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The Great Victoria Desert (GVD) is a large area straddling the SA / WA border. The Friends of the Great Victoria Desert Parks is a volunteer group, formed in 1994. We are supported by staff of the South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The approval of the traditional owners of the area, the Maralinga Tjarutja people, is sought for all our field work. The GVD is an area of great biological diversity and the Friends group is becoming increasingly involved in recording and monitoring this. Our work to date has been conducted in and around the Mamungari (formerly the 'Unnamed') Conservation Park, the Tallaringa Conservation Park, the Yumbara Conservation Park, and the Yellabinna Regional Reserve.
While the field work in the desert is our main focus, we have also published a field guide to the vegetation of the GVD, Shrubs and Trees of the Great Victoria Desert, written by two of our members. The book was popular and a reprint has ensured that ample copies are now available from our sales manager. Other educational material produced by the Friends includes a regularly updated information sheet, an interpretative trail, this website and a bird list for Mamungari.
NEWS AND COMING EVENTS
2011 Field Trip
A very successful field trip was held in August 2011. Go to the Field Trip 2011 page for details.
As has been the case for the last few years, the Alinytjara Wilurara Natural Resources Management (AWNRM) Board provided substantial support for the 2011 field trip. A recent letter from the Board expresses appreciation of the work of the Friends.
BREAKING NEWS - WYOLA LAKE MALLEES
A new stand of the Wyola Lake mallee, Eucalyptus wyolensis, was found and photographed in June by the 2011 field trip advance party. This extremely rare eucalypt was previously only known in a small patch near Oak Valley. The new stand is further to the west, very near the Mamungari Conservation Park.
Additional data gathering was undertaken during the 2011 field trip to support this find, including a full vegetation plot survey at the new stand.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be at 7.30 pm on Friday 17 February 2012 at our new venue - Royal Lifesaving Society, 175 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Cowandilla SA 5033. Off road parking is available behind the building. All members and prospective members are welcome. The agenda will be available before the meeting in the member's area.
June Newsletter
Our June 2011 Newsletter is now available.
Friends of Parks takes further action on ranger staffing
The president of our umbrella organisation, Friends of Parks Inc (FOP), has written to the chief executive of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources stating that FOP "member groups are becoming increasingly disillusioned and even angry about the situation" following the South Australian Government's recent budget cuts. Click here to read the full letter. Click here to read the reply. While Friends of the GVD members will deplore the Government's cuts, please note that there is a reference in the reply to support to volunteers provided by the AWNRM Board. We understand that this is a reference to the excellent support received by our group as noted above.
Information Sheet
Our Information Sheet (500 KB .pdf file) provides brief information about the Friends to GVD travellers and prospective travellers. It includes up-to-date information for our interpretative trail along the Anne Beadell Highway and a membership application form. Please download and print this double-sided A4 sheet for your own use.
Friends of the GVD Pictures on the Web
For lots of pictures of Friends working in the desert, go to Friends of the GVD on Picasa Web Albums.
This Website
This website was established in December 2007. The most recent changes were made at about 9:00 pm SA time, on 21 July 2011.
Members (and anybody else) please email anything you think should be included to the amateur webmaster.
The Friends of the GVD thanks Vicnet for hosting this website.
This website's pages are written in XHTML 1.0 Strict code and their validity is checked regularly using the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) validation service.
