Mt Buffalo National Park Fires

[_e_]

Well, just when the phleb population looked like it was getting back on its feet, there are several major fires putting the mountain and its vegetation at risk.

Mt buffallo page

Vic fires page

Ive been on the phone but unable to contact anyone down that way. Most of them are probably out fighting the fires, or have been evacuated.

Maybe Passive Daemon or Pelinester can shed some light on the siutation.

Ill be doing some rain dancing and offerrings to the weather gods tonight.

heres hoping for the best.

[Pelinster]

First I have heard of it man, I know there have been a few fires around here, but there hasn't been any news coverage relating to fires in the Mt Buffalo area in specific. Hopefully that is a good sign and it isn't too bad..

I'm off to work now, but I will see what I can find out and report back later.

[PD.]

There has been smoke in the air for days here.

First i have heard of anything at buffalo was a call from Pel just a few minutes ago.

I am aware of fires all around the Whitfiled area and close valleys (prime psilocybe territory ) some of the best sub patches i know of will prolly be burnt. The valleys i did know were burning, with some under control are around whitfield only although some blazes had to be left to burn due to the terrain.

But fires near the phleb could be a mojor fuckin catastrophy. No real seed bank to speak of and small juvenilles on exposed ridges would go up quickly and easily. That would be the end of that chapter.

There is little wind here today so that will help the efforts, but the humidity i feel is from the thick layer of smoke and will not result in a single drop. I prayed for rainfall all winter and got little so i hope all that prayin gets answered very soon.

[PD.]

well judging from the fire maps i believe that the park will be fine.

There is alot of public and private land in the area west of the mountain where most of the fires are concentrated. This means farmland. Therefore the fires there will be hard fought and easier to control............. although a raging fire can be hard to stop regarless of its source of fuel and if the wind picks up it makes it harder still.

Fingers crossed.

[PD.]

just an update for those that are as worried as me......

Fire map

The conditions are fairly good weather wise, little wind and not so high temps but little head way is being made afaik

Most of the devestation has been in the Cheshunt area and alot of excellent sub patches i know have been burnt but the main concern are the fires at the edge of buffalo park. Once a fire gets into the park and starts climbing the mountain it will be hard to impossible to stop.

So please everyone pray or chant or purge or whatever the fuck does it for ya, just send lotsa positive energy that way, if the fires reach the ladies i fear they will be gone for good.

[PD.]

a little more info

Ovens complex. Two fires are going in this complex. Fires ran to the northwest with the change yesterday towards Lake Buffalo. The focus today is on asset protection requirements on Mount Buffalo and in the Buckland Valley. As noted above, the Edi Upper / Black Range has merged with the Black Range / Rose River fire. The resultant Ovens fire now encompasses more than 74,000 ha.

[Entheo]

whew boy its been a long time since Ive logged in.

Anyway according to todays news update,

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...f=6&t=12573

Cresta Lodge, in the heart of Mount Buffalo National Park, has been destroyed by fire.

DSE incident controller Rob Caddell said fire investigators were examining how the fire broke through containment lines and structural firefighters were being sent in to protect the park's chalet.

"We were doing a bit of burning around the lodge yesterday, so we had containment lines around it and didn't report any major activity in the area, now all of a sudden we've got a fire in the lodge and the crews we had up there weren't trained to deal with a structural fire," he said.

"Now we are putting in plans to put structural firefighters up at the chalet so we don't have another building going up that we can't deal with.

"We'll have to have a look at the control line that was put in to see how good that was."

The lodge at Cresta Valley consisted of the Cresta Day Visitor Centre, a restaurant and a motel, all of which have been lost.

All ski infrastructure including the five ski lifts and associated buildings are undamaged. The fire has been contained to the lodge area.

The DSE and CFA are continuing to monitor the situation, carrying out asset protection to ensure the remaining assets, including the Mount Buffalo Chalet, are protected.

The fire is burning at the southern end of the Mount Buffalo National Park and on the southern slopes adjacent to the Buffalo River and Buckland Valley.

The Bright-Tawonga Gap fire continues to burn strongly, with firefighting being hampered by the largely inaccessible terrain.

Parks Victoria chief executive Mark Stone said he was disappointed to hear of the loss.

Mr Stone said the lodge had provided a unique family environment that many families had enjoyed over several decades.

He said Parks Victoria would work with the tenant to review the operation after the fires were extinguished.

[PD.]

yeh, the lodge is gone. Bad news is, the fire is suspicious.

keep prayin ppl

[Adrian]

whew boy its been a long time since Ive logged in.

For me also.

{Quick hello to all, welcome back E.}

Kicking ourselves for not taking the opportunity to check if there was any seed drop.

They'll be okay.

Adrian

[_e_]

For me also.

{Quick hello to all, welcome back E.}

Kicking ourselves for not taking the opportunity to check if there was any seed drop.

They'll be okay.

Adrian

I think its a situation of 'if the fires too intense it will kill off the remainding mother plants', ' if the fire is not too intense it will clean diseased plants'.

all in all, these plants have evolved to live within a specific fire regime. It is only when we alter the frequency and intensity of the fires by our activities, that the plants are really in any danger.

Given that the fire started naturally, and that the fire three years ago would mean relatively smaller fuel load (although there was lots of dry dead phlebs all through the nrth eastern slopes pre fire).

Lets hope that there was some early seeding and the seeds had time to burrow down into the crevices in time.

And lets also hope this is a cleansing fire that will actually benefit the popn. in the long run.

We've been sending lots of plant love to the mountain all week..

Our hearts also go out to the fireys and friends whom may well have lost their homes in the buckland this past week.

BTW. the fire flow up there would be a lot more in sync with things if such an emphasis wasnt put on holding back fires and stopping fires that may impact on buildings that were built smack bang in the middle of a high frequency fire zone..

When are we going to learn that we need to flow with the natural cycles and rhythms and energy flows as opposed to fearing and trying to control them?

And could the deliberate nature of the lodge fire 'hinted above by passives statement' be an example of yet another pyro vollie firey? or even an insurance claim?

[Entheo]

BTW. the fire flow up there would be a lot more in sync with things if such an emphasis wasnt put on holding back fires and stopping fires that may impact on buildings that were built smack bang in the middle of a high frequency fire zone..

When are we going to learn that we need to flow with the natural cycles and rhythms and energy flows as opposed to fearing and trying to control them?

Perhaps we should look at putting our buildings underground, and learn how to build our cities underground, while it would cot so much more to setup, it would also be so much better for controlling the inside temperatures.

[wisemonkey]

The Alpine Ash population is also under threat, with the seedlings far too immature to be producing seed, most of the adult population was wiped out in the last fires so the population is in danger.

[_e_]

Perhaps we should look at putting our buildings underground, and learn how to build our cities underground, while it would cot so much more to setup, it would also be so much better for controlling the inside temperatures.

Totally!

Subterranean (sp?) Building is the way of the future inmany areas of australia. My old boy is actually a specialist in the area, and has been doing a subterranean expansion on our suburban home for over 15 years now, also experimenting with thermal efficient and sustainable building practice and materials.

He won the choice 'hot house, cool house' awards fort a totally thermally efficient building a few years back.. but it seems the actual act of 'converting' existing structures is very costly and complicated.. best to start from the ground down one might say ;)

And yes WM, very sad about the Alpine Ash... we seem to focus mostly on the Phleb due to our exploration of it within this community, but its always important to remember there are a lotm ore plants and animals (and even more fragile and endangered ones) up there that are at risk!

[paradox]

hey people any chance of an update on the mt buffalo sitch.

was they mountain burnt?

if so, what sort of intensity?

i will assume as no-one has commented for a while that all is well.

but if it was burnt, what is the current situation there?

does anyone know if there has been significant seed dropped in the past few years?

if it was burnt, is anyone keeping their eye on the regrowth sitch?

if any locals down there have any info, i'd love a bit of a run down.

hope all is well.

[PD.]

Well the phlebs were spared in the recent fires Paradox, it came close in some areas but all is well. Seed was dropped during the summer so the future is in the ground and will ensure survival even if there is another fire through major populations.

Some of the juvenile populations are showing alot more signs of flowering than last season so more seed will be dropped when the time is right.

Regrowth since the fires in 03 is extremely vigorous ad some of the plants are easily taller than me now, 2 mtrs+. The major population of juveniles is pretty much disease free atm but im sure as time goes on and the main growing tips lose vigour they will become host to disease and insect attack.

On a recent visit there i noticed that not only did the snow plow along the side of the road rip out young phlebs but there had been raised slashing along the roadside aswell. Nowhere near as much damage to the ladies as the slashing of walkways but still alot of uprooted and slashed phlebs on the side of the road.

Lots of snow this year too :D

All in all, the phlebs are lookin good atm, the only plant i havent checked on since the recent fires is the hybrid plant i found. Im unaware of its fate.

Is a beautiful lil purple plant.

BTW, if the plant that over hangs ladies baths is the one named "grandfather" by a few of you then you best get down there and say your last goodbyes. The plant is almost all finished except for one or two small branches still clinging to life.

[paradox]

sweet,

thanks for that passive. good to know all is well (for the time being).

i'm also curious about the NPWS in the area. how conscientiously it is run etc. It seems that they do some pretty dodgy stuff, what with all the slashing & plowing of critically endangerred species!! Does anyone know if the phleb situation is high on their agenda?

You would think that NPWS would have some kind of fire management protocol to reduce the risk of total destruction in situations such as this. I wouldn't think it wouldn't use up too many funds (etc) to do systematic burning off/fire break around the mountain every couple of years?

NPWS can be pretty suss! anyone here thought about getting involved with NPWS in the area? We need one of you pleb boys(or girls) to get in there!!

[PD.]

I doubt that anything would be done even if mentioned to the proper authorities. The plants that have been destroyed this winter (aswell as others) are located on the edge of the road. Im positive the tourist dollar and accessability to the snow fields is far more important than a plant that lives on no other mountain in the entire world. FFS man, ppl need to ski!

[paradox]

I doubt that anything would be done even if mentioned to the proper authorities.

Yes i know, dodgy as it is

but what i really meant is someone should get their eviro science degree/ conservation & land management degree and whatever other pieces of paper you might need and become the proper authorities

maybe one day i'll do it myself.

[PD.]

Well its not exactly going to cause the demise of the phlebs its just the first time i saw the slashing it shocked the hell out of me. There is one path thru a main population which happens to be on an excellent lookout. People naturally want to go and see the view and therefore a path had to be put in place. IMO it is better than letting ppl trample all over the place which would cause a greater degree of damage than seasonal slashing along the same path. The only other option would be to close the path off completley which i doubt very much would happen at all. The roadsides would be slashed regardless of what plant life is there i would assume, human safety comes first.

There are apparently populations along almost unaccessable ridges in surrounding areas so at least there are some "untouched" populations.

[tonic]

One would hope that seed was collected prior to the slashing for regeneration purposes. I guess not getting our hopes up would be the best thing though as it is quite likely they did not collect and propagate.