Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Website of the Friends Group – Information about working bees and monitoring projects. As well as flora and fauna pictures and descriptions

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Tarra Bulga

Member of Friends of Tarra Bulga National Park.

Fungi Time and Sycamore Maples

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We had our annual “Maple Pull” at a site along the Tarra Valley Rd yesterday. The fact that we had only a small crew turnout was OK because thanks to our consistent efforts we have got to the point where the task is mainly a search mission, when we first started out we were pulling hundreds of seedlings. Yesterday after tramping around the area we managed to find and either hand pull or cut and paint forty seven young Sycamore Maple, as well as prising out some Blackberry seedlings and the odd stray bit of Ivy. The Maple is being controlled, but we still have issues with Tutsan at this site, and that will be a future war, that we may one day have the energy to take on but it will be much harder to win.

While wandering around in search of Maple it was a good chance marvel at the fresh new Fungi blooms. They are a real feature at this time of the year and thanks to consistent rain to date in Autumn, it should be a bumper season for Fungi spotters. After the work, we looked after the workers (a tradition at Friends of Tarra-Bulga) and headed down to the Fernholme Caravan Park where David provided us with toasties, hot coffee and freshly baked banana cake. We were joined at the table by a Lewin’s Honeyeater. A great way to refresh after spending the morning out in the dripping wet forest.

Coral Fungi
Stereum ostrea – Golden Curtain Crust
Stereum ostrea – Golden Curtain Crust

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The Expansion of the Park Over Time

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The reservation of Tarra Bulga National Park began as two separate Rainforest parks over 100 years ago, (Bulga Park and the Tarra Valley). Thanks to the foresight of a few enlightened folk these magnificent areas were spared from the almost complete removal of the towering forests that once dominated the Strzelecki Ranges. From tiny beginnings the Park has grown and although much of the area, that has been added to the park was significantly degraded, the park will continue to recover and become even more of a magnificent nature asset in the future. The two parks were first joined in name as Tarra-Bulga National Park in 1986. In 2001 the park boundaries were increased and at last the two sections were physically joined.

Silver Wattle Babies

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Interesting mass germination of Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) recently. The ground in some parts is covered in a carpet with literally thousands of them.

Before they can sprout Wattles usually need a fire to melt their waxy seed coat.  No recent fires on these sites though so my theory is Cockatoos and Rosellas are doing the seed treatment by dropping partially chewed seeds from the trees while feeding. (I am open to other suggestions)

Mass Silver Wattle Germination.
Mass Silver Wattle Germination.

Lyrebirds are pretty active at the site and no doubt will scratch the vast majority of the new seedlings out of existence.

Camera Site Greatly Exceeds Expectations

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In February we placed a camera in a new site along the Grand Ridge Rd, in vegetation that was not typical old growth Mountain Ash forest, but rather sad looking regrowth scrub. As a result we didn’t have high expectations as to what fauna we’d find in this habitat. Surprisingly though it’s a very popular spot, especially with ground dwelling birds (must be lots of food) and we obtained some fantastic images. All up the camera was triggered on 165 separate occasions, see the table below for more details)

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Species Sightings  

Species

 Sightings
Brush Bronzewing 36   Fox 3
Superb Lyrebird 22   Swamp Wallaby 2
White-browed Scrubwren 20   Echidna 2
Bassian Thrush 16   Koala 2
Pilotbird 13   Common Blackbird 2
Eastern Whipbird 7   Brushtail Possum 1
Superb Fairy-wren 7   Rufous Fantail 1
Wombat 4    
  • In addition there were 26 birds that triggered the camera not able to be identified from the image quality to species level.
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2014 Maple Murder

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Do you hate weeds invading National Parks?

Are you willing to go clambering through dense under-growth to search and then destroy them?

Are you available on Saturday April the 5th?

If you answered yes to all of the above please come along to our Annual Maple Murder!
Maples Be Gone
Maples Be Gone
Meet at 9.30 am at the Tarra Valley Carpark.
  • Bring Gloves. and a drink.
  • A BBQ lunch will probably be provided but still to be confirmed (We will let you know ASAP)

Phone David on 0488 035 314 or email: friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com to register or to obtain further details.

 

Sycamore Maple Reveg Site – Progress Report March 2014

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Took the trek in to check on the progress of this site recently. Part of our strategy against Wallaby predation, as well as using big guards, had been to plant Mountain Ash among some of the large dead Sycamore Maple that had been fallen at the site. Initially it had seemed that this plan had worked a treat, but we had underestimated the Wallabies and last time I visited the site (6 months ago) the pesky Macropods had pretty much munched all of the carefully placed plants; all but confirming that our conventional method of using big wire mesh tree guards is the only way to beat these beasts.

Even species that were meant to be Wallabies least preferred food such as Olearia lirata (Snowy Daisy-bush) were being heavily chewed.

On this visit things were actually looking a little better and it seemed that there had been some recovery of planted tubestock; although the ones not properly guarded were not much bigger than when they were planted over 18 months ago.

The Sycamore Maple which had once completely covered the 2ha site is also not giving up without a fight. A clamber around the site revealed many seedlings emerging and we as a group will focus on removing them before they become large feral trees. On the plus side there is mass natural regeneration of native understorey occurring with an impressive diversity of species, including plenty of Wattles; that have germinated without the aid of fire. The Maple logs that we left in-situ have been a massive bonus because the micro-climate they created has been perfect for fern regeneration, which is happening all over the site.  The logs are breaking down quickly now with a variety of Fungi helping the process. We will have another planting day later in the year on this site (using  the big Wallaby guards) so keep a look out for it if you are keen to lend a hand.

Overall view of site, showing the mass regeneration of shrubby understorey.
Hiding among the undergrowth a planted Mountain Asf
Snowy Daisy-bush showing the impact of Wallaby grazing.
New Sycamore Maple Seedling emerging.
Rainbow Fungus – Trametes versicolor aiding the decay of the Maple logs.
Logs left on the site aiding fern regeneration
Another log microhabitat providing a great site for fern regeneration.
Prickly Coprosma full of red berries
Lots of Kangaroo Apple with ripe fruit at the site.
Naturally Regenerated Tree Lomatia
Pine Tree that should have been dead by now.
No shortage of Sycamore Maple on site to be found and exterminated.

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Another Fire Recovery Sequence

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Yesterday we had our biannual photo-monitoring session, so this one is very up to date. We got on to this site a bit late (over a year after the fire) but we were intrigued with the mass regeneration of Eucalyptus seedlings (probably Mountain Ash) on the site and figured it would be good to record what happens to them over time.  You can see in the early photos the shape of the slope, the dead trees and the mass of green that is the newly germinated plants. Now the shrubs in the foreground have grown and blocked our view, which seems to be a common issue with photo-monitoring but we will still keep tabs on the site and its future development.

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