In the latest edition of Park Watch, you’ll find plenty of inspiration to inspire you to brave the cold and soak up some nature with your family over the next couple of weeks!

Maits Rest & Melba Gully

Learn more about these beautiful short walks in the Great Otway National Park and why the whole family will love exploring them.

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Eucalypt quiz

How much does your family know about our amazing Eucalypt trees?

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Setting imaginations alight

Looking for a book to read over the school holidays? Alight: A story of fire and nature is a beautiful book to introduce young children to the complicated topic of fire in our natural places.

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Become a fungus finder

The school holidays are a great time to head to a park and search for fungi! If you haven’t checked out our latest activity sheet yet, have a squiz to learn about the fascinating world of fungi.

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 Enjoy all the latest nature stories in the new edition of Park Watch, our quarterly magazine.

Read the full edition of Park Watch

You can also receive the print version of the magazine four times a year by becoming a member of the Victorian National Parks Association.

Words by Caitlin Griffith & Consuelo Quevedo
Wild Families is our program supporting families with children under 12 years old to take journeys of discovery together. Find out more here.

A program of the Victorian National Parks Association

You, Me and Biodiversity – Wombat Forestcare

Each year, Wombat Forestcare presents ‘You, Me and Biodiversity’ – a series of lectures or workshops 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. The workshops 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.

Wombat Forestcare’s ‘You, Me and Biodiversity’ program is pleased to have two speakers share their knowledge and experience on koala habitat mapping and monitoring, Jackson Cass from Moorabool Landcare and Dave Mitchell from the Australian Koala Foundation on Saturday 29 July 2023, 2.00 to 3.30pm at the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre, Trentham.

Jackson will talk about a joint project with the CSIRO, the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners, and the local community as part of the National Koala Monitoring Project. Through this collaborative approach the aim is to fill knowledge gaps for future koala recovery and management efforts.

Dave Mitchell is a landscape ecologist and well known for his work in mapping koala habitat across Australia. He is currently completing his PhD on this topic at RMIT. He will share with us some of the mapping work occurring locally and in Victoria.

Wombat Forestcare would like to invite you to be part of these efforts and ask you to begin or continue koala monitoring!

Further details:

The presentations will be followed by afternoon tea.

Cost: Gold coin donation

Bookings: TryBooking:  https://www.trybooking.com/CJNVZ

Words by Gayle Osborne – Wombat Forestcare info@wombatforestcare.org.au

How private landholders can get involved with this ambitious project

The Victorian Government is investing $30.9 million to revegetate and restore at least 20,000 hectares of native habitat across private land in Victoria. That’s an area 10,000 times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) or twice the size of Phillip Island, which will be transformed into healthy habitat for native wildlife.

Cassinia Environmental is the government’s delivery partner for the BushBank program and they will work with more than 20 other partners to secure significant co-investment to achieve this ambitious goal. 

Cassinia Environmental will support private landowners throughout their restoration projects and help them tap into financial incentives available through biodiversity and carbon markets.

“Cassinia is excited to be the Department’s selected Delivery Partner for the private land stream of the BushBank program. This is an ambitious program that will see 20,000 hectares of land (an area twice the size of Phillip Island) restored and permanently protected into Victoria’s private conservation estate. Victoria’s biodiversity needs this intervention. We look forward to working with the Department, Trust for Nature and the many international and local partners to make this a reality.”  Nathan Smith – Cassinia Environmental CEO

Cassinia Environmental is now taking expressions of interest to participate in this exciting and innovative private land stream of the BushBank program.

Guidelines: go to www.cassinia.com/bushbank for landholder project guidelines, including details about the BushBank program.

BushBank Program overview: Nature restoration for carbon storage – BushBank program (environment.vic.gov.au)

Expressions of Interest close: 31 July 2023 for the pilot stage of the BushBank program, and are submitted at www.cassinia.com/bushbank.

Note: Expressions of Interest received after 31 July 2023 will be considered for future rounds of the BushBank program. 

More information: contact Cassinia Environmental on bushbank.partner@cassinia.com or call 1300 572 164 to discuss your proposal.