May, 2012

Welcome to the May Edition of the WSN Croaker.

The floods interfered with a lot of events and activities that were to take place. Clean Up Australia Day on the 4th March, Councils Nature Walk and clean up, the start of the Fish pathway near the weir at Sydney Beach and the training on WSNs new Waterwatch Kit, but in the typical Australian way the show must go on and you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again and I am very proud to be an Australian because that is the great Wangaratta community way.
Diane Farmer, Coordinator, WSN Restoring Our Waterways diane.farmer@bigpond.com 0439 020 448 PO Box 772, Wangaratta VIC 3677

Issue #9

Glen Saunders spoke about foxes which are also a very big problem it is such a shame that this animal so regal looking is also destroying our environment and taking over. Then we came to the man I came to hear Wayne Fenton talking about one of my pet hates, carp. Loads of information - carp came to Australia in 1859 then by the 1920 they were in the Murray Darling Basin, then 1950 Mildura and now all over the place. He spoke about their impact, Biology & behaviour, how to identify them, when they mature and that a 3kg fish can lay 1 million eggs and can live for 30 years (not if I can help it!). Their impact on our waterways is so damaging and unbelievable as they are so adaptable. Then we got to the good part the ideas on how to destroy these terrible fish. The daughterless carp that the CSIRO have been working on sounds very good to me but the next idea he mentioned has me a little worried, they are testing injecting the carp with Koi herpes virus, it does not affect native fish, it kills quickly (within 24hrs), but it will be 4-5 years before it could be ready to go. My only though is what happens if some animal eats a carp injected with the virus and what about if some catches the carp and cooks and eats it. The word herpes has me very worried but I will try to find out all the information before I make my final decision on the subject. There are lots of toolkits, fact sheets and case studies in the Education and Management on the carp section of the website if anyone wants more information.

PESTSMART INVASIVE ANIMAL ROADSHOW

Friday 4th February 2012.

This was the most fantastic day I have had for a long time. An early start and up to Albury by 8.30am. On arrival there were a lot of people already there. I met Alan Trott from Parks Vic who I had been speaking to about the Ovens Billabong a few weeks earlier. There were several stands to investigate. Please make note of this website www.feral.org.au/pestsmart and check it out, loads of feral animals and pest information that you would not believe. First speaker was Prof. Steve Lapidge on product pipeline so much information on all sorts of interesting ways to humanely get rid of feral animals and I didnt realize there were so many in so many places. Next it was Dr. Brian Cooke talking about wild rabbits and the best method of getting rid of those prolific breeders and who is responsible for roadside, landholders and others. This was very interesting to me as there a quite a few around my place. His comment why do they wait till its too late was my thoughts also. Greg Mifsud on wild dogs was remarkable - so many of them in so many areas I just could not believe it. He had a display of some of the wild dog skins and the size of them was so big it was hard to believe. Thats all it takes, a couple of dogs dumped somewhere years ago and hey presto now today such a big problem. Linton Staples spoke on rodents and the pesky little mice who seem hell bent on eating everything in sight and there are so many of them it gave me the creeps. My unit will be made mouse proof as I dont want them moving in.

Contents

Pestsmart Electro Fishing Demo ROW Demonstration to CLC Students Clean Up Australia Day KABV Get Together Upcoming Events All Abilities Netball National Volunteers Week

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There is a great section for schools- Pest Tails for primary and Feral Focus for High Schools. He also spoke on my other pet hates Eastern Gambusia and Weather Loach, Red Fin and something called Walking Cat Fish. Our final talk was about the wild cat situation which is also a very big worry and Eradicate 10/80 sounds like a very good product (I could use some). Heleena Bamford from MDBA did the final wrap up and I spoke to her afterwards as she will be a great contact who has a lot of information on alien fish. I made a lot of new contacts on the day and a few I will follow up on as they will be able to help me with the right information for the CLC students and any other schools that join WSN Restoring Our Waterways schools program. ELECTRO FISHING DEMO ON THE OVENS RIVER

They came back to the beach and weighed and measured the fish and I got to hold the Gold Fish or carp whatever you want to call it. Thanks to Narelle for the photo. DSE has also been taking aerial photos to assess the in stream habitat and snags and mapping it and now the guys are doing the ground checking. There was a great article in the Chronicle on Friday the 17th February if you are interested in find out more about it. Anthony Wilson from NECMA also told me that the Native Fish Path that is going to get built on the overflow side of the Sydney Beach Weir that the works where to start on the 27th February and this pleased me as I have been looking forward to this great project to start for a long time. The Floods delayed the starting date on this project. ECO LIVING CENTRE

Wednesday 15th February, 2012

I rushed to get to Apex Park on time where I met up with Jarod Lyon Fish Ecologist Arther Rylah DSE, Anthony Wilson NECMA and Jeff Zeuschner the Chronicle and we headed down to the beach at Frank Garth Reserve. Down there Prime TV and WIN News where setting up for interviews. Narelle Graham the new Publicity person from DSE was there. Jarod was then doing interviews while Jeb Tonkin and another crew were in the boats ready to do the demo. I was however very disappointed that I was the only member of any group or member of the community there but I was there to give my support to this great project. It took the guys a little time to start to find fish but as they got near the large tree that lies across the Ovens River, hey presto the fish got stunned by the electro thingos and floated to the surface. Our catch included Trout Cod and Murray Cod, Black Fish and of course one very medium size carp, which Jarod referred to as a Gold Fish.

Wednesday 22nd February, 2012, 10am 2.30pm

This was a very interesting day talking about the community garden project and working out the plan of how it will get going, lots of good ideas were worked out and things are to go from what was suggested on the day. This is still all in planning stage. NEW WATERWATCH EQUIPMENT TRAINING DAY

Friday 2nd March 2012

The floods cancelled this event, but it took place in April. CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA EVENT

Sunday 4th March 2012

The floods cancelled this event, but took place on the 25th March. For those who dont know: NECMA is the North East Catchment Management Authority. DSE is the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

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ROW PRESENTATION TO CLC STUDENTS.

Friday 16 March 2012

I started out with the statement Lets Go Fishing! I explained about the great work the students had started last year with the removal of alien fish (Eastern Gambusia and my friend the carp) in our waterways. I discussed Clean Up Australia and the most unusual item to be found in One Mile Creek prize competition, water monitoring and Macro-invertebrate checking and the making of nest boxes with Bunnings Wangaratta. The presentation must have gone well because a couple of weeks later I was told we have 5 students every Friday for either half or full days, this will depend on what we will be doing on the day. SKILLSBANK VOLUNTEER - PATHWAY TO YEAR 12 STUDENTS AT GALEN COLLEGE

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who care about their environment. It was great to see that 15 children came along to help clean up the creek, 8 of them were from St Patricks primary school. About 30 bags of rubbish were collected and a great variety of unusual items were collected and some were too big to bring back to Batchelors Green. The winner of the most unusual item found along One Mile Creek was Shirley OConnor spotted a car body. Some of the other items were part of a retaining wall, wooden pallet, a red plastic chair, solar light, car battery, Garry Nash For Sale sign, trolleys, a bunch of very dead flowers all wrapped in nice paper (we all agreed that someone must not have liked their Valentines Day present) but my favourite article which George Lee found doing his clean up on the Friday was a Piranha pool cleaner, it would have had a pretty big job trying to clean One Mile Creek. The childrens entries were interesting and the winner of small unusual item was won by the Crispin children. It was a pirates eye patch - some of the other things were a ping pong racquet, a squashed lizard, baby bottle, several baby dummies and heaps of other strange items and their efforts were fantastic.

Wednesday 21st March

Well due to a talk about volunteering by me after the Skillsbank pathways and registering with Skillsbank to find a wolunteer organisation for the students in the Social Justice subject by Linda Phillis, I talked about the projects that ROW had been doing and when I said ROW was fishing with the WHS CLC students, then a student put his hand up and said I know what organisation I am going to volunteer with. Yes, ROW now has 3 year 12 students from Galen College, Wednesday afternoons for a couple of hours. CATHEDRAL COLLEGE STUDENTS We also have 6 students from year 9 every fortnight on Thursdays for a couple of hours. Gill Baker is teaching these students about our waterways. CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY

Sunday 25th March 2012

A great day for WSN Restoring Our Waterways, cleaning up along One Mile Creek, we covered most of the area from Cribbes Road Bridge to the footbridge at Dalton Court. Thanks to the 36 community members

The group who had the mammoth area to clean up were Peggy Richie, Barry & Lorna Hill, Andrew Spence working from the Dalton St bridge upstream towards Phillipson St and Marlene & Hurst Fuchs working from the Rowan St bridge downstream to around the Phillipson St bridge, that is the area where the flood pushed most of the rubbish from Cribbes Rd collecting balls, empty soft drink bottles and cans all the way down stream to there.

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I know how bad it was when I took photographs and filmed the area the week prior to the clean-up. I couldnt believe the amount of rubbish I saw. I did warn them when they took off to clean up that they were in for a shock. Tony Bates and Gill Raynor had a hard job judging all the unusual items, the other prizes were: family with the most members was won by the Crispin family (2 adults and 3 children), oldest volunteer Barry Hill (I will not tell you his age, but he did tell me how much he appreciated the little book I put in the prize pack call How to enjoy your later years). The youngest volunteer was little Hanna Nolan. All the children who coloured in the CUA flyer got to choose a few goodies from the ROW prize box and the colouring in by all of them was excellent. When the clean-up was finished a terrific barbeque of sausages, egg & bacon muffins, and veggie burgers was all ready and cooked by our No.1 BBQ man, Alan. There was also some salad and fresh fruit. It was a terrific effort by all who took part and WSN Restoring Our Waterways would like to say a very big Thank You to everyone who attended our Clean Up Australia Event. A special thank-you to Shane Crispin from The Centres Work Place Learning for the $50 voucher from Wangaratta Complete Garden, thanks also to Coles Supermarket for the $20 voucher. Also thanks to Rural City of Wangarattas Environment Department for the fishing line, 2 great Jig Saw puzzles and colouring in kit and The Centres CARN for all the goodies for the 6 Prize Packs and the ROW prize box.

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY GUIDED NATURE WALK

Tuesday 27th March Article by Tatum Newton

This year the Rural City of Wangaratta put a twist on Clean up Australia Day by combining a community clean up, with a guided nature walk. The evening was held at North Beaches, where over 40 participants strolled through the reserve to discover local flora and fauna whilst, witnessing firsthand the effects of litter. Participants managed to remove over 30 bags of rubbish from the reserve! The walk concluded at the 3rd & 4th Wangaratta Scout Hall with a demonstration on stormwater pollution and a BBQ. OXLEY CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY Sunday 4th March. 2012 Oxley had a great Clean Up Australia Day, March 4th 2012 with 14 local people, (8 adults and 6 kids) turning up despite showers and flooding in nearby towns. We walked from the Memorial Park to the Oxley School along the road and the river walking track. We also cleaned the walking track to the Reserve road, the shops and some streets of the township.

We collected a trailer of rubbish and recyclables. Afterwards we enjoyed a sausage sizzle fresh fruit, icypoles and refreshments at the park. Thanks to all who helped. Written by Dianne F.

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KABV GET-TOGETHER IN BENALLA

Tuesday 27th March.

Members of the Wangaratta Community Pride Committee Marg Pullen, Jean & Lucy Van Aken and I went down to Benalla to catch up with staff and other KABV supports. It was a great social evening and very informative. Marg did a speech about her association with KABV and there were a few other guest speakers while we enjoyed a few nibbles and drinks. I had a rather long talk to Candyce Presland (Litter Champion from Victorian Litter Action Alliance) who I will keep in contact with as one litter champion to another. EQUIPMENT TRAINING AND INFORMATION DAY

Its also much safer to take the samples home and do them there in a controlled environment. Besides, I dont want our nice new equipment to get dirty! A great morning tea was supplied and lots of great get to know you conversation between all of us was very enjoyable. The only problem for Emma and Vanessa is that Neil said Well when I hear someone is out waterwatching I know they will be enjoying a nice morning tea There were a few members who couldnt make it on the day (due to other commitments) but we can always make a time to suit for them to be trained on the new equipment. Contact Vanessa Thompson on (02) 60437633. A big Thank You to NECMA, Emma & Vanessa for all the assistance they have given us regarding our new equipment.

Wednesday 4th April.

The weather was kind to us this time and it was a beautiful sunny day down at North Beaches. Emma & Vanessa from Waterwatch were all set up and the new CEO of NECMA, Neil McCarthy was there and he was very outgoing and friendly so I didnt bale him up talking about our waterways and what he should do to keep me happy and out of his hair (I will save that for when he has settled into his new role). Who was there: Gill Baker (who is dying to get her hands on the new equipment), Helen Curtis, Jim Dunn & Bart, Andy Kimber, Paul Hellier UO Landcare and myself. We headed down to the River and set up the equipment. Vanessa got the water samples and then informed me that I was going to do the testing. I have had a few lessons and been using the equipment for the last 2 Waterwatch testing on both my sites. Vanessa did all the talking and answering of all the questions. I find the equipment so much easier to use and the Oxygen test done on the machine sure beats leaning over the water holding a probe in it for 5 minutes.

FINDERS KEEPERS There are some rewards for picking up rubbish around our waterways. A few weeks ago I found a fishing line all tangled up and just left by the Ovens River so I took it home and got my neighbour Bob to sort it out for me. Then not long after that, in the same area I found a terrific fish filleting knife (I will have to learn how to use that). Then low and behold, the other day I found a fold-up chair. So I am getting set up for the removal of Carp with the CLC students thanks to those people who just leave or dump things around at the junction of the Ovens and King Rivers, all I need now is to find a boat and I am set to really enjoy fishing.

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MANY EYES MAKES LIGHT WORK A couple of Sundays ago, I walked the area from Wareena Wetlands to Rowan Street bridge with Shirley OConnor and we found a lot of rubbish in One Mile Creek. Chairs, trolleys, rusty old drums and a few other things, but thanks to her keen eye we also found some Parrots Feather weed in about 3 spots. Shirley is now going to keep an eye along this area.

size gold fish were spotted in the creek, as well as lots of carp of all sizes. The Carp may be the ones Sally Colson first spotted near the Cusack Street Bridge and that I spotted near the Roy Street Bridge before the North Eastern Victoria floods. UPCOMING EVENTS NEXT ROW MEETING - TREVOR DANGER VISIT

Last Sunday she invited me to join her as she had seen something swimming in the creek downstream from Wareena Wetlands, so we met at about 9.30am (Shirl even brought coffee). Sitting very quietly beside the bank we waited and waited then suddenly there was movement in the plants upstream, there was great excitement up we got cameras in hand could it be a platypus, a water rat or just a carp. Closer and closer it came and just near us it popped up on top of the water. Zoom-in, click-click went the cameras and when I took a look it was a water rat. We followed it downstream till it came to branches blocking the creek then it turned around and headed back the way it came, so we followed it. It was just great to watch it and it even has a little play area - the trolley in the creek, swimming in to it and around it, which made us laugh. Shirley is not sure whether it was the same animal she saw on the Saturday as she doesnt remember seeing a white tail. So I guess we will just have to keep an eye on the area to know for sure. COMMUNITY LEARNING CHALLENGE STUDENTS WANGARATTA HIGHSCHOOL YEAR 9 We went for a walk along One Mile Creek near the school and downstream to the Dalton Court Bridge. Thanks to the keen eyes of Janine Box (our new school assistant) and one of the students, 2 medium

Monday 7th May 5:30pm @ The Centre Chisholm Street Wangaratta

Trevor Danger is the Oven Landcare Network Local Landcare Facilitator. He will be talking about getting more members; developing a Local Area Plan; creating local programs based on community and environmental needs; and how to run courses, workshops and field days. After Trevor has finished his talk the ROW monthly meeting will take place. A light supper will be available from 5pm onwards. Please RSVP to Diane Farmer on (03) 57223823 or email diane.farmer@bigpond.com by Monday the 7th May. VOLUNTEERSCOPE

14th May Volunteer Appreciation Day

The Centres Community Skillsbank , The Wangaratta Community Pride Committee and the Rural City of Wangaratta, extends an invitation to volunteers to attend the Volunteer Appreciation Day. Volunteer Appreciation Day An event to celebrate the great work our volunteers contribute to the livability of the Rural City of Wangaratta

King George V Gardens

Ovens Street, Wangaratta 11:30am-1:30pm Volunteerscape

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Presents...

Do you have a disability? Are you interested in playing netball? Come and join the fun, meet new people & make new friends!

**Exhibition Match between: Parkville & Shepparton All Abilities Teams**

WHEN: Saturday 12th May TIME: 11am - 1pm WHERE: HP Barr Reserve, Wangaratta Netball Courts
Free BBQ and Netball Victoria Showbag Giveaways for All Abilities Participants
For more details and to register for this event please contact Jody Mortison 5722 4214 or Jen Johnstone from The Centre 5721 0249

Guest Appearance from a Melbourne Vixens Player Win a signed Vixens Netball Join the FREE Netball Skills Clinic
Proudly presented by Wangaratta Netball Association Inc In Partnership with The Centre-CARN, Access for All Abilities Program.

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NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS WEEK

This is Bart and Jim Dunn. Barts dedicated service enables Jim to attend all his volunteer commitments. In Jims words Bart is my mate, best friend, companion and play friend all in one, as well as being my eyes. Bart, Thank You for volunteering because everyone counts.

Bart the Guide Dog

Jim Dunn and Bart

We would like to wish all volunteers a happy volunteers week, and we thank you for volunteering.

WSN INFORMATION

Publicity/Advocacy

Food Sustainability

Home Energy

Waste Action Group (WAGS)

Family/Household/Organisation $10 per year

Single $5 per year

Student $2 per year

For more information contact: Rowan OHagan Secretary 12 Deakin Court Wangaratta VIC 3677 Phone (03) 5721 8231 wangarattasustainability@mail.com www.wangarattasustainability.org
Under the umbrella of the Wangaratta Urban Landcare Group

This Newsletter designed by the Volunteers at Community Skillsbank, Wangaratta.