Grant boost for bush biodiversity

THE Friends of Bannockburn Bush and Ballarat Environment Network have been given financial support to carry out biodiversity work in the Bannockburn Bushland Reserve.

Parks Victoria’s Volunteering Innovation Fund has provided $20,000 for the Training to Protect and Enhance Biodiversity in Grassy Eucalypt Woodlands project.

“The Bannockburn Bushland Reserve has large plantations of sugar gums which are managed for firewood, sawlogs, fencing, poles and construction materials,” said FOBB convenor Stuart McCallum.

“Planted in the late 1940s following strip mining for buckshot gravel, some coupes have already had two rotations of harvesting, coppicing, and regrowth.

“Unfortunately, there has also been invasion of sugar gum wildlings into the significant native vegetation areas of grassy eucalypt woodland and grassland.”

Members of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative men’s group are also part of the initiative.

“They have been helping us with our coppicing and firewood program for several years but have been restricted by the lack of equipment and training,” Mr McCallum said.

Coppicing is a pruning process where new shoots from the stumps of cut trees grow through into the next cycle.

“This grant will enable us to provide five volunteers with battery operated chainsaws, safety gear, training, a storage trailer, and a generator for battery charging on the spot,” Mr McCallum said.

“We are particularly pleased to be able to provide First Nations people with an opportunity to share knowledge, train, and work together on reconnecting with country.

“This project is a good start towards improving bushland management through Indigenous partnerships, and we are particularly grateful to the Parks Vic Volunteer Innovation Fund team for guiding us through the grant application process.”

Mr McCallum said invading sugar gums will be chopped down and cut up, with the wood sold or traded by FOBB as firewood.