Nature’s Voice
Victorian National Parks Association newsletter
Number 19 | February 2014
Even the values of iconic Bells Beach and surrounds are being eroded.
Photo: Noyes–Brown Photo Gallery
The coast is unclear W
e are going to need strong and comprehensive policies from all political parties ahead of this year’s state election to avoid the impacts of a new wave of development washing over Victoria’s 2000km coastline. The VNPA has released a new report highlighting the fact that climate change as well as coastal, urban, port and industrial development driven by rapid population growth are eroding our coasts. The rate of coastal urban sprawl over the past 20 years has been alarming, but our coasts now face new pressures such as a major port expansion at Westernport, a breakwater at Bastion Point (Mallacoota), and the spread of coastal towns. Our report, ‘The Coast is Unclear’, is the first of its kind to document coastal planning and management issues along the entire length of Victoria’s coastline. It finds that successive Victorian
Inside
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Clearance laws risk habitat loss
Simon Branigan Marine & Coastal Project Officer
governments have contributed to the creation of a complex, disintegrated and ineffective coastal planning and management framework that has been unable to stop the squeeze on coastal nature. Its findings include: • Of the 95 habitats found within 500m of the shoreline more than 70% are either endangered or vulnerable, including Coast Banksia Woodland and Estuarine Wetland. • Threatened coastal habitats have become fragmented and vulnerable to pressures such as invasive plants and animals, grazing, intensification of land use in adjacent rural areas and altered coastal processes.
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New push for cattle in the alps
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The report also recommends the establishment of a number of new protected areas – a Discovery Bay-Three Capes State Park, Twelve Apostles-Bay of Islands National Park and Geelong and Bellarine Wetlands State Park. Rapidly diminishing coastal areas are pushing many animals to the brink such as the Eastern Bristlebird, Fairy Tern and the Southern Bentwing Bat, as well as plant species including Bellarine Yellow-gum, Coast Dandelion, and Metallic Sun-orchid. The VNPA commissioned this report to generate public discussion on improving the conservation of coastal nature and reform of Victoria’s coastal planning, protection and management framework, and to provide input into the new Victorian Coastal Strategy.
Download the full report from reports.vnpa.org.au
EDO funding cuts will hurt
Restructure puts heat on parks staff T
he union representing Parks Victoria employees fears that a restructure announced in late December could affect up to 500 staff. “Many staff were left feeling anxious over the Christmas and New Year break, not knowing what changes may occur to their positions,” says industrial officer with the Community and Public Sector Union, Amy Spencer. The announcement came with a six-week consultation period from mid-December to the end of January, increasing the anxiousness of an already stressed workforce. Up to 600 Parks Victoria employees were on sixday fire deployments across the state during that time. Ms Spencer said recent changes at Parks Victoria, including proposed changes to weekend work rosters, have caused great concern among staff, who
The hard work of Parks Victoria staff helps ensure visitors have a great experience every time they visit a national park. Photo: Fernando de Sousa-Flickr
are keen to keep parks properly staffed on weekends and at peak tourist times. It’s not the first time the union has raised concerns about staff workloads and the impacts this might have on
parks management. Over the past 18 months Parks Victoria has reduced its workforce by 120 positions through a voluntary departures program.
Grasslands guidelines, we want your views T he Victorian National Parks Association, with support from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, has been developing design guidelines to support endangered native grasslands in urban areas. The final draft of those guidelines
Nature’s Voice Editor: Michael Howes Design: John Sampson Nature’s Voice is a quarterly newsletter. The deadline for our April-May edition is 24 March. Address: Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053 Tel: 03 9347 5188 Fax: 03 9347 5199 Website: www.vnpa.org.au Email: vnpa@vnpa.org.au ABN: 34 217 717 593 ISSN: 1837-6681 SAVE PAPER! To receive Nature’s Voice by email, please contact us on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au 2 – Nature’s Voice | No 19 | February 2014
is now available for download. We’d like to hear your views, so please take the time to read the draft guidelines carefully and comment via our online survey. You can download the guidelines and provide feedback through our online survey at survey.vnpa.org.au.
Pale Sundew.
Photo: John Tann
Tide turns against Bastion Pt T he tide has finally turned for the worst at Bastion Point, Mallacoota, with construction starting on the destructive boat harbour development. Peaceful protests continue and the local Save Bastion Point Campaign and the VNPA continue to hold out hope for a twelfth hour reprieve for this beautiful place. Before Christmas the road base was excavated, pushing debris into the beach, and after a month’s break the blasting of rock platforms is due to start, eventually making way for the 130m breakwall.
This is a story of incredible community resistance for more than a generation but politics and back room deals have prevailed. Everything including the kitchen sink has been thrown at this overdevelopment. Everyone involved in this campaign deserves a far better outcome. Coastal nature deserves a far better outcome as well. Keep writing letters to the Premier expressing outrage about this coastal vandalism through our ‘take action’ page at savebastionpt.vnpa.org.au Victorian National Parks Association
New land clearing laws fast-track habitat loss Yasmin Kelsall VNPA Volunteer Habitat Campaigner
J
ust before Christmas the State Government introduced new native vegetation policy that significantly weakens the protection of native habitat across Victoria. It did this despite more than 100 respected ecologists and scientists and a 70 strong force of local conservation groups pushing for the new land clearing laws to be overturned. Our remaining bushland and the threatened species it protects are part of what makes Victoria so special. We need to make sure the laws governing how we manage these areas are not simply one-way tickets to fasttracked development at the expense of native habitat. The new ‘Permitted Clearing Regulations’ are an attempt to cut ‘green tape’, and, in the majority of applications, fast-track the clearance of native vegetation. Clearing will now be allowed with very few checks as long as an ‘offset’ can be provided (or money paid for an offset). On-site assessments by experts will mostly disappear. Instead decisions to clear native bushland will be made using modelled datasets that are seriously flawed.
Changes to bushland clearing laws could put at risk some of our most vulnerable native Photo: courtesy Tibor Hegedis, Wombat Forestcare species.
These sweeping changes have been introduced despite experts, community groups and the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability asking for the policy to be strengthened, not weakened. We have been working closely with the Environment Defenders Office as well as community groups, experts and government staff to seek better outcomes through this process. Andrew Bradey, president of the Environmental Farmers Network, says the new land clearing regulations could put at risk some of Victoria’s most vulnerable native species. He says the new regulations place
an extremely low value on scattered paddock trees and completely disregard the role native vegetation plays in preventing erosion, improving water quality and controlling water tables. Andrew fears they will dramatically change Victoria’s landscape through increased land degradation resulting in reduced agricultural productivity. It’s still early days under the new policy, and we will keep fighting to improve protections for native habitat and find new ways of achieving this since government policy has failed. For more information visit savethebush.vnpa.org.au
Environment report backs better protection T he State of Environment Victoria 2013 report released by the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability echoes concerns that new land clearance regulations spell disaster for the state’s native habitat. Released in November last year the main findings include: • There is an overall decline in threatened species and populations because of habitat loss and www.vnpa.org.au
fragmentation, and ongoing degradation of remaining habitat. • The most common threatening process for Victorian species was habitat loss (109 species), followed by weed invasion (108 species), grazing (99 species) and inappropriate fire regimes (63 species). The overall assessment of native vegetation in Victoria was ‘Poor’, finding that “...losses in native vegetation
extent from clearance on private land are likely to have exceeded gains from revegetation and natural regeneration”. Among the recommendations that came out of the report is that the Victorian Government should protect native vegetation on public and private land by amending permitted clearing regulations, recognising the contribution of native vegetation to all ecosystem services. Nature’s Voice | No 19 | February 2014 – 3
Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Black Wallabies, wombats, Koalas and unfortunately foxes all feature in our new guide to the mammals of the Wombat State Forest.
If you go into the Wombat today...
W
ould you like to know more about the hidden world of forest animals in the Wombat Forest? Well, after two years of sorting and collating images taken as part of its ‘Caught on Camera’ project our NatureWatch team has published a guide to the mammals that feed, forage, snuffle and hunt their way through the Wombat Forest. The guide includes images and information on the 10 native and three feral species volunteers have recorded using motion-sensing cameras including Brush-tailed Phascogales, Short-beaked Echidnas, Agile Antechinus and of course the adorable Common Wombat. Caught on Camera is a community-
based project that uses motion-sensing cameras to gather information on the effects of fire on mammals. The guidebook is available as a free download from the VNPA website. You’ll find it at reports.vnpa.org.au
JOIN US IN THE WOMBAT! This year NatureWatch is again joining forces with Wombat Forestcare to run the Caught on Camera project in Wombat State Forest. Our volunteers will spend March to June setting up cameras in selected spots throughout the Wombat State Forest, then move them to different locations every three weeks. If you would like to get involved as a volunteer or just want to find out more
about the project join us in Trentham (about 95km from Melbourne) on Saturday 15 March, 10am to 2pm, for a Wombat State Forest Caught on Camera Community Day. The day will include presentations about the Wombat State Forest and the Caught on Camera project, then in the afternoon you can help set up cameras at the first set of monitoring locations. There will be plenty of other chances to join the fun at Wombat State Forest. Every three weeks we will need volunteers to collect the cameras and move them to the next locations. To book your place email Christine christinec@vnpa.org.au or phone 9341 6510 (Thursdays and Fridays). Full details will be sent on registration.
NatureWatch team leader takes over coordinator role T
his year our NatureWatch and Community Projects Coordinator Caitlin Griffith will be taking time off on parental leave to welcome her baby to the family. Taking over the role while Caitlin is away will be Christine Connelly, who brings to the role a diverse background in science, land management and policy. 4 – Nature’s Voice | No 19 | February 2014
When she’s not working at the VNPA, Christine will be completing her PhD at Deakin University on urbanisation and Eastern Yellow Robins. Christine has volunteered as a NatureWatch Team Leader since the program started and knows each of the NatureWatch community monitoring projects well. She is excited to be working with the VNPA team!
Our new NatureWatch coordinator Christine Connelly about to tag an Eastern Yellow Robin as part of her PhD work. Victorian National Parks Association
Cattlemen push for grazing in the Wonnangatta Valley T
he Victorian Government has asked Australia’s environment minister Greg Hunt to approve a new cattle grazing trial in the Alpine National Park. We understand that the minister has asked for further information and it is unclear how long this will take. The cattlemen plan to bring 60 cattle into the remote Wonnangatta Valley, a beautiful river flat below the Howitt High Plains. The Wonnangatta Valley has been ungrazed by cattle since 1988. The cattlemen are claiming this three year trial will prove cattle should be brought into other areas of the national park to reduce fire risk. Like previous attempts in 2010 and 2011, the proposal is seriously flawed: • There is no scientific design for the trial, and apparently no scientists are involved. • There has been no consideration
Matt Ruchel VNPA Executive Director
of a location outside the national park, even though there are many areas where such a trial could be conducted. • Information in the application is misleading, sometimes wrong or missing, and there is not enough information in the submission to enable a decision. • There has been no call for this trial from the Bushfires Royal Commission, fire managers or the scientific community. • Claims by the cattlemen that a trial is necessary have not been tested. • The proposal could significantly impact nationally threatened species
and communities. For example the trial site covers one of the two known locations of the Pale Golden Moths Orchid, which is listed as vulnerable under national environmental laws. The proposal to reintroduce cattle to the Alpine National Park is flawed and an attack on the integrity of national parks. The Victorian Government’s latest grazing trial is more of the same: a favour for cattlemen mates dressed up as fire and land management.
TAKE ACTION 1. Write to federal environment minister Greg Hunt and let him know the trial should be rejected: Greg.Hunt.MP@aph.gov.au 2. Write, email or phone your local federal MP. For more information on this issue visit stopalpinegrazing.vnpa.org.au
Fears grow for Leadbeater’s Possum T
HE VNPA and other environment groups are becoming increasingly alarmed at the slow pace of action from an advisory group created to aid the recovery of the endangered Leadbeater’s Possum. Established in June last year the Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group is run by Zoos Victoria and the Victorian Association of Forest Industries. It was expected to report in December, but has been delayed. Conservation groups fear that due to its narrow terms of reference, the advisory group will be forced to water down or largely ignore measures developed by the ANU’s world-leading expert Professor David Lindenmayer to protect Leadbeater’s Possum. Of particular concern is the failure to consider plantation-based resource as an alternative wood supply to that taken from Leadbeater’s Possum habitat in native forests. Leadbeater’s Possum is a nationally and globally endangered species found www.vnpa.org.au
Leadbeater’s Possum is at high risk of extinction within 15-30 years.
only in Victoria, and is one of the state’s faunal emblems. It is now at very high risk of extinction within the next 15-30 years. The advisory group has also been charged with developing a plan that preserves and maintains a ‘sustainable’ timber industry without questioning or assessing whether the industry as it currently operates is, in fact, sustainable. Groups are also concerned that some of the expert advice provided to
Photo: Steve Kuiter
the committee has been watered down or politically interfered with and that the forestry industry has essentially captured the process. Calls are growing for the establishment of a new Great Forest National Park to protect the Leadbeater’s Possum, other endangered species and Melbourne’s water catchments from logging. For more information and to take action visit greenedge.vnpa.org.au Nature’s Voice | No 19 | February 2014 – 5
Funding cuts will hurt EDO J
ust before Christmas I was advised by the Commonwealth AttorneyGeneral’s department that funding for Environment Defenders Offices around the country was to be terminated. This decision demonstrates the Federal Government’s hostility towards Australian communities using the law to stand up for the places they love. We are extremely disappointed they are terminating a four-year funding agreement six months into the term. It is outrageous that the Federal Government seeks to silence the voice of communities. Our clients are local Victorian communities trying to stand up for their local environment. From shutting down toxic waste dumps to ensuring threatened wildlife get the action plans they need to survive, EDO
Brendan Sydes Environment Defenders Office (Vic) CEO
Victoria has helped many groups stand up against powerful vested interests. There is now a big hole in our funding but we remain committed to being the environment’s legal team. The generous assistance of our supporters will help us be a strong and resilient voice for Victorian communities and for nature. Right now, the Federal Government is trying to devolve responsibility for environmental approvals to the states. This could have negative results for national parks across the country –
meaning Victoria needs an organisation like the EDO like never before. Currently, we’re providing crucial legal advice to VNPA on cattle grazing in our alpine national parks. We’re also providing legal advice and briefing experts looking into the potential effects of the proposed Port of Hastings development on the environmental values of Western Port Bay, including our beloved colonies of Little Penguins. Losing our funding is not going to stop us from doing this important work – but it will mean we need support from ordinary Victorians.
MORE INFO If you’d like to learn more about the EDO visit edovic.org.au, or stay in touch via Facebook and Twitter.
Parks’ barmy Barmah survey Nick Roberts Riverside Rescue Coordinator
P
arks Victoria is running a survey on the social and heritage values of feral horses in Barmah National Park, a wetland of international significance recognised under the Ramsar Treaty. The survey is preposterous, given that it is a long-established fact that hooved animals such as cows and horses cause significant damage to sensitive wetlands and riverine environments. Only recently Victoria handed back hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Federal Government that was supposed to be used to control feral horses in Barmah. To date, not one
It’s time to remove feral horses from the Barmah National Park.
horse has been removed since the park was established. The survey on the values of a feral species in a national park is a complete waste of time, resources and people power at a time when Parks Victoria staff numbers are being cut to the bone. Not only do feral horses in Barmah cause environmental degradation, but they also damage Aboriginal cultural
FORESTS FOREVER
heritage sites on Yorta Yorta country. We encourage everyone who takes the survey to send a clear message to Parks Victoria and the Victorian Government that horses should be removed from the Barmah National Park without further delay. We don’t need surveys, we need action to remove horses from the park. To have your say take the survey at www.parks.vic.gov.au/barmahhorses
WHEN: April 18-21
EASTER ECOLOGY CAMP CAMP among Peppermint and Manna
Spotlight for wildlife.
Gums on East Gippsland’s Brodribb River.
Explore ancient and beautiful forests
6 – Nature’s Voice | No 19 | February 2014
with expert biologists.
TICKETS: To book your spot at this wonderful Victorian National Parks Association 4-day event visit forestsforever.vnpa.org.au
The nationally endangered Swift Parrot (left) is a regular visitor to Victoria’s Box Ironbark forests from March to September, as is the Whitebellied Cuckoo-shrike. Photos: Chris Tzaros
Crunch time for Wellsford Forest P
lans to log an area of the Wellsford Forest that contains some of the last pre-European Ironbark trees remaining on public land in the Bendigo region have prompted a call to action by the Bendigo and District Environment Council. “To our knowledge there are nine of these ancient trees, and we believe they are too valuable for any logging activities to take place in their vicinity,” says the council’s convenor Stuart Fraser. “It would degrade the values of this beautiful part of the forest. It really needs to be protected now.” Firewood collection also threatens the forest, with unsupervised teams of contractors felling trees that provide habitat for many native animals. Last year they cut down trees on a gully
containing the endangered Ausfeld’s Wattle, completely destroying it. The council says the removal of large amounts of coarse woody debris from the forest floor, and the destruction of trees with hollows, reduces habitat complexity and creates an imbalance in the nutrient recycling function of forests. Many plant species suffer adverse impacts, including the wonderful Duck Orchid. The Wellsford State Forest is the largest block of intact Box and Ironbark woodland open for logging in the Bendigo region. It comprises 6478 hectares wedged between the smaller but better protected Bendigo Regional Park, and the Sugarloaf Flora and Fauna Reserve. “It could be upgraded to a national park, and help provide vital habitat links
from Bendigo’s parks to the Campaspe River wildlife corridor, creating a significant block of continuous protected woodland in Central Victoria,” Mr Fraser says. “It would be the backbone of any Central Victorian Biolink, and of great economic value to the community.” The Wellsford Forest was a centre for the Swift Parrot Recovery Team, and is home to Sugar Gliders, Yellowfooted Antechinus, and the endangered Brush-tailed Phascogale. In spring the visitor is treated to a vibrant array of bird species, carpets of wildflowers and a plethora of sites of historical and cultural interest. The campaign meeting to help protect the Wellsford Forest will be held on Thursday 6 February. To RSVP email radsley@bigpond.com
✓ Yes! I want to support the VNPA with a tax deductible gift. I would like to make a regular financial contribution to provide VNPA with secure funding for critically important conservation work. I’d like to give: $50 per month $20 per month $............. a month Regular financial contributions are managed by credit card or direct debit only, with debit made on the 28th of each month. You will receive a tax receipt at the end of each financial year, and can stop or change your donations at any time. One-off Donation - I’d like to give a one-off tax-deductible donation of $................
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Bank/Branch (BSB#) ........................... Account number ................................................................ Account holder(s) name ........................................................ Signature .......................................... Nature’s Donations $2| are tax-deductible. www.vnpa.org.au Voice |over No 19 February 2014 – 7 2/13 Please post or fax with payment to VNPA, Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053 OR you phone us on 03 9347 5188, fax 03 9347 5199.
OUT AND ABOUT Bushwalking and Activities Bushwalking
Kookaburra Awards now open
It’s a new year and there’s a great range of BWAG activities coming up. Refer to the BWAG Program for other activities.
Parks Victoria is calling for nominations for the 2014 Kookaburra Awards. Individual and group volunteers who contribute their time and expertise across the Parks Victoria estate are eligible for nomination.
February 16: Walk, Talk & Gawk – Williamstown Historical Walk
Winners will be announced at special events to be held during National Volunteer Week in May 2014.
Join Graham Patterson, author of a new Port Phillip Bay walking guide, on a 2-hour walk around historic Williamstown. Lunch at a pub or park. Limit 14. 5km W Melb.
Nominations close Friday 14 March 2014.
Grade: easy, 5km. Contact the VNPA on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au March 2: Ride – Preston to Williamstown Starts at the Merri Creek Trail in Preston and takes the Yarra Trail into the city, heading to the Westgate Bridge punt and crossing to Williamstown for lunch. Then back to Flinders St Station. Mainly off-road. Limit 12. 15km N Melb. Grade: medium, 50km. Contact the VNPA office on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au
Excursions February 15: Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads A seaside and cliff top walk with stunning
For more info and nomination forms visit: www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/get-involved/volunteer/kookaburra
views at these two coastal resorts. Limit 57. 100km SW Melb. Grade: easy, 5km.
Contact: VNPA 03 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au
Contact the VNPA office on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au
February 12: Backpacking Light Backpacking Light store will give a talk on Ultra Light clothing and equipment, with some items for sale on the night.
March 15: Mount Worth Join Geoff Durham at Mt Worth State Park near Warragul. Ferns, tall trees and a rainforest walk. Visit Drouin Farmer’s Market. Limit 57. 125km SE Melb.
One of our experienced members will show how and what to pack in an overnight backpack.
Grade: easy, 5km. Contact us on 9347 5188 or email vnpa@vnpa.org.au
There will also be a fundraising sale of members’ unwanted and pre-loved equipment and clothing, plus books and more!
BWAG SOCIAL NIGHTS Doors for BWAG social nights open from 7pm at 60 Leicester St, Carlton. Presentations start at 8pm. BWAG will provide wine, tea and coffee for a gold coin donation.
March 12: Short history of VNPA Associate Professor Don Garden, author of Conservation Journeys, a short history of the VNPA, will speak about this new book commissioned by the VNPA.
Friends network now on the VNPA website T he closure of the State Library’s free Vicnet website service at the end of January almost left the Victorian Environment Friends Network without an internet presence. But thankfully we have managed to
If undelivered – return to Victorian National Parks Association Level 3, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton 3053
move the network’s pages to the VNPA website, and you can now find them at friendsnetwork.vnpa.org.au. ‘Friends’ are groups of people interested in the hands-on aspect of nature conservation and usually form
around a nature reserve, threatened native plant or animal species. Vicnet had hosted 5000 community group sites. To find out more and get involved visit friendsnetwork.vnpa.org.au
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