News of Friends of GrasGrasssssllllandsands Supporting native grassy ecosystems JulyJuly----AugustAugust 2006 ISSN 1832-6315 Program SAT 15 JULY 9.30am to noon FOG’s winter grass- land tour: Blundells Flat with Mark Butz . Mark is currently preparing a conservation management plan for Blundells Flat, below Mount Coree. This large area of meadow and grassland escaped pine planting in the 1950s and once supported Keyacris scurra . Access is two-wheel-drive, but the last part of the road is unsealed. Come prepared for some wet ground underfoot and for cool temperatures. The event will be cancelled in the event of heavy rain. Meeting for carpooling at 9.30am at the Police Col- lege, Heysen St, Weston. (To get there, go south on Streeton Drive, turn left onto Heysen St, and park about 50 metres along Heysen St). Blundell’s Flat is about a half hour drive from Canberra . Contact Mar- garet (details back page) regarding car pooling. SAT 26 AUGUST 2:00 to 4:30pm FOG’s winter slide afternoon: you decide . Many FOG members have interesting tales of trips that they have made and/or hobbies or interests. Here is your opportunity to speak for five to thirty minutes, present a slide show, or whatever. The rules are that the presenta- tions must refer to grasses somewhere, be informa- tive, enjoyable and not too serious. Please let Marga- ret Ning (details back page) know if to you like to be a presenter. We will circulate an e-mail about the presentations before the event. Venue: Mugga Mugga Education Centre, Narrabundah Lane, Sy- monston ACT (opposite the Therapeutic Goods Ad- ministration Centre). Free event, afternoon tea pro- vided. Expressions of interest in FOG’s Victorian grass- land tour (Terrick Terrick and Hamilton grass- lands), Fri. to Mon., 20 to 23 October . Details of this trip were recently emailed to members for whom FOG has current email addresses - for those without email addresses we can post or phone you with more information. As accommodation may be tight we need to book ASAP. To keep the group together we plan to book on-site cabins, and for those prepared to share a cabin with three others, the cost should be $20-$25 a night. Camping is also an option, as are motels, etc. In any event, please contact Margaret (details back page) ASAP, if planning to come. For FOG events and other events of special interest for the rest of the year, see diary dates on page 2. News of Friends of Grasslands, July-August 2006, page 2 News Roundup Opening our eyes Natural Temperate Grasslands (NTG) vegetation patterns. Often forgotten, Groundcover of the Southern Tablelands (NSW- is that a very different suite of ani- ACT) spoke on the recovery plan im- mals were occupying the area for SATURDAY 17 JUNE Thirty-three plementation project being adminis- much of that time. members attended the FOG presenta- tered by the recovery team. tions by Greg Baines and Geoff Geoff posed the question: so what Hope, and were delighted to learn so The first focus of the project is to de- does history mean for future flora? much more about what is happening termine the extent, distribution and He raised some interesting specula- in the Southern Tablelands region. quality of NTG in the region. Starting tion about flora’s ability to migrate with the NTG modelling work done and persist, and the alternating wood- Greg, who is the project officer for by Rainer Rehwinkel, a survey strat- land-grassland biomes. the National Recovery Team for the egy was developed to identify and It is hoped that both gentlemen will survey potential sites. Greg was able enlighten us further on their fascinat- Some diary dates –Margaret Ning to report that 46 properties had been ing work in future newsletters. The following are FOG’s program surveyed, particularly around Goul- Namadgi symposium dates for 2006 after August – burn, 2,024ha of NTG identified, of Groundcover please record them in your diary. which 573ha were of high quality. For more details, please contact me Survey work will continue next year. 5-7 MAY National Parks Associa- (see back page). Having identified such sites, land- tion, ACT is to be congratulated for its three day symposium Caring for Sat and Sun, 16 and 17 Sept . Visit owners have to be won over to con- Namadgi, science and people. The coastal heathland near Eden with tinue to manage the sites for conser- aim of the symposium was to provide Jackie Miles. vation, and Greg outlined strategies the recovery team was adopting to the latest available science that sus- Fri. to Mon., 20 to 23 October . obtain good outcomes. Other strate- tains the management of Namadgi, Visit to Terrick Terrick and Hamil- gies include increasing organisation and to showcase many of the people ton grasslands, Victoria. and community awareness of NTG. involved in the science. Sat. 11 Nov . 9:30 am to 3:30pm. Also, the project is attempting to Speakers followed in rapid succes- Working bee at Old Cooma Com- make the large amount of data on sion and covered a diverse range of mon , Cooma. NTG sites available to interested par- subjects – an information junkie’s ties. Wed 15 Nov . Lunchtime St Mark’s paradise. Each speaker brought out grassland with Benj Whitworth . Geoff Hope described the likely new information and invaluable in- changes that have taken place in the sights. Some favourites speakers Sat. 18 Nov . 1:15 to 5pm. Discov- region’s vegetation in the last were Murray Evans (corroboree frog ering insects workshop with Kim 100,000 years. He initially showed us recovery), Bob Abell (geology of Pullen and Roger Farrow . Mugga. data on climate and sea level, remind- Namadgi), Ian Fraser (teasing out Small cost. ing us that for most of the period, the natural science riddles – “I can’t help Wed. 22 Nov . 5 to 6pm. Visit to area was in the grip of the last ice wondering……”), Mark Lintermans Hall Cemetery. age. (threatened native fish recovery), Don Fletcher (kangaroos and dingos), He showed a number of sites in the Sat 25 Nov . 10 to 11am. Mulang- Adrian Whitehead (climate change), region, where he and his colleagues gari grassland with Benj Roger Good (rehabilitation of wet- have undertaken core samples to de- Whitworth . lands), and Geoff Hope (history of termine the vegetation structure and wetlands). Sat and Sun, 16 and 17 Dec . composition at the site and its sur- Southern Grasslands and swamps rounds. Unfortunately such methods The cost was $10 and for a little ex- with Roger Farrow. largely rely on examining pollen tra, one could acquire the proceed- Special interest to members which can only tell us about the ings, which I suggest are worthwhile broad categories of plants involved following up. 6 to 13 Sept Flora of the Warrum- (grasses, sedges, daisies, and broad bungles. See news item on page 6. types of trees). Nevertheless they as- Photos front page: Susie Smith Tues-Wed, 28-29 Nov . (revised sist in providing likely scenarios. explaining willow removal project dates previously 29-30 Nov.) Aus- Data on the presence of charcoal pro- on FOG/GA tour – Story page 3. tralian Network for Plant Conser- vides useful data on fire patterns. Middle and bottom photos: Jackie, vation ACT Grassy Ecosystem Grasslands would have held sway in Steve and group botanising, and Workshop. group on FOG May weekend. many areas over long periods. Geoff Story by Paul Hodgkinson page 5. provided interesting maps on possible News of Friends of Grasslands, July-August 2006, page 3 FOG/GA bus tour The final part of the activity was a In 2005, over 200 volunteers partici- Grasscover visit to the Australian National Bo- pated in the census, monitoring at tanic Gardens to see GA’s seedbank over 140 sites. Of the 144 sites moni- 30 APRIL Twenty two members of project, part of the Seeds for Survival tored, one species was recorded at FOG and other community groups project, managed by Ben Cavuoto. 102 sites with another at only two joined Susie Wilson from Greening Ben, another of those treasurers that sites. Nine species were recorded and Australia (GA) to tour ACT Land GA have been recruiting, walked us the number of sites for each are: spot- Keepers project sites. ted grass frog (Limnody- In common with last year’s nastes tasmaniensis, 102), trip (see after the pine forests, common eastern froglet FOG May-June 2005 newslet- (Crinia signifera, 96), ter), the sites visited were plains froglet (Crinia parin- burnt by the 2003 Canberra signifera, 87), eastern banjo Fire, and the theme was how frog Limnodynastes dumer- to manage situations in which illii, 62), Peron’s tree frog native vegetation was recov- (Litoria peronii, 45), ering, along with healthy smooth toadlet (Uperoleia weeds. While supplementary laevigata, 40), brown- planting is usually a GA fo- striped frog (Limnodynastes cus, the pendulum is increas- peronii , 20), whistling tree ingly swinging to land man- frog (Litoria verreauxii, agement considerations. 11), and spotted burrowing The first stop was Coppins frog Neobatrachus sudelli , Crossing on the Molonglo 2). River where Susie discussed The eastern banjo frog was GA’s strategies to remove found at many more sites willows, and other challenges this year compared to 2004, presented by a combination of probably a return to more native vegetation and weed normal levels. Many other regeneration. species were found at more The second site was in the Mt sites compared to 2004. Stromlo area, where Susie However, the whistling tree outlined options for native frog was down from 32 revegetation of a large area of sites in 2004 to 11 in 2005.