December 2008

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Members and Friends

Greetings to all and welcome to the December edition of the NRPG newsletter.

I am pleased to advise that the NRPG website has been revamped and now available to all at it new dedicated address www.nrpg.org.au. I encourage everyone with internet access to view, review and provide feedback.

Committee members have been busy all year on a raft of issues. These include submissions to the Shire environmental budget, providing verbal submissions and written comment to government regarding the Western Power terminal proposal, the Kalamunda Local Biodiversity Strategy, the airport development, the brickworks development and hills development concerns.

NRPG also hosted an information evening with Guest speaker Beth Schultz in September, see article Page 2.

2009 is the 20^th year of the NRPG. While no plans for commemorating this achievement have been formulated, rest assured there will be some form of celebration. All ideas will be welcome.

New members are always welcome and anyone joining now will have their Membership extended to March 2010. See membership form and details on the back page.

If there are articles you’d like included in the next newsletter, or have changes for the web site, please contact me at murray@greenbase.com.au.

In the mean time, on behalf of your NRPG Committee, have a safe and happy festive season, and happy reading.

Murray Ryall 

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Nyoongar Season - Birak

By the time this newsletter is published, we will have moved into the dry and hot season of Birak. It is characterised by arid easterly or north-easterly winds in the morning and coastal sea breezes in the afternoon. While exotics require a lot of care and watering, our WA natives will survive the heat as long as they have been mulched early in December. Birak is an excellent time for birds and bees, as nectar and gum are produced by many plants.

While Birak is regarded as the burning season, residents are reminded that fire restrictions commenced on December 1^st and extend through to March next year.

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Why balgas should not be burnt

This is an extract from an article in Urban Bushland Council’s newsletter for Spring 2008 with permission from Phylis Robertson.

Balgas put on new growth from the centre of their tops and retain their dead leaves as thatch. This forms a safe microclimate for small animals including flies, beetles and spiders. These vertebrates provide food for lizards and birds. Blue fairy wrens are known to roost in balga tops at night whilst other small birds and animals including bandicoots build nests for themselves and their young in the shelter of dry leaves and skirts to rest in the dry and at night. It takes several years for a balga to build up a thatch.

Burning the top of balgas exposes the soil to wind and water erosion and drying out. Any animal that tries to shelter under a burnt balga is exposed to predation, especially ravens. Some balgas die after being burnt and when you consider that they are slow growing plants and they are vital microhabitats, this is a tragic loss to biodiversity.

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Beth Schultz from the Conservation Council gave a very interesting talk to NRPG members at the Library on the 9^th September. The topic related to fire management and covered facts, scientific evidence and opinion.

Over time, Australia has become hotter, drier and more flammable and the frequency of bushfires has increased. Plants and animals have evolved with these conditions but, since the arrival of Europeans, we have cleared much of the native vegetation and fragmented what is left.  We have made the environment more flammable logging forests and introducing weeds into bushland. We have lost most of the once common small animals such as the woylie who reduce fuel load by eating and burying it. A major Federal enquiry in 2005 suggested that to prevent losses from natural disasters it was important not to build fire-sensitive structures in high fire-risk areas.

Research by scientists at Australian universities and the North American Forest Services (2007) indicated that prescribed burning is less effective than claimed for reducing the area burnt in bushfires. The research indicated that the prevailing weather conditions, preventing fires from starting in the first place, and rapid suppression when they do start, are more important than prescribed burning. Prescribed burning makes forests and bush more flammable. It opens up forest canopies, dries out the understorey and promotes rapid and prolific growth of fire-loving plants. Land managers feel obliged to burn again.

Kings Park scientists say frequent fires have a disastrous effect on many flora and fauna. Native species needing long fire-free periods disappear from places burnt at short intervals. Fire kills animals that cannot escape. Those that can escape may lose their homes and food supply. eg Honey possums need 15-30 years before there are enough flowering plants for them to survive.

Recent research into prescribed burning by ANU shows that vegetation and soil in eucalyptus forests store far more carbon than previously estimated. Frequent burning reduces these stores and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Frequent burning adds to drought stress and threatens biodiversity. A different approach to mitigating and managing bushfires is required.

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Help Needed to Spot Lorikeets

Residents in all areas surrounding Perth are urged to keep watch for Rainbow Lorikeets.

The Rainbow Lorikeets are a declared pest species and actively and successfully compete with our local native species for food and habitat.

Anyone who sees a Rainbow Lorikeet outside the Perth Metropolitan area should report the sighting to the Department of Agriculture and Food's Pest and Disease Information service on freecall 1800 084 88.

For further information about Rainbow Lorikeets visit the web site at:          http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/content/pw/vp/bird/pn2006_rainbow_mmassam.pdf

This web site has a wealth of other useful information and is well worth a visit.

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Friends of Piesse Brook Open Day

The Friends of Piesse Brook held an open day on Sunday 5th October in the Kalamunda National Park. The day showcased their efforts over last seven years to eradicate weeds within the Piesse Brook area. The group has worked within the Kalamunda National Park, Shire of Kalamunda reserves and with landowners upstream along the Piesse Brook to restore biodiversity, improve water quality and increase native fauna habitat.

Participants included the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), the Swan River Trust, the Eastern Hills Catchment Management Programme (EHCMP) and the Perth Region NRM Inc. (formerly Swan Catchment Council). Officers from the Perth Hills DEC and the EHCMP were on hand to discuss weed management, volunteer and landcare activities.

The Friends Group display included before and after photos of their weeding projects; examples of weeds; weed spraying equipment and their tools trailer. Members of the Friends Group discussed their work and hosted a sausage sizzle and wildflower walk in the Kalamunda National Park.

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Phytophthora Dieback Promotion at Walk the Zig Zag

On Sunday the 8th of October the team from Environmental Services at the Shire of Kalamunda teamed up with the Nature Reserves Preservation Group (NRPG) and John Dell from the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), a resident expert in biological interactions between the faunal and floral worlds, to spread the word about how best to mitigate Phytophthora Dieback in our local natural areas.

Phytophthora Dieback is an introduced plant killing water mould that lives in soil and plant material. It has the potential to devastate the important natural heritage of not only the Shire of Kalamunda but has further implications for entire southwest of Australia through destroying vegetative communities and thereby reducing the unique habitats required for animal habitats. Phytophthora Dieback is predominantly transported through the actions of humans and can be transported from one location to the next upon the soles of hiking boots or the tyres of vehicles in soil particles or as part of plant material.

John Dell lead hourly expeditions into the bushland communities surrounding the historic Zig Zag walking route with Shire Officers on hand to promote the basic Clean on Entry / Clean on Exit principles of responsible bushwalking.

A Boot Cleaning Station, established at the rear of the Environmental Services marquee, proved a handy muster point for budding biologists and botanists to congregate around prior to setting off into the wilderness and added a valuable community education element to the experience.

The participants had their chosen pair of hoof couture given the industry best practice procedure of a spray and scrub treatment, which consisted of using a stiff bristled brush to remove excess soil particles from the soles of their shoes and followed up with a shot of 100% methylated spirits under their soles to sterilise them, upon entry into the bush. Upon their exit they were rounded up to ensure that the application was repeated in order for them to leave the site free from any pathogens.

Participants were encouraged to administer the treatment to each other in order to gain an appreciation for ease with which these simple measures can be implemented in the field and were encouraged to make the minimal investment in a dieback mitigation package consisting of a spray bottle, a brush and some methylated spirits.

Complimentary techniques can be invoked when bushwalking such as staying on marked tracks and trails and avoiding wet soil conditions to aid in halting the spread of Phytophthora Dieback.

Over the course of the day Shire Officers brushed, sprayed and then re-brushed and re-sprayed their way through 120 pairs of dirty hiking boots, sneakers and flip flops whilst promoting the benefits to the local environment by encouraging community members to become more Phytophthora Dieback Aware and empowering them with the appropriate tools to ensure that they will not be the agent responsible for the spread this ravaging pathogen.

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Greenpage

The EMRC publishes the Greenpage newsletter which provides valuable information for Shire residents. If you would like to receive the Greenpage by email please contact Sonya on mailto:sonya.stewart@emrc.org.auwith “Greenpage” in the subject heading and your contact details.

If you do not have email and would like to receive the Greenpage please contact Sonya by telephone on (08) 9424 2238.

You can also download it from the Shire web site at http://www.kalamunda.wa.gov.au/Information+For+You/Environment+And+Sustainability/Fact+Sheets/Default.htm

There several other very useful references on this web page.

A number of items, including the preceding article, have been drawn, with gratitude, from the latest edition of the GREENPAGE newsletter.

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NRPG Membership

Please remember that membership fees are due at each AGM, usually held in March each year.

Fees for individuals are $8.00 and families $15.00 inc GST). Please, please make sure your membership is renewed because it’s not the money that is so important as the MEMBERSHIP.

Why? In order to go into bat for the bushland, the NRPG needs to remain a credible, representative community organisation. We have managed to have a fully-paid up membership of around 100 in recent years, and we need to maintain that level. In fact, we outstrip almost every other local voluntary body in solid, official membership, and that’s why people do take notice.

Remember, you can send in your membership details (name, address, contact number, email address if you have one) along with a cheque to our postal address: PO Box 656 Kalamunda 6076, or pay in person at the AGM.

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If You Need Help…

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Volunteer Work Hours

Reminder to all Friends Groups to continue to write down your group’s work hours in a diary. This is important for later in the year when the Shire Environmental Reserves Officer will survey the groups for the total hours worked in the year; it will have a bearing on how much grant funding you can apply for if you choose to do so; as well as being important in case you ever need to show it for insurance purposes.

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