RIVERLAND CONSERVATION SOCIETY

PO BOX 246 IVANHOE 3079

President: John Merory 94996737, Treasurer: Roger Dowell 94992742, Secretaries: Di Kraal & Richard Nash, Committee members: Mark Watson, Garry Griffin, David Barr, Betty Hill

Autumn 2004 Newsletter

Greetings to RCS members, planters and readers. We have an interesting year ahead of us. We have a grant to revegetate an area in Yarra Flats between the main trail and the Boulevard. We shall be planting a mixture of mid and lower storey plants in a concentrated area to suppress weed growth.

The dates are the first Sunday of the month. We usually start in May but because it has been too dry this year we start in June and continue to October. We shall have Cam Beardsell attending in June to talk to us about the plans for the year and answer questions. Cam is one of our best known naturalists in Melbourne. He did the NEROC study for the northeast councils and spent a lot of time on our area studying the wetlands. He is now working with Parks Vic in the Yarra Parks. He hit the ground running and has been working very hard the last few weeks. By our June planting he will have the ground preparation complete.

The RCS committee toured the proposed planting area with Cam, and the chief ranger Rick Young a few weeks ago. Garry Griffin gave Cam some historical information about the exotic plantings that would be of heritage including the African Acacias. Unfortunately since then some have been destroyed.

The dates are Sunday June 6, July 4, August 1, September 5 and October 3, 10am to 12 noon, in Yarra Flats Park, entering along the Main Yarra Trail south of its intersection with the main drive off the Boulevard (Mel 32 C6-B7) and follow the signs. Alternative access is along the Main Yarra Trail traveling north from Burke Rd. The closest train station is Heidelberg- from the station go down Yarra St to Dora St, turn right and cross Banksia St into the Boulevard, then left into the Yarra Park drive.

Have you visited our web page http://home.vicnet.net.au/~rivercon ? It is a work in progress. Please give us your comments.

A group of Swinburne students have adopted RCS as a project. They are initially looking at ways of promoting RCS through advertising, leaflets and community action. We shall be meeting with them soon to discuss how to bring RCS to the attention of people who may be interested in our work.

PTO for the president’s report from the AGM.

Subscriptions are due. Against all trends we have held the amount for individuals and families at $10 for several years.

Name(s):

Address:

Telephone: Email

Post to the secretary, PO Box 246, Ivanhoe 3079

RIVERLANDS CONSERVATION SOCIETY 2003 AGM

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

It has been an eventful year for local conservation. Plantings, bats, contentious track issues, the demise of MYSAC and the disappearance of staff and funds for the Yarra Valley Parks are just some of the events that have occupied my spare time.

Plantings have finished for the year. We may go back to some sites to see how much survived, and to clear away weeds from plants that may be struggling. Our main focus was the Annulus Billabong in Yarra Flats. We planted in several small patches from where weeds had been cleared. The ground preparation was a big disappointment, and the Parks staff at the plantings often did not know where to plant. I have gone back to have a preliminary look at some of our plantings and have found a low survival rate. We have a grant for next year to plant 3000 trees in between the Yarra Trail and the Boulevard paddocks and hopefully this will be better organised.

The bats are still not using the Ivanhoe roosting site in any numbers, but this may change as they are being dislodged from camps closer to the city. I found the staff responsible for the bat project rather defensive when I suggested that they do not have the evidence that caged bats attract a camp to form. I had suggested the experiment that a cage of bats be inserted into an existing camp to see whether it causes the camp to change. I predicted that bats in cages give bad vibes to the free bats, and that they would discourage the free bats from hanging around. The bat staff did not want to hear! They claimed that it would be too expensive to mount the experiment- but it would be only a fraction of the cost of the present Ivanhoe project.

The controversy over shared paths in the strip parks Rivergum Walk and Creek Bend Reserve have taken up a lot of conservation group and Council time. Warringal Conservation Society complained about the lack of public consultation before the decision was made and money committed. There are problems trying to fit a 3 metre concrete path into a narrow strip park. However there seems to be no safe alternative for cycling North-South in that area, because of a failure on the part of Vic Roads to provide adequate on-road or next-to-road cycle paths in that region. A related issue is the proposed path through the Rosanna Parklands, whose plans have just recently been on display.

Friends of Wilson Reserve keep increasing in numbers, and can have up to 14 at their monthly working bee on the 3rd Sunday of the month. It is very encouraging to see the community response to Robert Bender’s efforts.

The Middle Yarra Strategic Advisory Committee has transformed into the Yarra Parklands Advisory Committee. I was chosen by the RCS committee to represent the RCS. It has not met yet and I do not know what has happened to it. We should make contingency plans if it dies or just becomes the lapdog of Parks Vic.

The Yarra Valley Parks are losing key staff, whose local knowledge will not be replaced. Bob Paterson, who has been in the Yarra Valley Parks for 23 years, is moving to Bairnsdale. Other longstanding local park staff have already moved on and these positions are not all being replaced. The weeds are out of control- there are several healthy new thickets of blackberries appearing. The area under the powerlines that were so savagely and unnecessarily cleared of all indigenous trees and bushes is now a massive weedscape. Rabbits are making a comeback, as I saw the other night cycling back from Westerfolds Park. On the same ride I had an encounter with a big Eastern Grey kangaroo standing at the side of the track. There is a mob of about 6 in Westerfolds according to Jo Nelson, and one may have a joey.

The recent storm has filled a number of wetlands that have been dry for 5 years. The ephemeral wetland in Chelsworth Park, part of the Banksia wetland in Yarra flats, the Horseshoe Billabong next to Ivanhoe golf course, Bolin Bolin and several smaller wetlands have water at last. But not Annulus in Yarra Flats where we planted this year, or the Banyule Billabong, which depend on river floods to fill, rather than flow from catchment.

The Society has reached a low point in its paid up membership. I must take some of the blame for this situation as I have not promoted the Society this year. I suggest that the Society attracts some new members through personal contact by committee members, and increases the annual subscription to $20. Maybe our web page which has just been launched will give us a higher profile.

Finally I want to thank the committee members and all the planters for their work this year, and my daughter Alexandra for the web page.

John Merory