Rhiannon Stevens, a features reporter with ABC Rural, came out and shared some time with Steve Murphy and me at ImLal a couple of weeks ago. She's interested in positive stories about how we can reverse habitat decline. I arranged the interview as publicity for the new Second Edition of Recreating the Country. When her resulting well-presented digital article was put up online on August 23rd, Steve’s Recreating the Country website immediately started pinging with book orders; and that's even though the article only obliquely refers to the book. It seems that enough people are tech savvy and finding their way to him, so he’s not complaining! The lead image for her story is a large spreading gum, alone in a blazing yellow paddock of canola. Rhiannon told us she found the way into the story through highlighting the need to revegetate our landscapes in order to save the ubiquitous lone paddock trees from vanishing. She points out everyone has seen them when driving through the countryside and they're something with which most people can empathise. Read the article by Rhiannon Stevens on the ABC Rural website headed: Conservationist helps farmers protect 'paddock trees' and restore degraded land https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-23/revegetating-land-by-protecting-paddock-trees/104135760?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=mail&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web |
ABC Rural Features Reporter, Rhiannon Stevens, visits ImLal in search of a good news story23/8/2024
0 Comments
Fine but windy – still we saw 31 bird species as the resident birds started to dominate over the departing migrant species. Ornithologist lecturer from Federation University, Grant Palmer, led seven of us, with the numbers bolstered by a keen family of four – Gary Featherston's son, wife and two young daughters. Best views were of fantails and LBBs like thornbills and scrub wrens. A butcherbird topped a bare stag branch in the middle section usually dominated by noisy miners. None were sighted, nor were the eastern rosellas, galahs and only a few crimsons. Gorse has overwhelmed the west bank of the dam, so Gary and I had to clear a pathway through in the days prior. Grant has provided a fuller report, which you can read in the Monitoring menu – visit Bird surveys at ImLal This was one of the most enthusiastic student groups we've ever had. Lots of questions and even a volunteer for our next bird survey. One of the students asked if she could revisit – Roger is going to take that on. Another student suggested we explore boring holes into trees to make artificial hollows, which solves insulation problems.
Steve's animist game was taken up with gusto. It engages the students and the performers make a real attempt to channel their animal whether a pardelote or an antechinus. One 'lizard' chose a slow, Texan drawl. Forest Systems field trip organiser, Dr Antanas Spokevicius, has brought 30 Melbourne University students back yet again to our unique site in terms of planation models. Only ImLal prioritises biodiversity over economic and social values, he continues to assert.
Johann Van Der Merwe, the new GM of SUVO Minerals for its Victorian operations, welcomed the students at the gate. He is keen for us to look at ways of expanding beyond our 15ha to take up more of the 147ha kaolin mining buffer zone. Biorich site designer, Steve Murphy, added a dash of animism into his presentation. He even included some role playing where four students were called on to channel the 'wants' of a lizard, pardalote and antechinus, so the students might empathise with the needs of other than humans. The students seemed more engaged than they usually are, so it's a strategy worth pursuing. Lachie Park had some new props for explaining how he built the drop slab hut. As we completed our short tour of the site, one student remarked to me that if she was animal, she'd like to live at ImLal. Steve seems to have struck a chord. Antanas brought 20 students to ImLal as part of his annual Forest Systems Field Trip on 24 February, 2022. A few weeks later, 'Florry' Florentine from Federation University led his annual trip of land rehab and ecological restoration students to ImLal. Both remarked on how "unique" our site remains, marrying both conservation and production. We noted that three of the sequoia are now topping their guards! Lecturer, Antanas Spokevicius, brought another 31 students back to ImLal in March 20121. He said of last year's visit: "This was a real highlight for the class and they absolutely loved it. Some have even been inspired to undertake careers in forest management – I know of one students who is now on fire crew for the summer purely based on this experience."
This year the students were able to hear craftsman Lachie Park explain the process of building the 21C drop slab hut. He revealed how for him as a woodworker it had been a real eye-opener. "Most woodworkers are disconnected from the source of the wood they use. I've learnt the importance of provenance, of taking a more place-based approach." Some students were puzzled at the high-tech upgrades as though the approach ought to totally retrieve lost arts of the past. But this not a "hippy hut." As the '21C' in its title implies, this is a 21st century reframing of the traditional drop slab hut, making it fit-for-purpose for a more sustainable future. We now have two lots of students visiting ImLal from the University of Melbourne. Dr Antanas Spokevicius included ImLal on a Forest Systems field trip comparing different sorts of forestry management. Some 30 Forest Sciences students listened to Steve Murphy present on the design principles behind a biorich plantation on 27 February, 2020.
Over 20 students from Melbourne University's School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences heard differing viewpoints from Phil Kinghorn and Gib Wettenhall on high or low silviculture of the biorich plantings. Senior Research Fellow Dr Lauren Bennett said later: "There was lively discussion on the return bus about the various issues that were raised, including comments on how instructive it was to see the reality of restoration practices, and how enjoyable the visit had been overall." We just fled the hilltop in time as the wind rose and the rain fell. It was the day an extreme weather event caused massive outages in South Australia. Lauren concluded: "there were also comments on how well you (we) managed the weather (these admittedly made later as the rain set in)." MU hopes to repeat the visit in coming years. Some 40 Gordon TAFE students from Geelong visited the ImLal site in August. After background from Stephen Murphy, Phil Kinghorn handed out pruning tools so the Conservation and Land Management students could gain some practical experience of an essential silvicultural skill. And it proved good vigorous exercise for a typically cold winter's day at ImLal.
|
AuthorGib Wettenhall is interested in how we carry out large scale landscape restoration that involves the people who live in those landscapes. That, he believes, would build truly resilient landscapes. Categories
All
|