies such as Park Victoria for stakeholders including, commercial and marine and coastal planning and conservation reserves and Fisheries recreational fishers, tourism, conservation management, and drive: Victoria for fisheries management. and Indigenous communities. • PW

18 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Some of the Bellarine Peninsula’s wetlands, looking towards Point Lonsdale, Queenscliff and Swan Bay.

Minister Lisa Neville to have the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) report on the environmental values of the wetlands and make recommendations for their protection, management and maintenance into the future. Population growth, development, new infrastructure, climate change and pollution from runoff into the wetlands could cause irreversible damage to their habitat values – unless integrated

PHOTO: GEELONG ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL GEELONG PHOTO: management is established to protect their diversity and Bellarine Wetlands Nature Conservation Reserve ecological values. This proposed Reserve is an example The wetlands, dispersed across the Migrating waders fly from Siberia to this area of how the protection of coastal peninsula, are vital habitats for tens each year around August and stay through the nature could be better integrated and of thousands of migratory wading southern summer, then fatten up for the long more effective, and is consistent with birds in summer and for many resident journey back to Siberia and the Arctic for breeding the above thinking on the Marine waterbirds all year round. during the short summer months there. and Coastal Act. Such integrated management of the Bellarine Geelong Environment Council and A number of both the migratory and the wetlands was earlier proposed in the Queenscliffe Environment Forum resident species are considered ‘threatened’, and The Coast is Unclear. have asked new Victorian Environment the Orange-bellied Parrot is at risk of extinction.

Point Nepean National Park

Under the proposed Marine and Coastal Act, Parks Victoria would continue to manage the conservation reserves along the Victorian coast to ensure the coherent, consistent and integrated protection of coastal nature. However, under the leasing arrangements for Point Nepean National Park rushed through just hours before the caretaker period of government began in the lead-up to the November state election, a private property developer has been given management rights over 64 ha of the park. This undermines the community’s long-held objective of a single integrated national park under the management of GEOFF DURHAM PHOTO: Parks Victoria. The VNPA strongly supports the historic Quarantine Station being managed as part of Point Nepean National Park and accessible to all. In its election policy, the Labor Opposition stated: test what appears to be its privatisation. The VNPA is now working with local We will immediately review the lease to groups and the Andrews Government We are particularly concerned about the determine its legal status, given it does not to ensure that the commitments are granting of a lease to developers at Point become operational until 2016, and look kept, the inappropriate development Nepean. It is contrary to the master plan to use any powers of the Parliament to proposals are abandoned, and a and the community’s wishes. Victorians disallow it where possible. We will return protected future for Point Nepean should not be denied access to this Parks Victoria as the overall manager of an National Park and its unique natural and national park and Labor will rigorously integrated Point Nepean Park. cultural heritage is achieved.

PARKPARK WATCH WATCH • MARCH • MARCH 2015 2015 NO NO 260 260 19 19 The occasional pink colour of this salt lake comes in summer from a harmless alga and a bacterium in response to high salt levels With a little help from its Friends and temperatures.

VNPA MEMBER JENNY NORVICK EXPLAINS HOW A HAVEN OF INDIGENOUS VEGETATION HAS BEEN CREATED IN A CITY PARK. Victorian Government decided to turn the site into a park with lakes and ponds, and low hills created using the builders’ rubble and concrete remnants left on site, which were covered with clean fill and topsoil. Lawns were sown, paths constructed, a few picnic tables scattered around and garden beds planted with native shrubs and small trees, mainly from Western Australia. And then the park was largely neglected until a Friends group was formed in 1999. Friends of Westgate Park The group was started by Fine Arts/ Photography student Naomie Sunner, who had visited the park as part of a university assignment documenting a seven-day walk up the Yarra as far as Warrandyte. Drawn back by the river and the park, and interested in being part of a Friends group, she formed the Friends of Westgate Park. PHOTO: JENNY NORVICK PHOTO: A couple of years later, current Friends’ Factories surround Westgate Park on We’d follow the bike path into the park, President George Fotheringham, a three sides. To the south is Webb stop on the first small hill under the landscape designer, joined the group, Dock, which is undergoing a three- benign presence one of Lyn Moore’s and they set about creating a park using fold expansion and has cut a corner Earth Series sculptures and then pedal local vegetation. off the park for road access. Westgate on. They decided to revegetate it as if the Bridge straddles the southern Gradually the park became a destination created landforms had always been boundary, generating a dull mumble there. They used nearby remnants of of background noise. in itself, as we explored its walkways and eagerly checked out which waterbirds native vegetation such as the Botanic Gardens, Studley Park and the Jawbone Yet once I’m walking beside one of its were in residence on the freshwater lake. Reserve at Williamstown as references lakes or along a woodland walk, or And we noticed over time that the dense, for what to plant to recreate a truly sitting by a billabong looking out for woody and rather dull vegetation was indigenous vegetation pattern. birds, I no longer hear the roar of traffic being replaced with a more diverse and or the Sunday whine of go-karts from attractive range of indigenous plants. Since then they have worked away at across the road. We only recently found out that this replacing the original plantings and some of the lawn with ten different plant Rather, I lose myself in the peace, transformation was almost entirely the work of a local community organisation, communities from the local area, using beauty and wonder of the place, and am over 300 different plant varieties to thankful that such an oasis can still be the Friends of Westgate Park, who have planned, planted, fund-raised and provide all the main structural elements: created in the middle of a big city. managed the whole development. trees, understorey shrubs, creepers, ground covers, grasses, herbs and I first got to know Westgate Park when rushes. my husband and I took up cycling History around 1990. One of our favourite Originally an area of sand spits and As well as gradually replanting the rides was down the Yarra to the end saltmarshes at the mouth of the original park, the Friends have extended of Lorimer Street in Port Melbourne, Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers, the park plantings out to the river and upstream where we’d either turn right and site has been a sand quarry, airfield, as far as Pier 35. They hope to extend catch the punt across the river to unofficial car race track and rubbish tip. the park further down the river, and Williamstown, or turn left under ideally, if the State Government and Westgate Bridge and head for the In 1984, as part of the celebrations the Port of Melbourne agree, right to St Kilda seafront via Westgate Park. for Victoria’s 150th anniversary, the its mouth.

20 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 PHOTO: JENNY NORVICK PHOTO: Clockwise from top left: Telstra staff spreading mulch in preparation for planting, 2013. Telstra is one of the park’s corporate partners. Coot on nest. Grade 3 and 4 students from Albert Park Primary School planting on a sustainability excursion to the park in August 2014. Freshwater lake in the park. PHOTO: LYN ALLISON LYN PHOTO: PHOTO: LYN ALLISON LYN PHOTO: PHOTO: JENNY NORVICK PHOTO:

They are starting to plant an area on the couldn’t provide all the labour and funds To me the park is an impressive south side of Westgate Bridge with a needed, and they have done it largely by achievement, full of interesting birds view to turning it into a proper wetland forming partnerships, as well as raising and plants, a few snakes and Blue-tongue with boardwalks and bird hides. A funds through grants. They believe that Lizards and some seriously strange fungi, long-term wish is to stabilise the shores other Friends groups could adopt a and it will only get better as it matures of the salt lake and establish it as a salt similar approach. and develops. marsh so as to attract Orange-bellied Parrots to the park and add them to the Partnerships It is a park which brings back some of what remarkable current list of some 153 bird has been lost to urbanisation, a park which, residents and visitors. A number of different groups volunteer like the Australian Garden at Cranbourne, at the park. Work for the Dole teams shows the beauty of native plants in In 2006, with a grant from Landcare, and the Friends work at the site two days landscaping. It’s obviously a labour of love they installed a work space and plant a week, and this year the Green Army is but also a tale of perseverance, hard work, propagation area where they now raise there four days a week. enterprising minds and good relationships. about a third of their own seedlings (sourcing the rest at St Kilda Indigenous Through a partnership with Landcare, So go and visit! Have a picnic, go for a Nursery Co-op), and also landscaped the Friends established a regular walk, ride your bike there, look out for the strip in front of it on the northern corporate volunteering program whose the changes in the plants, flowers and boundary with red gum woodland, heath participants average one day a week and birds through the seasons. Go in summer and a series of quiet, shady billabongs. bring their own funding with them. As and see the salt lake turned lipstick pink. well, an arborist supplies free mulch. Or find a quiet nook and soak up the There is much to be done: landscaping, atmosphere. • PW path creation, mulching, putting In 2013-14 an average of 1,309 volunteer in 20,000 plants annually, weeding, hours were worked each month in the Find out more or get in touch with pruning and rubbish collection. Even a park, and that number will increase the Friends through their website large and active Friends group clearly this year. www.westgatepark.org.

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 21 From left: Yorta Yorta elder Neville Atkinson, former NSW Premier Bob Carr and Nick Roberts by the Murray during the red gum parks campaign. Nick Roberts reflects

AT THE END OF 2014, VNPA CAMPAIGNER NICK MADE ONE OF THE TOUGHEST DECISIONS OF HIS CAREER – TO LEAVE THE VNPA AFTER NEARLY 13 YEARS. PHOTO: NICK ROBERTS PHOTO:

When I joined the VNPA staff in 2002, The rest is pretty much history. been formally established. This helped the Association was holed up in a tiny A needlessly prolonged VEAC the recent Coalition government to terrace in East Melbourne. But it had investigation and interference from the reintroduce 200+ cattle grazing licences a vision and a passion for protecting Brumby Government saw opposition in 2013. to new parks grow, following concerted Victoria’s natural environment that The past four years have been spent campaigning by logging, hunting and excited me. dealing with arguably the worst state water interests. The ALP seemed government for environmental issues I was employed as the Barmah-Millewa determined to make the job harder. campaigner, working on what I thought in Victoria’s history. would be the relatively simple task of Ironically, many park opponents My years with the VNPA can be ensuring the world’s largest River Red made themselves largely irrelevant by summed up as a combination of Gum forest and wetlands were placed clumsy stunts and general stuff-ups. rewarding, frustrating, humorous and in a national park, with a special first The National Party-aligned cattlemen’s deeply satisfying. Working with the for Victoria: joint management by the association couldn’t actually find Yorta Yorta Nation was a highlight. region’s Traditional Owners, the their cows when DSE instructed Governments, park managers and all Yorta Yorta. them to remove cattle at the height Victorians have much to learn from of the drought. And DSE allowed a Indigenous people’s deep spiritual Little did I know that this was to large area of Superb Parrot habitat in connection to land and water. become one of the VNPA’s, and indeed Barmah State Forest to be bulldozed by Victoria’s, most successful conservation contractors. I know I leave the VNPA in good campaigns. hands. Executive Director Matt Ruchel The DSE regional manager, desperately is as sharp as a tack and leads a fantastic It started well with a campaign launch trying to explain, calmly announced team. The staff, volunteers, members by then ACF President Peter Garrett to the media that it was all because the and supporters are what makes the on a paddle steamer. ACF staff in employee who had the necessary map VNPA and will continue to ensure that Melbourne were somewhat bemused was off sick. Victoria’s nature is at the forefront of that little old VNPA had kidnapped all governments and policy makers for You couldn’t make this stuff up! their main man to launch a VNPA another 60 years. campaign. This was a turning point in the This was the best job I have ever campaign, with DSE’s credibility had. • PW Following the expansion of a and claims of ‘good management‘ by proposed investigation by the Bracks This is an edited extract from a future logging and grazing interests in tatters. Government, the campaign quadrupled publication ‘The politics of wood and in size with the entire red gum area of Finally, in 2010, new parks were water’ by Nick Roberts. northern Victoria included in a VEAC legislated. This historic outcome was Nick is the new Campaigns Director investigation. A similar campaign was well received, though without any at Environment Victoria, and the irony underway in NSW too. promise of adequate environmental is that he now sees more of his ex- water, and with concessions to hunters. colleagues than when working for the The Murray and its major Victorian VNPA in Shepparton! The VNPA thanks tributaries were finally getting some The Murray River Park, narrow strips Nick for his work and wishes him well much-needed political attention. of land along the Murray, has still not in his new role.

22 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Where are the Growlers?

FROM DECEMBER TO FEBRUARY, VNPA NATUREWATCH VOLUNTEERS TOOK PART IN THREE GROWLING

GRASS FROG SURVEYS AT THE CITY CHRISTINE CONNELLY PHOTO: OF WHITTLESEA’S RECLAIMED QUARRY IN EPPING, WHICH IS Above: Zoologist Daniel Gilmore MANAGED TO PROTECT THESE describes the old quarry. FROGS. NEW NATUREWATCH OFFICE Left: Growling Grass Frog. VOLUNTEER EMMA BARNETT JOINED THE SURVEY AND DESCRIBES HER EXPERIENCE.

On a Thursday evening in February, But on our way back up the we make our way to the Northern slope, Christine spies a second

Landfill and Recycling Centre in MENEY BEAU PHOTO: GGF, quietly perched on a Epping. It’s my first NatureWatch rock between two bulrush survey and I’m not sure what It’s 10:30pm and we’re yet to see the elusive clumps. It’s a female – her rounded white to expect. GGF. Despite finding an Eastern Banjo throat is perfectly visible. Even under the Frog, the group’s energy and attention glare of eight torches, she stays still and The thought of sifting through knee- begins to wane. Still no Growler! we take it in turns to get a better look deep rubbish in the dark crosses my through binoculars. mind. But when we arrive, we find the A steep, rocky path takes us down the rubbish has been hidden under soil north side of the quarry lake. Leading Although I arrive home sweaty, muddy and revegetated with native grasses us carefully down the slope, Daniel stops and tired, I feel wonder at the recovery of and trees. abruptly. All I see is a brown flash as life in the old landfill site, and gratitude something moves in the distance, but Dan for seeing two Growling Grass Frogs The wetland is generously covered with is certain it’s a Growler. persisting in the quarry. emergent vegetation, mostly bulrush, which has crept over a third of the lake. Excited to finally find one, we spend a This has been an exciting introduction to short time searching here, then decide to NatureWatch. I’m looking forward to the The survey is being led by seasoned call it a night. next survey. • PW zoologist Daniel Gilmore from Biosis Research.

As we circle the upper ridge, Daniel Getting involved in NatureWatch explains the history of the site, its In 2011 the Epping quarry had a Thanks to Daniel Gilmore, Peter Homan vegetation and the management of the healthy population of Growling Grass and David De Angelis for leading the GGF. We make our way back to the Frogs, volunteers sighting over 100. NatureWatch team on their surveys, and bottom of the quarry and are briefed This year, NatureWatch volunteers to the City of Whittlesea for continuing on snakes, safety and how to identify saw just one adult Growler at the to support the community surveys at this a Growler. first two surveys and two at the important site. second. Growlers are a threatened Soon the sun sets – our cue to switch To find out more about NatureWatch grassland species, classified as or to get involved, join our mailing list at head-torches on and begin. We spend Endangered in Victoria. the next two hours peering under vnpa.org.au/page/volunteer/naturewatch. On 29 March we are holding a ‘Caught rocks, scanning the lake surface and Disease and drought have on Camera’ Community Training Day at looking along the muddy edge in contributed to their decline, but Trentham. For more information, contact search of frog life. habitat loss, fragmentation and me at [email protected] or on degradation are at present more 9341 6510 (Thurs/Fri only). The light illuminates hundreds of significant issues. However, we hope reflective spider eyes and Daniel finds that Growlers can once again flourish Christine Connelly, a few Spotted Marsh Frogs. We head at the Epping Quarry. NatureWatch Coordinator. around the quarry to our next location.

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 23 IN PARKS Cape Schanck A MAGNIFICENT COASTLINE PHOTO: LEON COSTERMANS PHOTO: Pulpit Rock, Cape Schanck. GEOFF DURHAM REVISITS A SPECTACULAR PART OF MORNINGTON PENINSULA NP Note columnar basalt. WHERE RANGERS AND VOLUNTEERS HAVE DONE EXCELLENT MANAGEMENT WORK.

‘Magnificent’ is how geomorphologist Dust bowl Fingal walks Dr Eric Bird in The Coast of Victoria Cars parked in a dust bowl at the end Cape Schanck is less than two hours’ drive describes the cliffed coast in Older from Melbourne. Take Boneo Road off Volcanics running north-east from of Cape Schanck Road, and the point the Mornington Peninsula Freeway and Cape Schanck to Flinders. He says itself was seriously eroded due to turn south onto the Cape Schanck Road it ‘includes some of the finest cliff unrestricted access. – Melway map 259. About 2 km along on scenery in Australia’. Cape Schanck first gained the the right is the entrance to the extensive The cliffs reveal a series of volcanic lava protection of the National Parks Fingal picnic area, formerly The Pines flows with alternating layers of lava and Act in 1975 with the creation of picnic area, in a shady pine plantation. ash 40–50 million years old, overlain Cape Schanck Coastal Park, and the area began receiving proactive The 1998 Mornington Peninsula National by dune limestone deposited within the Park Management Plan refers to the last 100,000 years. management (erosion control and improved visitor access) from the progressive removal of mature pines This is Bunurong country, and middens National Parks Service. Subsequently, and their replacement with indigenous attest to the long occupation of it was included in Nepean State Park vegetation. There are toilets, tables, a Indigenous people. in 1978, and Point Nepean National shelter with electric barbecues and an Park in 1988. open games playing area. Cape Schanck was named in December Walking tracks from here lead through 1800 by Lieut. James Grant to honour In 1994 the Land Conservation Coast Tea-tree, Moonah and coastal scrub Capt. John Schank, R.N. [the spelling Council recommended the creation (and an invasion of the weeds Polygala, varies], who designed Grant’s ship, of a Nepean National Park including Smilax and Asparagus Fern) to the Fingal Lady Nelson, the first European vessel Cape Schanck, and said that the Lookout and down to sandy Fingal Beach, to sail west to east through Bass Strait. Lighthouse Reserve, being surplus to with rounded basalt and limestone boulders In 1802, under the command of John Commonwealth requirements, should at its south end. I counted 424 steps! Murray, the Lady Nelson was the first be included in the park following vessel to enter Port Phillip Bay. transfer to the State. Point Nepean The track continues 5 km from Fingal National Park became Mornington to Gunnamatta Beach. In the other The 21 metre tall limestone lighthouse Peninsula National Park in 1995, but direction, south to the cape, the track was built on the cape in 1859. Before the Lighthouse Reserve, then State passes Selwyn Lookout on the Selwyn 1975, land at the cape that was not Crown Land, was not included. Fault – the eastern edge of the Port Phillip privately owned comprised the fenced Sunkland, The basalt west of the fault line Commonwealth Lighthouse Reserve I visited Cape Schanck with the is beneath the sandy surface. (a prohibited area) and the degraded Friends of Nepean Parks in the late and neglected State Crown Land 1970s. We helped with rehabilitation It’s about 2.5 km to the free (bitumen) car Coastal Reserve, the responsibility work on the eroded clifftop and with park at the end of Cape Schanck Road of a Committee of Management. cutting tracks through the tea-tree. where there are toilets, picnic tables and a

24 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 PHOTO: GEOFF DURHAM PHOTO: PHOTO: GEOFF DURHAM PHOTO:

Clockwise from top left: Cape Schanck lighthouse complex. Accommodation is available here. Bushrangers Bay from track above Main Creek. Bushrangers Bay beach looking towards Cape Schanck. Steps and boardwalk down to the Cape. Before these were built in the 1980s the area was badly eroded. PHOTO: LEON COSTERMANS PHOTO: GEOFF DURHAM PHOTO:

very basic kiosk. A circuit walk leads to Tasmania in 1883 and commenced a It was hoped to achieve a lookouts, and a boardwalk with many forty-day rampage at Barragunda and Barragunda-type arrangement, but steps (which I haven’t counted) takes The Briarshomesteads, ending up on unfortunately nothing has come of you down to attractive rocky coves on the gallows of the Old Melbourne Goal. this. With this link we would have either side of the point, with Pulpit a continuous coastal walking track Rock offshore. Swimming at the unpatrolled between Flinders and Point Nepean. Bushrangers Bay beach is hazardous Bushrangers Bay due to strong rips and large waves. Lighthouse Because of cliffs and gulches, it is not A 2.5 km walking track on the There is a fee (adult $13.50, child possible even at low tide to walk east western side of Main Creek leads 5-16 $9.50) for access to the privately along the shore platforms from here to through banksia woodland to a car managed Lighthouse Reserve and Bushrangers Bay, but at the top of the park on Boneo Road. There is no museum, and for a guided Lighthouse cliffs there is a 2.6 km walking track access east of Bushrangers Bay, as this tour (adult $16.50, child $10.50). from the car park on a narrow strip remains private property to the high of land acquired from the Barragunda water mark. Accommodation is available in two property, which had title to the high assistant keepers’ cottages which can water mark. Further east there is a narrow section each sleep up to nine people, and an of the national park along the coast inspector’s cottage suitable for a couple. This is one of the finest shorter walks in from Ti-tree Creek to Flinders, with Bookings are essential: phone the state. The track crosses Burrabong access from Boneo Road in two places: 5988 6184 or 13009 885 259, or Creek and drops down onto sandy to the mouth of Ti-tree Creek, and email [email protected] Bushrangers Bay at the mouth of further along to ‘The Blowhole’. Main Creek. Cape Schanck is highly recommended The 1998 Management Plan includes for picnics, sightseeing and walking. The bushrangers referred to were the action ‘Investigate long-term Dogs are not permitted. The shore convicts Henry Bradley and Patrick opportunities for a track from platforms are a rock-pooler’s delight, O’Connor, who landed here from Ti-tree Creek to Bushrangers Bay’. but be wary of freak waves. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 25 PHOTO: COURTESY THE WOODLAND TRUST THE (UK)WOODLAND TRUST COURTESY PHOTO: Ancient woodland today covers only 2% of Britain. Reframing the planet It’s vital to protect what is left. PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY ARE PROTECTING NATURE BY COSTING IT ARE STEPPING STRAIGHT INTO THE DESTROYERS’ TRAP, SAYS GEORGE MONBIOT.

On the outskirts of Sheffield (UK) Reagan remarked, when contemplating of protection only when it performs there is a wood which, some 800 the destruction of California’s giant services for us; that it is replaceable. You years ago, was used by the monks of redwoods, ‘a tree is a tree’. demoralise and alienate those who love Kirkstead Abbey to produce charcoal the natural world while reinforcing the Who, for that matter, would care if the for smelting iron. For local people, values of those who don’t. Old Masters in the National Gallery Smithy Wood is freighted with stories. were replaced by the prints being sold Do you believe that people prepared Among the trees you can imagine in its shop? to cheat to this extent would stop a your way into another world. scheme because one of the government’s In swapping our ancient places for The application to plant a motorway committees has attached a voodoo value generic clusters of chainstores and service station in the middle of it, wiping to a piece of woodland? It’s more likely generic lines of saplings, the offsetters out half the wood and fragmenting the that the accounting exercise would be would also destroy our stories. rest, might have been unthinkable a few used as a weapon by the developers. The months ago. No longer. But this is the way it’s going now: woods are worth £x, but by pure chance everything will be fungible, nothing the road turns out to be worth £x +1. When UK environment secretary will be valued for its own sake, place Owen Paterson first began talking Beauty, tranquility, history, place, and past and love and enchantment will about biodiversity offsetting – replacing particularity? Sorry, they’ve already have no meaning. The natural world will habitats you trash with new ones been costed and incorporated into be reduced to a column of figures. created elsewhere – his officials made it x – end of discussion. The strongest clear that it would not apply to ancient In his interview with the Guardian arguments opponents can deploy – woodland. But in January Paterson a few weeks ago, George Lakoff, the arguments based on values – cannot said he was prepared to drop this cognitive linguist who has done so be heard. restriction, as long as many more trees much to explain why progressive parties This is why the government promotes were planted than destroyed. keep losing elections they should win, biodiversity offsets, even for ancient explained that attempts to monetise His officials quickly explained that woodland. It is reframing the issue. nature are a classic example of people such a trade-off would be ‘highly Those who believe they can protect trying to do the right thing without unlikely’ and was ‘very hypothetical’. nature by adopting this frame are understanding frames: the mental But the company that wants to build stepping into a trap their opponents structures that shape the way we the service station wasn’t slow to see have set. • PW perceive the world. the possibilities. It is offering to replace This is a condensed version Smithy Wood with “60,000 trees … As Lakoff points out, you cannot win of an article by celebrated environment planted on 16 hectares of local land an argument unless you expound writer George Monbiot, published in the close to the site”. your own values and reframe the issue (UK) Guardian on 22 April 2014. For more around them. If you adopt the language information see www.monbiot.com. Who cares whether a tree is a hunched and values of your opponents “you lose and fissured coppiced oak, worked because you are reinforcing their frame.” The Woodland Trust is currently by people for centuries, or a sapling campaigning to protect Smithy Wood. planted beside a slip road with a Costing nature tells us that it possesses See www.woodlandtrust.org.uk. rabbit guard around it? As Ronald no inherent value; that it is worthy

26 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Native vegetation protection and offsets PHOTO: GROW WEST GROW PHOTO: Of course planting trees is good, but it doesn’t replace protecting existing native vegetation. We need to do both.

VNPA PRESIDENT RUSSELL COSTELLO REFLECTS ON THE RELEVANCE OF GEORGE MONBIOT’S ARTICLE TO VICTORIA, AND ON THE NEED TO REVIEW AND REFORM OUR CURRENT NATIVE VEGETATION CLEARING CONTROLS.

Isn’t it amazing that the UK is facing cannot be replaced by revegetation. It Northern plains, have lost their special similar problems with environmental would take decades or centuries for the protection. They can usually be cleared bean counters as Victoria? whole system to re-establish. with quite simple offsets. In 2003, Victoria replaced poorly Often the offset involves protecting The computer that number-crunches specified native clearing controls another piece of bush to ensure it the offset value of such trees totally with new and far more prescriptive can’t be cleared later, and undertaking ignores their visual majesty, their role ones, based primarily on protecting management to improve its condition in saline groundwater control, and their remaining native vegetation. – and hence it’s a ‘gain’. While this is importance as vital biodiversity hubs in better than simply planting trees, it still Although founded on many fine otherwise nature-dead paddocks. It’s a reduces the extent of the bush, and the principles, including setting methods travesty. calculations are more akin to alchemy for assessing native vegetation and than science. The VNPA has written numerous priorities for protecting it, the system submissions and published a series of was deemed too complex, time- The gains calculated are all based position papers about native vegetation consuming and costly to implement, on pseudo-science – best guesses protection. apparently relying too heavily on site enshrined in models, and never inspections by experts. validated. In our 2014 Nature Conservation Review, we outline a proposal to In 2013, many of the principles were For example, you get four times the revise the institutional arrangements thrown out for the vast majority of ‘gain’ for transferring private bush to for native vegetation protection. We clearing applications. It became a a state conservation reserve than for hope that the proposed review of numbers game. Computer-generated protecting it with a covenant. The native vegetation laws promised by the regional-scale maps, with as much assumption is that a public reserve is Andrews Government will deliver some relation to on-ground reality as an Enid four times less likely to be degraded or improvements in a timely manner. Blyton fairy story, now say ‘yes’ to most cleared than covenanted land. Really? clearing applications. A centralised As it is now, just as in the UK, Victoria’s There has been no testing of this number-cruncher program determines ‘let’s clear it’ regulations and over- unlikely hypothesis. After the last the required offsets. reliance on a dubious offset system are four years of severely restricted public leading this state further into net loss of Just as in the UK, where seedlings in reserve funding, it seems unlikely. vegetation. the ground are no real offset for the After all, covenanters are passionate loss of ancient and historic woodlands, and dedicated people, often with more We need to focus more on protecting Victoria’s offset system is often onerous resources per hectare available than what we have left, recognising as but ineffective in providing real, on- public land managers could dream ‘remnant protection’ the enhancement ground gains in any way equivalent to about. This could be the basis for of valuable remnants with buffer, linkage the remnant vegetation, lost forever. a truly worthwhile public–private and infill revegetation, and accepting partnership. that the central computer and its It’s not just trees which are lost – it’s the minions don’t know it all. complex and established web of native In addition, magnificent 400+ year species which inhabit and depend on a old paddock trees, like the giant red And there will always be a place for vegetation patch which has gone. This gums of the Western, Gippsland and on-ground assessment. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 27 Graham Parkes in his preferred Outstanding habitat. Grampians park manager retires

PARKS VICTORIA DISTRICT MANAGER connections between the GRAHAM PARKES, WELL KNOWN community, the land, national TO MANY VNPA MEMBERS, IS parks and other protected RETIRING AFTER 42 YEARS IN areas. He instigated innovative PARK MANAGEMENT. ALWAYS conservation, cultural and WILLING TO LISTEN TO COMMUNITY recreation works in many CONCERNS, AND ONE OF VICTORIA’S parks across the state. MOST RESPECTED PARK MANAGERS, As District Manager, he HIS KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE worked with his team on WILL BE HARD TO REPLACE. many complex management challenges in the Grampians, Little Desert, Mount Eccles and Graham became Ranger in Charge VICTORIA PARKS PHOTO: Lower Glenelg national parks. of Grampians National Park in 1993, following many years as a ranger in Dr Bill Jackson, Parks Victoria “Graham has empowered and inspired parks including Port Campbell, Chiltern Chief Executive, said that Graham staff and our partners. He leaves a and Croajingolong national parks and was a highly respected leader in fire powerful legacy for all us who were Buchan Caves Reserve. He helped to management in partnership with the fortunate enough to work with him,” make the Grampians one of the most environment department, the CFA and said Dr Jackson. popular Victorian destinations for other emergency services. Graham says he has loved his career local and international visitors. “He led fire management teams at and feels privileged to have worked Through his compassionate and many large and complex incidents with so many wonderful people visionary leadership, he has been a including the Gippsland fires, Deep within the National Parks Service, positive force for many people and Lead and the recent Grampians fires. Parks Victoria and the community. many places. He is trusted and well recognised by “After 42 years of looking after his community as a fire leader, and was He has made a huge contribution to the parks, I’m looking forward to awarded the Australia Day Fire Services environment and the community, his lots of camping and walking in Medal in 2009,” Dr Jackson said. friendly approach and ability to connect Australia’s national parks, more with and inspire people resulting in Graham was a significant leader also time with family and friends and strong networks and friendships with in working with Traditional Owners in brushing up on my carpentry skills,” people throughout Victoria. park management to establish stronger he said. • PW

CONGRATULATIONS!

The VNPA congratulates the following Nanette Cuming, Bittern, for service We also congratulate Andy Gillham, recipients of the Order of Australia to the Australian native plant industry Parks Victoria Ranger in Charge, Medal in this year’s Australia Day and the community. Central Gippsland, who received the honours: Australia Fire Service Medal. Alison Teese, Carisbrook, for service Elizabeth Barraclough, Mount Martha, to conservation in Victoria. And last but not least, we for service to conservation and as a congratulate the two Best Friends Allan Thomson, Port Fairy volunteer educator. for 2014: Dawn Kneen of Friends (formerly of Pascoe Vale), for service of Bogong, and Bernie Fox of Campbell (Cam) Beardsell, Hurstbridge to conservation through many Friends of Brisbane Ranges (ranger, NE Melbourne District), for organisations. (and past VNPA President), service to conservation in Victoria. Richard Weatherly, Mortlake, who have both made great Dr Brian Cuming, Bittern, for service to for service to the visual arts and contributions to nature conservation in the Westernport region. conservation. conservation in Victoria. • PW

28 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Left: Thelma with her husband Ian McCann, who died Thelma Grace on 30 July 2003. Below: Thelma with kookaburra Argall friend. A TRIBUTE

29 APRIL 1927 – 22 DECEMBER 2014 PHOTOS: COURTESY MCCANN FAMILY MCCANN COURTESY PHOTOS: FORMER VNPA PUBLICATIONS OFFICER BARBARA VAUGHAN Aside from these many efforts, we can REMEMBERS ONE OF THE thank Thel, in part, for Ian’s impressive ASSOCIATION’S QUIET BUT VERY photographic legacy. IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS. Ian and Thel got together later in life. (Their love story is a fabulous one, but Many Park Watch readers no doubt not for the telling here, I am sorry.) know the name ‘Ian McCann’, and are Ian was about to embark on the fairly familiar with some of Ian’s wonderful ambitious project of photographing flower photographs, featured in the as many Victorian flowering plants In Flower field guides published by as he could and publishing them in the VNPA from the late 1980s: the field guides. Alps, the Mallee, the Coast and the Thel was Ian’s mate in all of this Grampians. endeavour (although he called her Less familiar might be the identity ‘The Boss’). She would help lug his bar of a distant call. Indeed, as part of a behind the simple dedication in three cumbersome photographic kit through cognitive test at Ballarat Base Hospital of these titles – ‘For Thelma’. ‘Thelma’ the bush, search for specimens, record late last year, she was asked to write a is Thelma Argall, known to those who their GPS coordinates and provide shade sentence. She wrote, ‘I can hear barking loved her — and there were many — and wind protection for the shots. owls.’ She said they thought she was as Thel. ‘barking mad’ but there were, in fact, I first met Ian and Thel in 1989, when I Thel died on 22 December last owls she could hear hunting mice in the drove to Stawell with the colour proofs year. She was one of those quiet surrounding urban area. of The Mallee in Flower. It must have contributors who give groups such been autumn because Thel served up Thel was a member of Birdlife and as the VNPA their strength and their her stupendously good baked quinces the Stawell Field Naturalists Club legitimacy — people who know their — a revelation to me. (The secret to the (until it folded several years ago). local environment well and dedicate creamy, gelatinous sago sauce, she told She and her friend Win were involved themselves to its care. me, is to add a few of the quince stones with Frog Watch, and would head off to the baking tray.) It was in the bush surrounding the late at night to collect water samples small family farm in Redbank that and record frog calls. She was forever I have visited Stawell every year Thel’s love of plants and animals bringing home rubbish from her since, and eaten many more serves was nurtured. She never moved too beloved ironbark forest and worked of baked quince. far away – Redbank, Maryborough, tirelessly on the eradication of noxious It was only the day of Thel’s funeral that Ballarat and Stawell comprised weeds such as boneseed. And nothing I learned her middle name was ‘Grace’. her home patch lifelong. Her local seemed to give her more grief in her Of course it was. I am thankful to have knowledge was thus deep and detailed. later years than the relentless spread known the grace of Thel’s friendship, and When Thel lamented the lack of spider of gazanias from home gardens into seen, at close hand, the ripple effects of webs or the disappearance of Painted the surrounding bush. a life lived with love and humility. The Honeyeaters from her local area, you In 2006, the Banksia Environmental conservation community can be thankful trusted these observations. Foundation recognised Thel’s for Thel’s connection to the natural world She had an exceptionally keen eye and contribution to saving Victoria’s and her efforts on its behalf, which were ear, and could identify a bird high in threatened orchids with an award in deeply felt, lifelong, locally grounded flight from a passing glimpse or half a the ‘Land and Biodiversity’ category. and unflagging.• PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 29 A place that keeps giving

GABRIELLE BRIDGE, A MELBOURNE-BASED STUDENT OF BOTANY, WRITES ABOUT AN EDUCATION CENTRE THAT CHANGES LIVES. SHE WORKED AT THE CENTRE IN 2012 AND IS NOW A MEMBER OF ITS COUNCIL.

Wollangarra is an outdoor education Above: centre in Gippsland, tucked in beside Wollangarra the Macalister River about halfway homestead welcomes you. between Heyfield and Licola. Right: Group A few cheeky young people comment with Parks as they are being driven there that they Victoria are probably being taken somewhere Alpine NP to be murdered, Wolf Creek style. You ranger Wayne McCallum can’t really blame them as many of (now retired). those who come are city kids.

It’s only when they see the quaint GABRIELLE BRIDGE PHOTOS: homestead (having survived walking through the front paddock and the subtly imparted that things don’t have at home among the surrounding trees. hair-raising flying fox entry) with its to be new and shiny to be good enough. Their communal pride is obvious when a homely wooden walls and bright red summit or ‘awesome’ view is reached. The word ‘Wollangarra’ comes from roofs, a few lambs skittering around two Indigenous words meaning ‘young The young people are confronted with lots and fruit trees speckled all over, that people in high places’. of simple problems like uncomfortable they start to calm down. packs, blisters or coordinating lunch. This The centre offers programs to young Many comment right away on the forces them to ask for help and to admit people, mostly between 15 and 22, in beauty of the place – that they have that they don’t know everything! which they are encouraged to spend never seen anywhere like it, that it isn’t time in the mountains, not just for It’s fascinating watching the changes in at all what they imagined. Nerves now its own sake but to develop a strong, how they behave. They are separated at all mainly come from being separated positive relationship of mutual benefit. sorts of levels. Some are the best hikers, from phones and electricity. some the most helpful, some the best Most programs we deliver are Stage Almost everything at Wollangarra at telling jokes or riddles. All these new One courses, dubbed ‘meeting the is second (or tenth) hand, and most experiences allow them to wriggle out of mountains’, and involve time spent at of it is pioneer-style and hence old- their usual niches and try new ways of Wollangarra, working in the garden and fashioned. Everything works, though, interacting and behaving. baking bread, as well as three days of because it was well-made and is well hiking. This course is usually for a young Wollangarra can’t claim too much credit looked after. person’s first visit to both Wollangarra for the effects of the courses on the kids. One of Wollangarra’s lessons is that and the surrounding mountains. The programs simply act as a bridge to taking time to do things properly is link young people to the mountains and Many of the kids are incredibly nervous always beneficial. In a fast-paced world, let them discover just how beneficial that about heading into the bush. But this is a relaxing and valuable reminder. can be. though challenging for first-timers, the In sending kids out into the bush with hiking is rarely very tough. Participants One girl wrote in the visitors’ book at the simple food, a heavy 30-year-old canvas are given time to adjust to their new end of a course, “It is incredible to think that tent, a donated jacket and some lumpy surroundings, games are played during there is this ‘other place’ where everything is hand-made knitwear, the message is breaks, and slowly they start to feel so calm and at ease and you don’t need much

30 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Clockwise from top left: Learning how to fix things the pioneer way at Miller’s Hut; a Stage One group proud to have made it to the top; Gabrielle checks a walk route; netting Wollangarra’s fruit trees to keep the bowerbirds and cockatoos at bay.

to be happy.” The experience of facing so many challenges and overcoming them visibly boosts self-esteem and confidence. Many of the courses we run take place in the areas of the spectacular Alpine National Park around Macalister Springs, Moroka Gorge, Bryce’s Gorge, Lake Tali Karng and The Crinoline. It is a privilege to be able to take young people into these areas, and they are often blown away by the magnificence they never knew existed. PHOTOS: GABRIELLE BRIDGE PHOTOS: Wollangarra also runs Stage Two and Stage Three courses, which focus on Over the years, participants in identified as largely missing in a lot of conservation or ‘helping the mountains’ Wollangarra courses have worked with young people’s lives. Wollangarra offers and often involve track work, hut repair Heyfield park rangers, notably Wayne the simple purpose of having a specific or other jobs. These courses are for young McCallum (fondly nicknamed ‘Power goal such as repairing a hut or putting people who have completed a Stage One Ranger Wayne’) who is a treasured in a set of steps, or even just plodding program and want to stay involved with part of the courses and the broader up a hill. the Wollangarra community. Wollangarra community. These goals require effort, determination Wollangarra courses are filled with The rangers identify jobs that need to be and teamwork to complete. There is no stories about the places visited, giving done in the national park surrounding quick or easier way. It’s a challenge. Thus, them a history and enhancing their Wollangarra. They are also invaluable when it’s completed, the young people meaning. When visiting Tali Karng, to in passing on cultural and ecological feel a real sense of accomplishment be told the outlines of the Aboriginal information about the land, and in because they have done something story of the lake’s creation is really special helping direct the eager hands that useful, tangible and good. and evocative. For participants, the Wollangarra contributes to useful and Young folk from around Victoria significance of the place becomes tangible. necessary projects. eagerly give up scarce holiday time Another place we often visit, not far from This can then inspire interested to return for courses time and again, Wollangarra, is Burgoyne’s Hut. Here the young people to start thinking about developing a group of Wollangarra young folk love hearing the stories of the environmental management as a veterans who become close friends with hard life led by the couple who built the career path. a common love for the bush – this bush hut over 100 years ago, and the details of Thankfully, the ranger working with that they have experienced together their tragic but romantic life together. Wollangarra since Wayne’s retirement – and bound by a common interest in is equally enthusiastic and wonderful to protecting it. Giving a place a context and meaning work with, and incredibly is also called past its physical presence is an important To finish, another quote from a Stage Wayne, so the nickname still stands! element in helping young people Three visitor: “I learnt that if you give to understand the magic of the mountains Having real purpose is something that a place, it will just keep giving and giving and the richness of their history. Ian Stapleton, the creator of Wollangarra, forever.” • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 31 Overlooking Squeaky Beach (study). The Prom – an artist’s inspiration

FOR 25 YEARS, WILSONS PROMONTORY NATIONAL PARK HAS BEEN THE MAIN FOCUS OF NEIL MOORHOUSE’S PAINTING. HE IS CONTINUALLY INSPIRED BY ITS UNIQUE SCENERY AND THE AMAZING NATURE EXPERIENCES IT OFFERS.

My connection to the Prom began in connection with, and so it is only In 25 years of camping at Tidal River, 1990, when I was invited to stay with natural that the majority of my I have experienced some momentous events relatives camping at Tidal River paintings are of the bays and headlands – the 1996 ‘Hands Off the Prom’ protest, over the bustling Christmas period. of the Prom’s eastern coast. bushfire evacuation, many wild storms – I remember being stunned by the and alongside those, a wealth of incredible There are such varied landscapes dramatic sight of Mt Oberon at sunset, nature experiences. within a short walk of the campsite – alight with glowing orange rockfaces lichen-covered rocks and deep To mention just a few: watching an plunging down to the turquoise waters tannin-stained pools at the bottom octopus hunting and eating crabs in the of Norman Bay. of Tidal River, the sweeping beaches rockpools off Darby Beach at extreme low As thousands of regular visitors have bounded by weathered boulder stacks tide, encountering an Eagle Ray while discovered, Tidal River is the most at Whisky and Picnic Bays, and the snorkelling at Fairy Cove, a Blue-ringed wonderful place to take a young family clear, turquoise inshore water merging Octopus stranded at low tide at Millers for a holiday full of fun adventures, with the deeper blue of Bass Strait. Landing, a whale washed up and rotting and fortunately for me it also served on Squeaky Beach, and innumerable My favourite view is from the as a rich source of inspiration and Tiger Snake encounters. Tidal Overlook track, looking across reference for my art. I have been back Leonard Bay and Squeaky Beach All these plus sightings of the endangered there camping with my own family towards Tongue Point and Cape Hooded Plover, meeting the Roving Ranger, every year since. Liptrap. It reminds me of my favourite seals, penguins, shark eggs, surfing lessons, I am drawn to painting places and painter, Arthur Streeton, and his shooting stars and even a fiery comet – all scenes that I have a strong emotional panoramic panels. part of my family’s Prom experience.

Evening, Whisky Bay. 32 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 NEIL MOORHOUSE Official opening: 6-8 pm, Wednesday 18 March, 2015. Victorian Artists Society Galleries, 430 Albert Street, East Melbourne. Exhibition: Wilsons Promontory Exhibition open daily from Thursday 19 March until Tuesday 24 March. and recent travels Open weekdays 10am-4pm, weekends 1pm-4pm.

[email protected] • www.neilmoorhouse.com.au • Facebook: Moorhouse Fine Art • 0415 799 558

Above: SandCliffs, Tidal River.

For me, the Prom’s irreplaceable value is not just in the spectacular scenery or the scale of the stunning coastal landscape that always manages to re-inspire on each visit, but in the fact that it remains largely undeveloped. Threats of large-scale commercial development have been overcome in the past, but serve to highlight how fragile the continued existence of this wilderness is. It can survive fires, floods and storms, but not development. Overseas visitors who accompanied us on a recent trip to the Prom were astounded by this natural wilderness. I hope it can remain that way. I began drawing in primary school and first exhibited pen and ink drawings of maritime scenes and native botanical studies in 1990, while pursuing graphic art as a career. Memories of painting trips and visits to the art studio of my aunt, alive with the aromas of linseed oil and turpentine, drew me to change to using oil paints, and I joined the Victorian Artists Society, exhibiting my first oil paintings there in 1992. I have since held solo exhibitions of paintings of Wilsons Promontory, and a joint exhibition of Seascapes with watercolourist Julian Bruere. My upcoming exhibition features oil paintings and pencil drawings of my favourite places at the Prom, along with many other paintings of recent travels to the Bellarine Peninsula, Sydney, New Zealand, Italy and England. I would like to invite VNPA members to join me in a glass of champagne on opening night, or over the weekend. I look forward

to meeting you soon! • PW NEIL MOORHOUSEPAINTINGS: Rockpools, Tidal River. PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 33 VNPA walk at Lysterfield Park.

But cities have their dark side and insufficient grass and trees is it. That’s more than just a personal preference. Environmental psychologists and others have been gathering impressive evidence of the health-given properties of greenery. It’s evidence to support the American biologist E. O. Wilson’s ‘biophilia’ hypothesis: because humans evolved in natural environments and have lived separate from nature only relatively recently in their evolutionary history, people possess an innate need to affiliate with other living things. Research published last year found that people who live in urban areas with more green space tend to report greater wellbeing – less mental distress and higher life satisfaction – than city dwellers who don’t have parks, gardens or other green space nearby. Mathew White and colleagues at the University of Exeter Medical School used a national longitudinal survey of households in Britain to track the PHOTO: VNPA PHOTO: experience of more than 10,000 people for 17 years to 2008. They found that, on average, the For your mental health, positive effect on wellbeing was equivalent to about one-third of the get back in touch difference between being married rather than unmarried and a tenth of the effect of being employed rather with nature than unemployed.

THIS ARTICLE BY FAIRFAX ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COLUMNIST A different study followed the ROSS GITTINS APPEARED IN THE AGE ON 24 DECEMBER LAST YEAR. experience of more than 1000 people WE THOUGHT IT SO RELEVANT TO THE VNPA AND ITS ACTIVITIES over five years, in which time some moved to greener urban areas and THAT WE OBTAINED HIS PERMISSION TO REPRINT IT. some to less green areas. The results showed that, on average, people I’ve just got to get through extended There’s a place we rent not far up the who moved to greener areas felt an Christmas festivities – and subsequent coast that backs onto a national park. immediate improvement in their mopping up – and I’ll be off on my I call it Lyrebird Lodge. And even mental health. This boost could still hols. What am I doing this year? Same when we go overseas I often find the be measured three years later. as most years: heading for the bush. country towns beat the big cities. This time we’re going to the mountains. “These findings are important for In recent times I’ve been singing urban planners thinking about As a denizen of the inner city I’ve long the praises of big cities: how introducing new green spaces to had a great desire to get out into the efficient they are and how they towns and cities, suggesting they country whenever possible. Get into promote creativity and productivity, could provide long term and sustained the grass and trees, where the air is particularly in the era of the benefits for local communities,” the clean and the sleeping seems better. information economy. lead author of the study said.

34 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 BWAG family walk, Yarra Bend Park

A study from Canada began by summarising all the various benefits from contact with nature that other research had found: it can restore people’s ability to pay attention, improve concentration in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and speed recovery from illness. It may even reduce the risk of dying. Yet another study notes that the first hospitals in Europe were infirmaries in monastic communities where a garden was considered an essential part of the environment in that it supported the BWAG PHOTO: healing process. This study of studies, from Norway, says that “in most cultures, both present and past, one can observe behaviour reflecting a fondness for nature. For example, tomb painting from ancient Egypt, as well as remains found in the ruins of Pompeii, substantiate that people brought plants into their houses and gardens more than 2000 years ago”. Many studies find health benefits from contact with nature. The Norwegian paper says a key element in this may be nature’s stress-reducing effect. Stress plays a role in the causes and development of cardiovascular diseases, anxiety disorders and depression. Contact with nature may help “simply by being consciously or unconsciously ‘pleasing to the eye’”. Office employees seem to compensate for lack of a FERLIN MARY PHOTO: window view by introducing indoor BWAG walk at the Prom. plants or even just pictures of nature. One study found that having a view to with better mental wellbeing and stressful life event, such as divorce, plants from the work station decreased lower stress and depression. The study bereavement or a serious illness. the amount of self-reported sick leave. evaluated a British program called Walking for Health, and involved “Our findings suggest that One of my favourite blog sites, PsyBlog, nearly 2000 participants, divided into something as simple as joining conducted by the British psychologist two matched groups of those who took an outdoor walking group may Dr Jeremy Dean, notes research part in the walks and those who didn’t. not only improve someone’s daily estimating that people now spend 25% positive emotions but may also less time in nature than they did 20 The walks, which extended over three contribute a non-pharmacological years ago. Instead, recreational time is months, combined three elements, each approach to serious conditions often spent surfing the internet, playing of which you'd expect to make people like depression,” one of the study’s video games and watching movies. feel better: walking, being in nature and authors said. being with other people. But this is more up my line: Dean You beaut. When I get to the reports a study finding that taking Those who seemed to benefit most mountains I'm hoping to do a lot of group walks in nature is associated were those who’d been through a recent bush walking. • PW

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 35 Top: Monday walking group with bollards at Geelong. Bottom: Crossing footbridge on Diamond Creek – Eltham walk.

Rambles on a Monday

PAMELA ASHCROFT HAS LIVED AND WORKED AS AN ARTIST IN VARIOUS PARTS OF VICTORIA AND RETURNED TO MELBOURNE IN 2011. SHE’S ALWAYS HAD ITCHY FEET AND LOVES EXPLORING MELBOURNE AND THE BUSH.

The early 13th century Persian poet Rumi said, ‘Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.’

Given their enthusiasm for a walk in the park with time to smell the roses, those who join the twice- monthly VNPA Monday walks would probably concur with this observation. ‘Second Monday of the Month’ afternoon walks were started in 2007 by VNPA stalwart and life member Ruth Stirling. A year later, she persuaded one of her Monday walkers and another long-standing VNPA member, Sue Parkhill, to lead a walk on the ASHCROFT PAMELA PHOTOS: fourth Monday of each month. reservoir whose slopes are planted with historic park buildings. Refreshments The walks led by Ruth and Sue range masses of succulents to produce a truly at a nearby café gave time for social from ambles through bushland, along spectacular landscape. chitchat before we boarded the No. 70 creek trails and beaches to strolls tram to return to the city. through formal parks and gardens and We rounded off our tour with a wander urban streetscapes. All walks can be in the cool shade of the eucalypts and Skipping a few months, in late October reached by public transport. Most are oaks on the southern lawns and then a handful of hardy souls caught the train in Melbourne, with the occasional full- retired for a well-earned drink. to Geelong and braved unseasonably day walk or excursion further afield. cold and wet weather to walk the In early February we explored Wattle Waterfront Geelong Bollards Trail from On a hot Monday in January 2014, Park in Burwood, so named in 1917 Rippleside Park to Lime Burners Point. the group met for the first walk of when it was opened with the planting The bollards are carved from old timber the year at the floral clock in Queen of a Golden Wattle, later added to with pylons and the brightly painted human Victoria Gardens. We walked through another 12,000 wattles. We strolled figures portray characters and themes the Domain, admiring the grottoes along some of the park’s numerous from Geelong’s history. along the embankment of Alexandra paths and found respite from the hot Avenue before heading into the Botanic sun under a sprawling eucalypt in an We admired a group of musicians, a Gardens where we paused at the area of remnant indigenous vegetation. former mayor, sea captains, bathing brutally vandalised Separation Tree for beauties and footballers, reaching the a sombre, moving moment. In mid-summer, the bleached native final bollard on Lime Burners Point grasses contrasted strikingly with the in a squall of rain. Then we made our Then it was up the hill to admire manicured lawns and exotic trees way into town through Eastern Park Guilfoyle’s Volcano, a restored historic surrounding the chalet and other and took refuge in the Sheraton for

36 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 VNPA Excursions Convenor Larysa Kucan (left) and friend Libby Time for a rest. are sun smart. PHOTOS: PAMELA ASHCROFT PAMELA PHOTOS: a warming cup of coffee and piece of under mature eucalypts and enjoying powerful sense of wellbeing. As the cake while taking in the view of the You the abundant birdlife. Finally we ancient Greek physician Hippocrates Yangs. Mission accomplished! squeezed through a narrow breezeway said, ‘Walking is the best medicine.’ • PW between a cluster of units to find our A day walk from Diamond Creek to way to Eltham village and the train If you’d like to join these walks, details Eltham along the Diamond Creek Trail home. A wonderful outing on a balmy are in the BWAG Program for the 2nd on the second Monday in December day and a perfect way to end 2014. and 4th Mondays of each month. rounded out the year. In bright sunshine The next walk will be on Monday we meandered through sublime open There is tremendous camaraderie in 23 March (see program p. 27) when parkland following the path along the the group, whose members enjoy the Sue Parkhill will lead a walk in and creek valley and near the railway line, walking and the sociability of like- around Woodend. Places are limited and ate our lunch sitting on the grass minded souls, all contributing to a as the walks are very popular.

BOOK REVIEW

and a passion sparked in Ashley for Dexter, the wildlife care. Courageous Koala The events ring true because of the author’s personal experience with By Jesse Blackadder. ABC Books, 2015. koalas, and her meticulous research. Paperback, $14.99. She includes a useful afterword thanking the koala carers and vets she There are three things children can’t consulted, and giving practical advice resist in a story: characters they can about helping injured wildlife. relate to, cute animals, and dramatic living near Byron Bay, invites Half the book is written from the joey’s adventures. This gripping, emotional Ashley to stay with her. point of view, making readers feel story has all three. Ashley lands in the aftermath of a strong empathy with the injured koalas. I couldn’t put it down. I read it in tropical cyclone, collecting leaves in This moving story would be perfect one go, and I can easily imagine upper the rain for the rescued koalas and for a teacher to motivate a class to and middle primary school children finding an injured mother and joey, help rescued wildlife, perhaps by doing the same. blown from their tree in the storm. knitting joey pouches, donating Like many children her age, main A nail-biting rescue tale ensues, mother-substitute teddy bears, or character Ashley longs for a puppy, but involving a hair-raising flying fox raising money. Classrooms need more can’t have one. To make up for this, ride to get the koalas to safety, a risky inspirational books like this. • PW her eccentric aunt Micky, a koala carer journey along a flooded road to the vet, Review by Elizabeth Howes

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 37 Bushwalking: Bring a Friend for Free! Bring a Friend for Free walk group at Sugarloaf Reservoir. PHOTO: COURTESY FRED TROPP FRED COURTESY PHOTO:

We offer one of these walks in each program to enable potential Sugarloaf for starters new members to come with a VNPA friend to meet, chat and Saturday 31 January was perfect for a views across the water and the undulating good walk - coolish for summer, with the countryside, steep but thankfully short hills, walk with other bushwalkers, and prospect of just enough rain to refresh panoramic views over the reservoir and a experience what we do. energetic walkers. A 16 km walk around glimpse of racing yachts still before us. The Sugarloaf Reservoir was before us. day promised to be a great one. The member must book the guest when booking the walk and know As we gathered, our leader Sue The pace was steady and the breaks well- that the guest has the appropriate welcomed all comers, both experienced timed and just the right length until, sadly, level of fitness. The member will bushwalkers and those less so, and gave the walk was over. We headed off to a pay the usual walk fee of $5 or hold us an overview of the day. Once briefed, nearby cafe for a well-earned coffee or tea a walks pass. There is no charge for we set off, the leader in front and the and a slice of cake to review the day, and the guest. ‘whip’ at the rear, making sure slow- consider new challenges. coaches like me weren’t left behind. As an introduction to walking with the See the testimonial at right We started by crossing the reservoir wall, VNPA it was a great experience, where for a recent walk from guest with the golden grassy hills, curious roos, newcomers felt welcomed and supported. Susan Pepper. • PW

Boneseed blitz

Back in the 1980s, Stephanie Rennick from Bayside Bushwalkers recognised the devastating effects of African Boneseed at Arthurs Seat, and decided to do something about it.

Working with land managers, bushwalking clubs and local groups, the heavily infested Cook Street spur Left: Marg Hattersley is happy with the of Arthurs Seat State Park was divided result of weeding at Arthurs Seat. into plots allocated to the various Above: Boneseed seedlings keep coming up. groups. One of them was later passed on to the VNPA. JULIA PICKWICK PHOTOS: Originally Colin Smith coordinated us,” said Marg. “We do this every delighted to take it on. “Marg has left the VNPA’s annual weeding, but for the year, come rain, hail or shine”. These an amazing legacy,” she says. past 24 years long-time member Marg days you have to look hard to find The Annual Boneseeding day will Hattersley has done the job. “It was boneseed seedlings. be held at Arthurs Seat State Park on pretty bad to start with,” said Marg. “The Saturday 2 May. For more information bloody boneseed was over six feet high!” Last year, Marg decided it was time to hang up the weeding gloves and refer to the BWAG program or contact Years of dedicated volunteering have pass on the coordinator role. BWAG Terese on 0413 234 130. • PW made a huge difference. “Nothing stops Convenor Terese Dalman was From Julia Pickwick

38 PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 Willis’s Walkabouts Kakadu ─ No One Knows It Better

Join us and see why so many of our Ecotours and walking clients come back again and again. in the High Country, THIRTY years leading tours plus another ten East Gippsland and beyond exploring the park with the Darwin Bush- walking Club. Russell Willis always has the Are you curious about the natural world? latest information. If so, how about immersing yourself in nature and letting us share our love and Our trips offer you the best that Kakadu has to knowledge of the environment with you. offer in each of its six seasons. That’s right, SIX Let us arrange the accommodation, seasons. Forget the Wet and Dry of the tourist the driving, the walks and talks. brochures. The local Aboriginal people Even your meals appear like magic. recognised six seasons. So do we. The only way Enjoy the companionship of like-minded to understand how different they really are is nature lovers and return home refreshed, to experience them for yourself. informed and invigorated. We know which creeks are flowing when, For full details of the current program visit the website or contact Jenny which 4WD tracks are likely to be open, when the vegetation makes walking easy and when it Gippsland High Country Tours makes it hard. We offer a huge variety of trips Phone (03) 5157 5556 so that we can give you the best possible bushwalking experience at any time of year. Email: [email protected] www.gippslandhighcountrytours.com.au www.bushwalkingholidays.com.au [email protected] Ph: 08 8985 2134 Advanced Ecotourism Certification. Est. 1987

PARK WATCH • MARCH 2015 NO 260 39 FORESTS FOREVER

EASTER ECOLOGY CAMP

WHEN CAMP among Peppermint and Manna 3-6 April 2015. Gums on the Brodribb River. WHERE SPOTLIGHT for wildlife. Goongerah, 70km north of Orbost. EXPLORE ancient and beautiful forests COST with expert biologists. $60 for the weekend, $25 for one day (concessions available), BE INSPIRED to help save East under 13s free. Gippsland’s spectacular forests.

BOOK YOUR SPOT TO BOOK ONLINE or get more info visit: eastgippsland.net.au/forestsforever, email [email protected] (preferred) or phone 03 5154 0145. www.vnpa.org.au www.eastgippsland.net.au