Ethical Paper Pledge

Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater have joined the Wilderness Society Australia's call and signed the Ethical Paper Pledge, asserting our commitment to sustainability and the environment by not purchasing Reflex Paper until its producer, Australian Paper, stops sourcing from native forests.

The production of woodchips for pulp and paper is the largest driver of forest destruction in Australia. At a time when viable alternatives to native forest logging exist - Australia currently has an excess of plantation wood available - there is no excuse for Australian Paper to be sourcing paper from the destruction of our native forests.

Native forest logging damages crucial wildlife habitat. It also damages water catchments and releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere - globally, logging accounts for almost 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

It is International Year of Forests in 2011. Both individuals and organisations can support the cause by signing the Ethical Paper Pledge.

Landholder funding opportunity

Great news for landholders in the Woori Yallock Creek sub-catchment. Does your property border Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, Kurth Kiln or another significant reserve in the region? Yarra4Life, a major project of the PPWCMA that the Friends are key stakeholders in, has just announced new funding for habitat protection and conservation projects to assist local landholders. The project will prioritise landholders that work together with their neighbours. The project will run until 2013. See this article for more details and contact Adam, Yarra4Life Project Coordinator, to find out more on 8781 7900.

Food, plants & people. A healthy combination

We have a great life at the Friends! Take 23 Sept 2009 for example. A day in the outdoors with a group of interesting people that you've never met before but you know really well after a couple of hours, planting over 3,000 habitat plants for threatened species. What could be better? Well, add in lunch delivered to the reveg site and morning & afternoon tea before and after the event, and... I'd say pretty confidently... life couldn't get much better!

A number of groups, individuals and organisations got together to make it all happen. Check out the details here

Image: Habitat planting day at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve
Photographer: Yarra4Life program

Mid Jan & plenty of activity in the field

It's been an interesting year for the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Team. The Yellingbo populations are holding their place on the globe (they tend to stay put in the general area they're released or wild born) and they're breeding well. The Bunyip State Park populations are proving more challenging to keep track of. They seem to be finding richer pastures than the release sites - somewhere - whilst making an occasional visit back to where they were released! Different individual birds are being seen intermittently at sites well away from the release sites, including areas that had been burnt in the Feb 2009 fires. Not exactly what was expected, but, the ultimate aim is that the birds find their own way in the world and establish colonies. Perhaps this is nature telling us people aren't that good at choosing the best habitat for them.

Meanwhile, we are still seeing breeding activity with 3 known pairs currently sitting on nests at Yellingbo and new fledglings just joining the population at Bunyip State Park. How luck are we to be part of this fantastic program? Want to find out how you can help?

Image: A typical Helmeted Honeyeater nest
Photographer: S Tardif

2011 - International Year of Forests

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

We look forward to doing our bit through our education programs and volunteering efforts to celebrate people’s action to sustainably manage the world’s forests.

We'd love you to join us! The best way to start is to drop in to our community nursery at 1217 Macclesfield Road, Yellingbo (Melways reference 305 G11) on any Tuesday or Thursday throughout the year. Our nursery volunteers are on deck from 10am-1pm and would love to talk to you about the volunteer roles the Friends are involved with including plant propagation, planting, school talks & bird surveys to name just a few. BYO lunch to enjoy together at 1pm. We provide morning tea. See you there!

NB. We are closed on days of High Fire Danger.

Yellingbo State Emblems Park - next steps

Not quite the outcome we planned on.... but the Yellingbo State Emblems Park Alliance of which the Friends are a founding member, look forward to working with The Hon. Ryan Smith, MP (Minister for Environment and Climate Change) and the new Victorian State Government to progress the Park. More on this as things develop...

A step closer - Yellingbo State Emblems Park

Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings announced at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve on Thursday 18 November that a future Brumby Labor Government would examine ways to create a new 5000ha State Emblems Park in the Dandenong Ranges to help protect endangered species. It is proposed that the park would be called Yellingbo State Emblems Park.

The YSEP interconnects high biodiversity public land in the Woori Yallock Creek catchment, using existing streamside public land without acquiring any new land. The existing uses of the public land involved will not be affected by the creation of the proposed Park.

Why do it?

The creation of a single Park will rationalise the current confused mixture of public land tenure and management arrangements, streamlining the complex regulations that apply on the many different parcels of land. Currently there are a range of public land managers, Dept. of Sustainability & Environment, Parks Victoria and local Councils.

A number of existing reserves located within YSEP's boundaries are home to a range of significant fauna and flora species including Helmeted Honeyeater, Leadbeater's Possum, Emerald Star Bush, Sedge-rich Eucalyptus camphora Swamp, Powerful Owl, Swamp Skink, Dandenong Freshwater Amphipod, Slender Tree Fern, Southern Sassafras Cool Temperate Rainforest Community, Pomaderris eliptica, Lace Monitor and many more. These species however are often contained within 'islands' in the landscape, restricting their dispersal into other conservation zones. Coordinated management of the YSEP will create a much improved environment for these species to adapt to change.

Thank you to members of the Woori Yallock Creek Park Alliance for their commitment to this project over many years. The Woori Yallock Creek Park Alliance is a collective of Community Groups primarily within the Woori Yallock Creek Catchment. They include:

• Friends of Helmeted Honeyeater Inc
• Meander-A group caring for the Menzies Creek and Emerald Tourist Track Inc
• Macclesfield Landcare Group
• Monbulk Landcare Group
• Johns Hill Landcare Group
• Friends of Sassafras Creek
• Friends of Wrights Forest
• Friends of Hoddles Creek
• Cardinia Environment Coalition
• Upper Yarra and Dandenongs Environment Council
• Friends of Leadbeater's Possum
  

Our thanks also to Member for Monbulk James Merlino and Member for Gembrook Tammy Lobato for their support of this proposal.