Welcome to Wombat Forestcare
Sedgy Riparian Woodland near Lyonville (photo by Gayle Osborne)
Wombat Forestcare is a community group dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural ecosystems of the Wombat Forest and surrounding areas.
The Wombat Forest contains a diverse range of native plants and animals, including a number that are listed as rare or threatened, such as Powerful Owl and the Wombat Bush Pea. As well as these natural values, the Wombat is a significant water catchment area, giving rise to five rivers.
Wombat Forestcare engages in a range of activities. These have a strong focus on community involvement and education, and include undertaking flora and fauna surveys, forest regeneration, and seed collection days. We also enjoy the social aspect of a forest group, with picnics and bushwalks for people who love being in the bush.
News
Arboreal mammal habitat associations in the Wombat State Forest report
(Added: 2010-09-04)
Volunteer installing ground hair tube (photo Tibor Hegedis)
In 2004 members of the Wombat Forest community obtained funding from the Department of Sustainability & the Environment (DSE) to conduct research into aspects of forest biodiversity. The Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) was asked to carry out a study, working with the community group, to contribute to the understanding of the fauna-habitat associations in mature forest areas of Wombat State Forest.
The report is now available.
Wombat Forestcare Newsletter - August 2010
(Added: 2010-08-30)
The latest Wombat Forestcare newsletter is now available.
Community anger at woodchip threat in central Victoria
(Added: 2010-07-12)
Regional community conservation groups are shocked by a move by the Brumby Government that allows forests around Daylesford, Bendigo, Castlemaine and Ballarat to be logged for woodchips.
An allocation order giving VicForests access to timber from central and western Victoria was quietly posted on the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) website in March without any public consultation.
The order grants VicForests – the discredited state-owned timber company – ownership of the region’s timber for fifteen years, commencing in 2012, to make up for a shortfall in timber supplies due to recent bushfires in forests in eastern Victoria.
Leading Environment Group calls for Wombat State Forest to become a State Park
(Added: 2010-05-27)
Cover image: Candlebark in the Wombat State Forest - photo courtesy Tibor Hegedis, Wombat Forestcare
A new report released today has nominated the Wombat Forest a ‘special place’, and called for the Wombat State Forest to become a State Park.
The report, Better Protection for Special Places, released by the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA), identified the Wombat State Forest as having very high conservation values that required better protection and management. The high conservation values identified included over forty rare or threatened native plant and animal species. The Wombat Forest was also found to contain large areas of threatened native vegetation types.
VNPA Executive Director Matt Ruchel said that “‘most of Victoria’s intact native vegetation and habitat for wildlife is found on public land, and more state forests needed to be converted to state parks”.
You, Me and Biodiversity: A Wombat Forestcare initiative
(Added: 2010-04-10)
To commemorate the International Year of Biodiversity, Wombat Forestcare has organised a series of workshops throughout 2010.
The overall aim of the series is to explore biodiversity in our local setting, how we are all part of a dynamic circle of life and what participants can do to enhance biodiversity. It will emphasise how participants can become more connected with their environment in their minds, in their homes and in the forest. It is hoped people will come away with practical knowledge, a heightened sense of empowerment and wonder at this complex, teaming environment we live in.