Bunnings support UGLN nest box program

On Saturday 5th November we held a nest box building day at Bunnings in Shepparton.

Volunteers from the local community, Shepparton Mens Shed and Uniting Care built 68 nest boxes for Sugar Gliders, King Parrots and Owlet Nightjars.

Bunnings kindly donated $4,000 worth of timber, hardware and paint as well as providing a marquee, cold drinks and staff to assist Karen and myself on the day.


The nest boxes will be installed on properties throughout the fire affected areas of Murrindindi Shire.

Phone Chris on 0413 855 490 for more information or if you'd like some nest boxes for your property.

DSE Planting Day on Murrindindi River

Volunteers from the DSE and the Dept of Planning and Rural Communities planted 300 shrubs and grasses along the Murrindindi River in Murrindindi.

The plantings were a great support for the local Yea River Landcare Group who have spent many hours carrying out weed control and improving this and other reserves in the area.

The reserve is a popular fishing spot and the work they did also beautifies the area for other recreational users and lovers of nature.

Local kids build homes for wildlife

Students from Yea High School and the Kinglake Scouts have been building nest boxes for wildlife which we have been installing on properties in Flowerdale, Junction Hill and Kinglake.

Due to the loss of many hollow bearing trees in the area as a result of the fires, we are providing artificial homes for the animals that generally nest in hollows in the trees. Suitable hollows can take many decades to form.

Recent inspections of boxes that we installed last year have discovered that they are being used by Ringtail Possums, Brush-tailed Phascogales and Sugar Gliders.

This is the second year that the students and Scouts have been involved with our fire recovery nest box project. Installing the boxes involves more than just nailing them to a tree. The kids record on a data sheet the height of the box, tree type, nest box and entrance aspect using a compass and they also GPS the location so we can find them later to inspect.

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.

Lorax Project In Full Swing

Our fire recovery revegetation program 'Lorax Project' is motoring along at the moment and the volunteers are enjoying getting outdoors amongst the fine spring weather.

Over the last two months with the help of many volunteers from NAB and CVA as well as local volunteers from the Kinglake Scouts and Strath Creek Landcare Group we have planted almost 3000 plants throughout properties in Flowerdale, Kinglake, Glenburn and Kilmore East.

We have also had great support from the following organistations and business' by supplying plants or funding for our plants: Fifteen Trees, Kevin Heinz School of Horticulture, Apprenticeships Plus, NAB and Rotary.