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

Tag: Friends of Tarra Bulga

Tarra-Bulga Bioblitz

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It’s not too late to sign up for our Bio-blitz. This Saturday (February 5th) Where we will aim to record as many species of any lifeform (Insects, Birds, Plants, Fungi etc) we can find on the day. We will use the Citizen Science Website/App iNaturalist https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/ to log our findings. Conveniently the site already has a Tarra-Bulga National Park project set up that automatically records any sightings made within the Park. https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/…/tarra-bulga-national-park

As you can see it is well established already with 5.350 observations and 1,170 species recorded. We will aim to use a number of survey techniques to find as many species as possible. I think 200 species would be a good result for the day.

Anyway if you would like to join in we will kick off at 10am but you are welcome to come and go at any time. If the weather is suitable we will put up a light sheet in the evening which should attract a lot of night flying insect species. Registration is via ParkConnect https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au/Volunteer/public-planned-activity/?id=6768c4d9-446c-ec11-b820-0003ff6f999a

With iNaturalist you can download the App and upload sightings directly from a phone or you can upload any photos you take on a camera when you get back home and upload them via the website later on. If you don’t want to log your own sightings feel free to just come along and observe.

Do bring food for the day, as well as any cameras, binoculars etc that you would like to use. Contact 0488 035 314 for further information. 

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25th Anniversary Celebration

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To celebrate their 25th anniversary, the Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park are planning to hold a special function at the Ship Inn in Yarram, on November the 23rd.  They are hoping that as well as current volunteers getting together, former volunteers will also come along. For details about the upcoming anniversary event or if you would like to join the group and become a volunteer please contact David Akers on 0488 035 314 or email friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com

Invitation to our 25th Anniversary celebration
25th Anniversary Invite
Sycamore Maple Removal

First Working Bee for 2017

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Volunteer help is needed again on the first of our hands on work days for 2017. Environmental weeds are a menace and without extra help from passionate people they can quickly degrade precious habitats. On Saturday March 18th we will be continuing our ongoing efforts to keep Tutsan, Sycamore Maple, Blackberries and Ivy under control at a vulnerable site in the picturesque Tarra Valley.

No experience or prior knowledge necessary (help with weed id provided).

Meet at the Tarra Valley Picnic Area Car Park at 9.30am (finish at 12.30pm)

Tools provided (but you might like to bring along your own gloves.

For further details or to let us know you intend to come along contact us at friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com or phone David on 0488 035 314.

 

Cyathea australis - Rough tree-fern
Cyathea australis – Rough tree-fern, the broken of scaly frond bases (Stipes) on the upper part of the trunk of these ferns are a quick aid to their identification.

 

Tarra-Bulga National Park: A Work in Progress.

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Renowned for its stunning cool-temperate rainforest, luxuriant tree-ferns and towering Mountain Ash trees, Tarra-Bulga National Park is cherished by Gippslanders and enjoyed by visitors from all over the world.  The original separate small, but significant, Bulga and Tarra Valley Parks were reserved just over a century ago while the giant forests surrounding them were being laboriously hand cleared by selectors to turn into farms. Clearing this land turned out to be folly, the terrain, cold winters, bushfires, weeds and rabbits all contributed to the farmers giving up and walking away, leaving scrub and noxious weeds in their wake. Forestry and sawmilling in the area for timber and pulpwood also led to the loss of more of the original giant trees.

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Bulga Park Entrance Circa 1930

In recent years Tarra-Bulga National Park has expanded. New areas including abandoned farmland have been added with the goal of physically linking Tarra Valley and Bulga Parks as well as to reduce visitor pressure on significant sites, provide greater recreational opportunities and protect additional vegetation communities representative of the Strzelecki Ranges. It is recognised that Tarra-Bulga National Park has the potential to become even more spectacular and significant as cleared land is successfully regenerated.

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Monitoring past  work by the Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

To this end the Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park are seeking volunteers interested in helping with the regeneration process. The group holds occasional work days on weekends, undertaking activities such as planting over-storey trees and controlling noxious weeds. The next activity is scheduled for Saturday July the 23rd  30th and will focus on removing tree guards from successful new plantings. The meeting point will be at 9.30am at the Visitors Centre Car Park. For further details or to register your interest in helping out Friends of Tarra-Bulga with any of their activities email friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com  or phone 0488 035 314.

Planting Day – August 29th

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Friends of Tarra-Bulga are looking for volunteers to assist with a planting day on Saturday August the 29th.

The planting site is on a north facing slope along the Grand Ridge Rd, it had been originally successfully planted with Mountain Ash in the early 1990’s. Unfortunately the fires in 2009 killed them all and there was no natural regeneration of new overstorey because they had not yet started to flower and produce seed. This is the second year we have done planting at this site and with the aid of strong wire-mesh wallaby guards progress towards restoring the site is going fantastically well.

If you can’t make it along for the Saturday we do need volunteers to help make up tree guards before the event and may need to do some more planting later on if we don’t finish the job on the 29th, so let us know if you are available.

The meeting point on Saturday the 29th will be at the park visitors centre at 9.00am.

BYO: Lunch, Drinks, Gloves.

To register phone David on 0488 035 314

or email friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com

Planting Day 29-8-2015

Planting Day 29-8-2015

All hands on deck

August 2014 Planting Day Report

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With a willing crew of volunteers all set to go at 9am we loaded up the trailer, towed by the Rangers quad bike, with our diggers and sledgehammers and we were off. Car pooled down to the start of Diaper Tk and then enjoyed the downhill walk to our planting site.

Trusty crew of volunteers
Top class wallaby protection
All hands on deck
Tree guard installation
Carefully installing the mesh

Target for the day was to plant and guard 70 future forest giants. Doesn’t sound too difficult some might think for a crew of 7 volunteers (that’s just 10 plants each). Indeed actually planting the trees was not hard at all, getting the large wire mesh tree-guards into place and installed was a lot more challenging. By lunch time we figured we were more than halfway there, and with the help of Craig using his chainsaw to improve access to some sections of the site, we were able to get all the trees in the ground, well spaced and guarded by about 3pm. Note that we will need to do some improved path clearing if we go ahead as planned to put more trees into this site next year. With tired bodies, the uphill walk out seemed a lot longer than the walk in, it was highlighted however by the disturbance of a nesting Lyrebird who had chosen quite a vulnerable site to raise her egg, not far off the ground at the edge of the track. For, those that couldn’t make it and anyone keen to go again, we are having another planting at a different site on September the 6th.

A Planting Day for Those That Like a Challenge

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Big TreeFriends of Tarra-Bulga National Park have a number of project sites where they are aiming to convert several not so pristine areas of the park back to towering Mountain Ash Forest. On Saturday August the 9th they are holding a planting day along Diaper Tk where they’ve been restoring a 2ha site that was once over-run by 30m high Sycamore Maple trees.

The friends are keen for as many helpers are possible on the day but please note the task is a bit of a challenge and may not be for everyone. Access to the site is via 2.5km walk, which will probably be quite muddy at this time of year. Movement around the planting site itself is difficult, as it is covered in re-generating shrubs, ferns, logs and branches of what remains of the dead Sycamore Maple trees; there may also be the odd Leech.

In order to keep the newly planted Mountain Ash seedlings out of reach of hungry Swamp Wallabies, large wire mesh tree guards will be installed on the day.

So if all of the warnings found above hasn’t deterred you and you are keen to come along and plant a tree that may one day be an 80m tall giant please come along. The meeting spot will be at the Tarra-Bulga National Park visitors centre car park (Balook) at 9am.

To register or for further enquiries phone 0488 035 314 or email friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com (BYO lunch, Drinks etc.)

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