Lorax Project 2013

Recently we have been busy with our Lorax Project along the Yea River and it's tributaries.

NAB volunteers at Murrindindi

JBWere volunteers at Break O Day Reserve

In late September a large team from NAB planted almost 700 plants at the Lawson property in Murrindindi and another team from JBWere helped plant and mulch over 225 plants at the Break 'O' Day Rd Reserve in Glenburn and then after a BBQ lunch we put in another 50+ at the nearby Alf Miller Park.

JBWere volunteers after a days planting at Alf Miller Park

On 24th October a group of TAFE students studying Conservation and Land Management planted 250 trees and shrubs on a section of the Katy's Creek at 'Graceburn' the farm of Sally and Tom Abbott-Smith who also provided a delicious BBQ lunch.

TAFE students at the Abbott-Smith farm in Glenburn

Our final Lorax Project planting for the year was on 29th October on the Yea River at Devlin's Bridge. Again the TAFE students returned to plant many trees and shrubs. After the planting it was back to Graceburn where Tom gave the enthusiastic students a tour of his free range chook and cattle farm.

TAFE students at Devlin's Bridge Glenburn

The Lorax Project has now come to the end of another very successful year.

This year over 500 volunteers from NAB, ANZ and JBWere and students from Yea High School, Flowerdale and Kinglake Primary Schools and many more planted over 10,000 plants on farms and properties from Strath Creek and Kinglake across the Upper Goulburn region to Marysville and Buxton.

If you are interested in volunteering with our Lorax Project in 2014 or a landowner thinking about revegetating a section of your property contact UGLN Landcare Coordinator Chris Cobern on 5736 0104.

Long-nosed Bandicoot update - Glenburn

Long-nosed Bandicoot (LNB) numbers seem to have increased since the 2009 fires along the Stony Creek at Kinglake West, along the King Parrot Creek down to Hazeldene and at Toolangi.
The thick regrowth of native vegetation has probably favoured the bandicoots and provided protection from predators such as foxes and cats.
Our fauna monitoring with remote sensor cameras in these areas has turned up many photographs of the usually secretive creatures.

Long-nosed Bandicoot at Glenburn

Long-nosed Bandicoot at Glenburn

 




Recently after noticing diggings and other possible signs on a property in Glenburn we set up our cameras and were rewarded by these photographs of Long-nosed Bandicoots.

This site is on private land along a tributry of Katy's Creek in an area of native riparian vegetation. The area has been fenced off by the landowner to protect it from their cattle and to encourage natural regeneration. This has certainly paid off because as well as the bandicoot's we also photographed Swamp Wallabies, Bush Rats, Wombats, Brush-tail Possums and birds including the shy Bassian Thrush.
 
This map shows the locations where we have recorded LNB's throughout the Kinglake Ranges over the last two years.

Map showing locations of Long-nosed Bandicoots observations by UGLN

If you see a bandicoot or possible evidence please let us know by phoning 5736 0104 or email ugrecovery@gbcma.vic.gov.au

Lorax Project 2012

The Upper Goulburn Landcare Networks revegetation 'Lorax Project' has finished for another year after a very successful year of tree planting throughout the fire affected areas of Murrindindi Shire.

JBWere volunteers at Buxton

This year 452 volunteers from NAB, ANZ, JBWere, Camberwell Secondary College, Strath Creek Landcare Group, Kevin Heinz Garden Centre, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Kinglake Landcare Group and the Salvation Army helped plant a total of 12110 indigenous plants.

ANZ volunteers at Kinglake

We also had great support again from Fifteen Trees who were able to provide much needed funds to purchase many plants for our project.

NAB volunteers planting trees funded by 15Trees

The Kevin Heinz Garden Centre with funding assistance from Rotary again grew many thousands of plants for us and even came up for a day to plant some at the Kinglake Lions Park.


Kevin Heinz Garden Centre volunteers at Kinglake Lions Park

We developed a great project with the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority which allowed us to fence and revegetate many kilometres of riparian areas along the King Parrot Creek and Spring Creek in Flowerdale.

NAB volunteers planting along the Spring Ck at Flowerdale

We revegetated 32 hectares of farmland and waterways on properties at Strath Creek, Flowerdale, Kinglake, Glenburn, Buxton and Murrindindi.


ANZ volunteers at Glenburn

The Lorax Project will continue in 2013 and thousands of seedlings are being grown as we speak in preparation for next years planting season.

NAB volunteers at Buxton

We will also be helping the Strath Creek Landcare Group with the tree planting component of their biodiversity project.

Volunteers at Strath Creek

Anyone interested in volunteering with our project in 2013 or landowners interested in getting tree planting carried out on their properties contact Chris Cobern on 5736 0104.

REVEGETATION WORK CONTINUES

Plantings to establish new native vegetation continue on both Crown Land reserves and private properties throughout the Murrindindi Shire.

Last week a volunteer group from the ANZ Bank’s corporate headquarters in Docklands planted out 480 sedges, grasses and shrubs on the Break O Day Reserve in Glenburn.

The ANZ group came prepared for the wet day with their gumboots and suitable clothing.

We later shared a BBQ lunch at the new Alf Miller Park in Glenburn.

ANZ volunteers at Alf Miller Park Glenburn

We have another nine days of planting already booked for the remainder of the year at locations throughout the Murrindindi Shire.

NAB volunteers at Buxton

We were fortunate in receiving a Federal Government ‘Caring for our Country’ grant to purchase the plants, materials and tools for the project.

Since 2010 we have planted over 33,000 plants, many grown locally at Flowerdale from seed collected locally together with some more propagated for us at the Kevin Heinze Garden Centre in Doncaster and the Euroa Arboretum.

JBWere volunteers at Murrindindi

To enquire about getting assistance with revegetation for your fire affected property or to volunteer phone Chris Cobern on 5736 0104 or by Email: ugrecovery@gbcma.vic.gov.au

Round-leaf Pomaderris

A team from Conservation Volunteers Australia has doing some great work with us tree planting and removing Cape Broom and English Broom from properties in the Kinglake/Flowerdale area.

One of the days was spent planting at the Stony Creek reserve in Kinglake West. The reserve has had holly and blackberry control works over the last two years. Now with the weeds under control we are able to carry out revegetation.
Plants included fifty of the very rare Pomaderris vaccinifolia or Round-leaf Pomaderris. These very special plants were grown for us by Healesville Environment Watch from seed collected in the Toolangi area.

We also planted more of the Pomaderris on private land along the Number One Creek in Kinglake, Island Creek in Glenburn, at the Murrindindi Scenic Reserve (with assistance from DSE) and on private land along the Murrindindi River in Murrindindi.

Free Pest Plant and Animal Control Courses

On Sunday 18 & 25 September 22 people from the Kinglake and Glenburn area attended the nineth free UGLN pest management course.
The course was held at the Kinglake Scout Hall and run by NMIT lecturer and Kinglake resident Kevin Chandler.
A delicious morning tea and lunch was provided by Flowerdale's own catering business 'Molly's Kitchen'.

Since April 2010 we have been running free Weed Identification and Control Workshops, 1080 baiting and Farm Chemical Users Courses throughout the fire affected areas of Murrindindi Shire.
The courses have also been held in Flowerdale, Yea, Strath Creek and Marysville.
They have all been well attended with almost 200 people having benefited from the opportunity provided by UGLN and funded by the Federal Governments Çaring For Our Country' program.

Four Wheel Drivers Fencing Team

Geoff, Fred, Marg, Sparky and Ron are the stalwarts of our 4WD fencing team. They have been donating their time on weekends to help landcare and bushfire recovery. They have been a great help fencing in the muddy, wet conditions this winter where four wheel driving expertize was needed. They have worked on properties at Glenburn, Castella and Kinglake. Chris Cobern has been supervising their activities and they have been staying overnight at the Kinglake Scout Hall to make full use of their time.
Thanks guys and girls for your participation in the Fencers without Boundaries project.

Letter from another happy customer:

"Dear Chris, Just a short note to thank you and the fantastic gang led by Geoff for helping with the re-fencing of my property on Deviation Rd Kinglake. What a fantastic group of people. I could never have done it alone and their dedication has been inspiring. I appreciate that they have been doing this now since the fires on a regular basis and my only regret is that I did not nominate them all for an OA which I believe they are worthy of. If there are any plans along these lines please count me in. They have worked on the fencing at my place alone through 40C heat and six inches of snow and during days of consistent and sometimes heavy rain. Nothing stops them or dampens their spirit.
I feel very humble having had the privilege of working along with them all. They seek no praise. They say thanks and move on to the next challenge when it is us that are in their debt. Janet and I will never be able to thank them enough.
Thank you also Chris for all your help. I know the effort you personally put into assisting people like Janet and I affected by the fires with inadequate insurance and no farm insurance to cover costs of re-fencing. Your work as Fire Recovery Landcare Coordinator and that of the
Upper Goulburn Landcare Network is truly appreciated.
I take pride in having the teams efforts acknowledged on the sign you have posted."

Sincere thanks, Barry and Janet.

Victorian Mobile Landcare Group

The Victorian Mobile Land Care Group are wonderful bunch of conservationalists who travel all over the state helping to improve our environment and assist whose in need .

They have plenty of fun together while doing this noble work .

We have been fortunate to have Doug Parke and his team return this year to help with bushfire recovery fencing at Gleburn & Kinglake.

Quote from VMLCG web site :

"On Saturday 11 September 2010 the Victorian Mobile Landcare Group was pleased to be able to complete a stint of fencing work with Jim and Beverly, farmers in the Yarra Valley (some 60 km out of Melbourne) who were severely affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.

The VMLCG was only too happy to help Jim and Beverly and we value the connections we have now made with them".
"We conduct this work as a partner to the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network's (UGLCN) efforts to coordinate fire recovery work in this area.
This type of work is also part of Landcare's "Fire Buddies" initiative, linking Landcare groups to aid recovery projects. We look forward to continuing our work in assisting farmers and the UGLCN in these efforts."

1041 Eucalyptus Rd Glenburn - Photo's

Warm Mud for EPA

20/10/2010
1041 Eucalyptus Road Glenburn.
10 volunteers from the EPA . Chris & Janet from Landcare.
Beautiful sunny , warm day.
Before lunch planted native grasses around the new dam to stablize the soil and create habitat for birds & frogs.
The EPA crew ( Caroline organised all this ) shared a sumptous picnic lunch on the back patio . Played the 'coin' game which was an interesting way to learn more about each other . Take a cup of random coins , each person takes one and looks at the date, in turn everyone tells the group what they were doing in year on their chosen coin . Eg. 1988 The bicentennial year , a cloud of fertilty had decended on Ruffy and just about every child bearing age woman had a baby . I gave birth to Jacqui at 3 minites to midnight on the 29th of February . A leap year baby but only just !
After lunch we got stuck into it , the mud I mean , the team constructed 2 silt traps below the dam to catch sediments before they reach the creek . Warm , sloppy, sticky mud everywhere.

A nice letter

Mr. Chris Cobern
Fire Recovery Landcare Coordinator
Upper Goulburn Landcare Network
Shop 5/10 High Street
Yea, Vic., 3717


Dear Chris,

RE: FIRE RECOVERY PROJECTS


We would like to express our appreciation and thanks to the Management and Staff of the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network for the assistance rendered to us since the ‘Black Saturday’ Bushfires.

As you are aware, we suffered fire damage during the fires, and lost most of our fencing, trees and pasture. We were in dire straits here and were extremely thankful that you were able to kindly help us during this trying time.

Your untiring efforts on our behalf, in coordinating all aspects of the work are most appreciated, and we would ask that you pass on our thanks to all concerned. The assistance of staff from the NAB Bank was also appreciated, as well as the Victorian Mobile Landcare Group, and the other volunteers who attended with both yourself and Janet Hagen, to re-establish our fencing and plant trees, and we will be forever grateful.

Thank you once again.


Yours sincerely,


Beverly and Jim

Wet Feet

27/8/2010

Treeproject / Landcare Partnership Tree Planting Day.

17 ANZ volunteers

De driving the Treeproject bus .

Chris & Janet from Landcare.

Davis Property. Glenburn.

The project for the day was to plant and guard 300 understorey plants in the bare patches amongst the manna gums along the Yea River at the bottom of Gail's property. The ground was very muddy on the river flats . Luckily Gail had a good supply of spare gum boots and coats but there were some very wet feet at the end of the day . A BBQ lunch was enjoyed around the huge family table, it seated 20 people! The warm fire was also very appreciated by my cold feet.

Two Hills Road - Glenburn

20/8/2010

Treeproject / Landcare Partnership

8 ANZ Volunteers
De and Tim from Treeproject
Janet and Chris from Landcare.

300 plants for roadside screening and creek restoration at Hillary Craig's place in Glenburn.