Nature group to host guest speaker

THE Friends of the Inverleigh Nature Conservation Reserve’s next meeting will feature a talk from a special guest with decades of botanical experience.

Later this month, botanist and author Leon Costermans will lead a free presentation on the geographical character of the area within a 40-kilometre radius of Inverleigh.

He said he hopes attendees come away from the talk with a greater appreciation on what makes the landscape shift.

“The talk is about the geology and influence on vegetation,” he said.

“We’ll cover the explanation and origin of areas like Brisbane Ranges down to the coast towards the Otways and west from there with the basalt plains.

“I want people who attend to have an appreciation for the diversity of the wider area around them. It’s really to understand the nature of the geology influences what those areas are and what grows on them.

“The Leigh River, for example, cuts deeply through the basalt and you see two layers of what’s underneath the basalt. It’s not just what we see on the surface.”

With a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Geomorphology, and a Masters in Botany, Costermans’ areas of interests grew out of bushwalking in Melbourne’s east.

His talk will be preceded by a visit from a Parks Victoria ranger who’ll update attendees about what the organisation is doing in the region.

Friends of the Inverleigh Nature Conservation Reserve president Keith Windle said Costermans’ appearance will be insightful.

“It’s really been the focus of his whole life, the bush and botany and geology,” Mr Windle said.

“We’ve had a number of responses from people who are coming to hear him just because they know about him and aren’t connected with our group.”

Costermans’ talk will take place just after the Friends of the Inverleigh Nature Conservation Reserve’s annual meeting at Teesdale Community Hall on Thursday, 25 May at 7pm.