SPRING 2011 NEWSLETTER

 

Welcome to the Spring 2011 Newsletter. As this will be my last newsletter as Group Leader, I’d like to start off by taking the opportunity to thank some of our members for their most valuable contributions over my term as Leader. Firstly, I like to recognise the efforts of our Treasurer Nick Glover, who has contributed significant amounts of time to make sure our group remains financially viable. Financial management is not a glamorous topic by any means, so next time you see Nick, please thank him for all his outstanding work in keeping our group strong. We look forward to having Nick on as our Treasurer into the next term.

The WCLG Committee as a whole has done a fantastic job keeping the group ticking over. I’d like to thank Deputy Leader Lisette Mill for her great ideas and enduring passion; Secretary Trish Corbett for her wise insights, invaluable good sense and open ear; and ‘all-rounder’ Brendan McDonald for cheerily taking on any task asked of him – even if that means accepting the dubious role of ‘Penguin Suit Coordinator’! Ann Park’s efforts in providing spectacular catering and weeding services have been a God-send at many events, while the enthusiasm of new member Michael Kokeman (sorry Michael I know I’ve spelt it wrong) has been a breath of fresh air for me and for the group.

Penguin Monitoring Team members John Sutherland and Chris Drummond have probably put in more volunteer hours for Coastcare than anyone knows. This project was instrumental in helping us achieve the 2010 Australian Coastcare Award and enjoys ongoing success thanks to this amazing team. Chris may not be well known to many members but he has put in a huge number of hours as Assistant Penguin Monitoring Coordinator, while John has been contributing his expertise and wisdom to the group for many years (as well as making me look bad by turning up at events far too early!). And Marty Gent has always been a good source of ideas and help for all our projects.

Finally, I’d like to thank Kate McInnes for her outstanding and ongoing support of our group, not just in her role as WCC Environment Coordinator but also as an invaluable member who has always gone above and beyond the call of duty. This extends to the WCC Environmental Planner Ian Fitzgibbon, as well as the Environment Team consisting of Paul Hartrick, Justin Harzemeyer and Rachel Harrison. WCLG is fortunate to have a strong working relationship with WCC, as not all community groups can boast such a high level of support from their local Council. Our partnerships with WCC in the Middle Island Maremma Project, Harris On Merri Revegetation, National Tree Day, and a host of other events and projects, have contributed to WCLG becoming the strong community group it is today. We look forward to continuing this partnership into the future.

 

SPEAKING OF VALUED PARTNERSHIPS . . .

One partnership that does not look likely to continue into the future is that with the Coastcare Victoria program. Since our group’s formation in 1995, we have enjoyed a fantastic relationship with our local DSE Coast Action/Coastcare Facilitator, initially with the late and great John Amor and then with current Facilitator Marty Gent.

Indeed, John played an instrumental role in the birth of our group, by working with our dearly missed former Leader Don McTaggart to create the group when Don first arrived in Warrnambool. Following the loss of John in January 2010, long-time WCLG member Marty Gent took the reigns as Far South West Facilitator to continue John’s work in supporting Coastcare groups to carry out their conservation projects on the south-west coast.

The strength of our group can be attributed in no small part to the work of Coastcare Facilitators John and Marty in helping us secure funding, providing technical advice, supplying equipment and materials, and helping us navigate the administrative and bureaucratic complexities of running a community group. We owe many of our achievements to the support provided by the DSE Coastcare program; however – we have received confirmation that there will no longer be a full-time Coastcare Facilitator in the Far South West as of November 2011.

We became aware of this development some weeks ago not through consultation by DSE or the State or Federal Governments but through the local volunteer grapevine. After several volunteers bringing the matter to the attention of State Ministers Denis Napthine and Ryan Smith (Minister for Environment and Climate Change), we have finally received official notification and clarification after several weeks of silence on the issue.

On September 22nd, I wrote to Ministers Napthine and Smith to outline our concerns about the future of the position and asked for answers to the following questions –

  • Will coastal conservation groups in the Far South West have access to a full-time Coastcare Facilitator following the end of Ms Gent's contract in October 2011?
  • If not, is this move part of a broader policy shift in which the Baillieu Government's support for Coastcare groups will be degraded across the State?
  • If it is not part of a broader policy shift, why is it that Coastcare groups in the Geelong and Far South West regions have copped a significant blow to their capacity to complete important conservation works when other groups around the State continue to have access to the administrative and technical support of a Facilitator?
  • And finally - when will the Baillieu Government consult with the coastal volunteers of Victoria to explain what is going to happen to our groups and our projects?

I received a response some weeks later on October 6th from DSE’s South West Regional Director Laurie Dwyer (included below). Mr Dwyer stated that the Federal Government currently fund part of the position but that Federal funding will cease as of June 2012. It appears than in response to this, Victoria’s DSE have withdrawn their own proportion of the funding for the position – at least in Warrnambool and Geelong.

DSE have apparently resolved to respond to the withdrawal of Federal funding by not renewing Marty Gent’s contract as Coastcare Facilitator and instead creating a new Environmental Planner position which will assess planning applications most of the time and administer the Federal Government’s Coastal Community Grants some of the time. However, as Federal funding for the coastal community grants component will run out in June 2012, it appears that there will be no dedicated support for Coastcare groups in south-west Victoria at all as of June 2012.

 While Denis Napthine has given assurance in several media reports that this is a simple name change that will not impact upon the level of support provided to Coastcare groups, it is bleedingly obvious that a planner will not give the same level of priority to facilitating the work of community groups as they will to assessing big planning applications. Any attempt to placate us by arguing otherwise is a transparent platitude.

This all comes just a few months after the Victorian Government signed off on the new Coastcare Victoria Strategy 2011 – 2015, which aims to “strengthen community groups, support community participation in coastal management and broaden community engagement in coastal issues’. A fine list of buzz-words indeed.

It is unclear how the State Government plans to fulfill these aims without providing local support to Coastcare groups who are already trying to achieve all of these things. After 16 successful years of partnership with the Coast Action/Coastcare Program, it is disappointing to discover that DSE and the State and Federal Governments are happy to let our group go it alone in trying to protect the environment on coastal Crown land.

Please contact me if you would like to add your voice to those of us who are concerned about this disappointing development.

 

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LANDCARE FACILIATORS INTIATIVE

Related to that is our bid to submit a tender for the Victorian Government’s Landcare Facilitator funding pool. The Coalition Government has recently announced funding for 60 part-time Landcare Facilitator positions around the State, which community groups can submit an application for which is then assessed by DSE and CMAs through a competitive tender process. So while it seems that we will no longer have access to a dedicated Coastcare Facilitator, we have the opportunity to compete with every other conservation group in Victoria for access to facilitation services that were once guaranteed for south-west conservation groups. At the moment, this appears to be our only chance to secure facilitation services into the future.

At our meeting on October 4th, the group supported the idea of submitting a tender for a WCLG Facilitator one day a week to help us administer, coordinate and deliver our projects. The group also supported the idea of potentially partnering with MAD for The Merri to put in a consortium bid for a joint WCLG/MAD Facilitator who would potentially be based at Warrnambool City Council. This represents an exciting opportunity to secure support into the future to alleviate the workload on Committee members and volunteers. Applications close 23rd October. We will announce the outcome when notified. 

 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT . . . . PENGUINS!

Every year it seems those Middle Island penguins are keeping us on our toes and this year is no exception. Chris Drummond and Trish Corbett recently trekked over to the island in horrid weather to get an update on the number of penguins travelling back to the island for the breeding season. A quick investigation turned up 14 new chicks, which means we have at least 28 adults utilising the island as breeding habitat. This of course means that we will soon have to start up our penguin monitoring program for the season ahead.

The Penguin Monitoring Program will be undergoing a few changes this year. Firstly, I will eventually be stepping back from coordinator duties and handing the reigns over to some young and upcoming talents. Chris Drummond will be continuing to look after the breeding monitoring and hands-on components of the project as he has for many years.

We have applied to the Federal Government’s GVESHO Program (Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Heritage Organisations) to secure $15,000 funding for two Penguin Monitoring Coordinator positions. The plan is to employ one 0.25 EFT position for six months of the year to look after the breeding monitoring and practical components of the program; and one 0.4 EFT position for six months of the year to direct the whole project which will include coordinating the arrival monitoring program, managing volunteers, liaising with media and project partners, collating and analysing results, managing datasets, reporting to the Middle Island Steering Committee and Phillip Island, and securing ongoing funding for the project.

These position descriptions are a direct reflection of the work that volunteers have been doing on the project for many years. It is envisaged that the funding will be used to employ a contractor to replace me as Program Coordinator and also to provide remuneration to Chris for his ongoing contribution to the project.

We are still waiting for grant approvals to be announced but until then Chris and I will make a start on getting the program organised for the season ahead. In the meantime, a Memoranda of Understanding will be drafted between WCLG and Chris to set in place an agreement to back-pay Chris for his hours, conditional upon us successfully securing the funding. If we don’t receive the funding, Chris will contribute what time he can as a volunteer and we will continue to try to deliver this program with the limited resources we have. Contact me if you have any concerns with this arrangement.

 

HARRIS ON MERRI REVEGETATION

Our Harris On Merri Spring Planting Day was very productive, with 400 trees and understory plants put in the ground and 30 volunteers attending. We also managed to lay down 10m3 of mulch to deter weed growth and completed extensive weed removal. This work complements the work of contractors who have been spraying and slashing the site to keep the weeds down. Plants were graciously funded by Basalt to Bay Landcare Network and Karingal Community Living, who also made a great contribution to sharing the workload, while Pronto Fine Food Merchants provided discounted cappuccinos and bikkies at minute’s notice. Many thanks to Warrnambool City Council, Basalt to Bay, Karingal and Pronto for their support.

We also had a follow-up maintenance day a few weeks later to put some more plants in and spread a little more mulch. Well done to the dedicated volunteers who helped out in some less-than-ideal weather, and to Ann Park for supplying delicious pikelets! Contractors will now continue to maintain the site until our next maintenance day.

 

CAPACITY BUILDING BUS TRIP

Last year’s Lava Flows Bus Trip was a great success, with participants travelling around the south-west to learn about the geology, history and ecology of the Victorian Volcanic Plains region. This year, our capacity-building bus trip will take us to Pallister’s Reserve at Orford! Pallister’s is a 254ha Trust For Nature Reserve which contains a wealth of rare and interesting indigenous flora and fauna. We are delighted to join with the Friends of Pallister’s Reserve for a tour of the reserve and a BBQ lunch on Sunday 27th November. Many thanks to Basalt to Bay’s Community Capacity Building grant for funding this event. Places are sure to run out fast so please contact me or the incoming Group Leader to book your place.

 

WARRNAMBOOL & DISTRICT SOCIETY FOR GROWING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS (SGAP)

Here is a little offering for those plant geeks among us. The Warrnambool & District SGAP group do great work promoting native plants in gardens and in public reserves. Renowned botanist Geoff Carr will be speaking at their February meeting, and they are always on the look-out for new members, so whether you have a garden or not, why not contact Kevin Sparrow at sparrows1@hotkey.net.au for more info.

 

Maam Water Reserve: It’s a little Gem – By Kevin Sparrow 

Often we think that many of our Crown land reserves are neglected and forgotten with weeds taking over and we think to ourselves, “Why doesn’t someone do something about it?”  I was in this position last year after having visited the Maam Water Reserve near Allansford many times to photograph plants for a future updated version of the book, Plants of the Great South West. It seemed that every time I visited the reserve, I would find something else of interest to photograph and add to the book. However I was becoming increasing concerned about a stand of introduced gorse that seemed to be marching on into the reserve and felt that something needed to be done.

I approached a DSE Regional Biodiversity Officer to see what could be done and was told that DSE didn’t have funds available but that she was happy to travel out to the reserve with me to have a look. She obviously was concerned as well as she suggested that there might be Federal Government funding available for wetlands through the Glenelg Hopkins CMA and that maybe I could apply for a grant to get rid of the gorse!  Maybe I could. As no one else was likely to do it maybe I should!

An early obstacle was working out who was actually responsible for the reserve, eventually it worked out with the wetland part coming under DSE control and the old gun club site adjacent left for Warrnambool City Council to decide its future.

The DSE officer arranged for a quote from a local contractor for the removal of the Gorse and also a quote from a botanist to carry out a flora survey and provide recommendations for the reserve’s management. And if you have money for a botanist, you may as well get the best. A full quote from Geoff Carr from Ecology Australia was obtained. With assistance and encouragement from the CMA, I was able to apply for funding from the Federal Governments ‘Caring for our Country’ Initiative and in no time had funds in the bank. A condition of the funding was that there had to be some community education and consultation, so I arranged publicity through local media and a poster letter-drop and mail-out to local residents and interested people. I also arranged through the local Tafe for a routed sign to be made and for a community get-together on site in November to inspect the reserve. Tim Bligh arranged for the gorse to be mulched where it stood and he has been out a few times since to spot spray any regrowth or germination as there is likely to be some for a number of years to come. Other woody weeds such as Hawthorn and Briar Rose were also sprayed or removed.

I met Geoff Carr on site in early December and spent an entire day following him around the reserve, madly writing down the plant names of those “dunno” plants so that I could remember them later. I remember Geoff at one stage being very excited by a discovery of a ranunculus species that he had never seen before. Now that I have Geoff’s final report, he has been able to ID it as Ranunculus amplus with a Conservation Status of “Critically Endangered”. Similarly a mint plant that keys out to be Mentha diemenica could with further study, prove to be a new and different plant altogether, also endangered.

Another plant that needs further work is Villarsia reniformis, Geoff has named the Marsh Flower recorded at the Maam as Villarsia sp. aff reniformis, meaning that it is closely related to V. reniformis but could with further study be classified as a separate species. Unlike V. reniformis which occurs in shallow permanent water, this one occurs in the outer swamp edge habitat that dries out completely in summer and it is even found in grassland. Also its habit is upright, i.e.: without the definitive stolons or runners of V. reniformis”. Geoff advised that “It is highly probable that this is (i) an undescribed taxon and (ii) that it is endemic in the Victorian Volcanic Bioregion, and (iii) that it is endangered. The population at Maam is a large and important one.”

These are but three examples of many of the significant species recorded by Geoff Carr at the Maam Reserve. All up, “a total of 196 plant taxa was recorded in the study area of which 111 (56%) are indigenous and 85 (44%) are naturalised exotics” (weeds). Geoff was pleasantly surprised about the occurrence of the critically endangered orchid Prasophyllum viretrum (Basalt Leek Orchid) given the level of weediness of the grasslands. This orchid is listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and only known from around seven locations, the site at the Maam being one of the largest.  Of the 111 indigenous species recorded, some 44 are regarded as significant at National or Victorian state level or because they are rare or threatened in the Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregion.

So if you know of a reserve which is looking unloved and has dropped off the radar in recent years, don’t think that you can’t do something about it, you could, because I did. There are sources of funding, information and expertise out there; often all that is needed is a community group with a particular interest to take the initiative. Although one person might drive things, an incorporated umbrella group is needed to get funding and to cover insurance etc. The Australian Plant Society (SGAP) with its experienced and knowledgeable members is an ideal group capable of carrying out this role.

The Warrnambool & District Society for Growing Australian Plants has organised another on-site inspection of the Maam Water Reserve at Allansford for Saturday 29th October at 1.00pm. This will be followed by an inspection of the Tozer Reserve in Wangoom Road, Warrnambool at 3.00pm. All visitors are welcome to attend, bring waterproof boots as the Maam Reserve is a wetland. (Reference: Ecology Australia Pty Ltd, Maam Reserve, Allansford: Vegetation and Management 2011).