Newsletter - Territory Stories: Home...Newsletter Issue 12 Christmas 2015 Friends of Fogg Dam. PO Box 1505, Humpty Doo. NT 0836 [email protected] ARTIST AT FOGG DAM Fogg Dam

Friends of Fogg Dam. PO Box 1505, Humpty Doo. NT 0836 www.foggdamfriends.org [email protected]

Newsletter Issue 12 Christmas 2015

Best wishes for a happy Christmas and New Year

Its been a busy year for Friends of Fogg Dam Inc with: x� Work continuing to clear vegetation within the dam and manage weeds in other

areas of the Reserve. x� Application of FOFD as a Registered Environmental Organisation so donations of

$2 or more can be claimed as tax deductions. As precursors, this required growth in membership and amendment of the constitution.

x� An annual general meeting in October where four “new” committee members were elected.

x� Nominations for two awards: Best Urban NRM and Landcare Community Group. x� Appointment of Alison Worsnop as ‘Artist at Fogg Dam’ 2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM in Kezia Purick’s offices, 25 October 2015.

Welcome to the new Executive and Committee: Heather Boulden, President; Jenny Cameron, Vice President; Lyn Reid, Treasurer; Jeremy Hemphill, Secretary and Public Officer. Committee members: Alan Marshall; Mike Bowman; Barry Lowe; and Pauline Cass. It’s great to have such a wide variety of experience on the Executive. Helpers with social media and video making would be most welcome. If you can help in either of these areas, please let us know. Thank you to Alan Marshall who is working on the website and Facebook and to Barry Lowe who is investigating use of MailChimp for future Newsletters.

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ARTIST AT FOGG DAM

Fogg Dam has an artist. Early September, Friends of Fogg Dam Inc. appointed well known Darwin artist, Alison Worsnop, as ‘Artist at Fogg Dam’ 2016.

As Artist at Fogg Dam Alison is visiting the dam regularly to ‘paint en plein air’ and gather artistic reference material throughout the year to follow changes in season. She has invited other artists and crafts people to also take part. Together they will produce a body of visual art relating to Fogg Dam.

An exhibition of ‘Art from Fogg Dam’ is to be held at the Tactile Art Gallery in Darwin from 7 to 23 October 2016. It will reflect the birds, reptiles, mammals and insects that inhabit the dam, its floodplain, open grassland, monsoon and eucalypt forest, paperbark woodland and freshwater mangroves. The focus will be to enhance public awareness of the value of these remarkable ecosystems and their inhabitants with beautiful renditions and interpretations. It will celebrate Fogg Dam as a unique natural treasure of the Top End.

The Artist at Fogg Dam project is consistent with Friends of Fogg Dam’s purpose “to promote, protect and enhance the ecological, cultural and aesthetic values of Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve and assist visitors to enjoy, understand and appreciate this unique place.” The vision is to “put Fogg Dam on the map and in the hearts and minds of people.”

You can see more of Alison’s work at: www.alisonworsnop.com

Alison with Lynette Kenyon & Traditional Owner Graham Kenyon

Alison Worsnop 'Artist at the Park'

Lotus lily

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About Alison Worsnop and the artist at Fogg Dam project

Alison writes: “I first visited Fogg Dam as a tourist over 20 years ago and got caught in a seasonal shower in the Monsoon forest. It was one of those places that made me feel ‘this is a wonderful part of the world, I want to live here!’

“Over the years, Fogg Dam has been an inspiration to me as an artist and a peaceful, safe Eden to visit and watch birds, or just to enjoy the peace, space and sky. I take all my visitors there.

“Having just completed my second time as artist in residence at the Territory Wildlife Park, I was delighted to be invited by Friends of Fogg Dam to be their ‘official artist’ for the next 12 months. If you see me there, sketching or taking photos of birds, please say hello - and don’t let me take up too much space in the viewing platform! Apart from working ‘en plein air’ on location, I paint in watercolours and acrylic / collage in my home studio in Humpty Doo. Friends of Fogg Dam are welcome to visit me there and see what I am up to – just give me a ring to check I am in.

“My work will be exhibited at the Tactile Arts Gallery, next to the Museum in October 2016 – but it will not be just mine – I have invited a number of other artists and craftspeople to create their own art or craft which reflects Fogg Dam, so it will be an exciting exhibition, reflecting Fogg Dam from many points of view.

“These artists include: Jane Moore – a wonderful artist whose interpretive signage still survives in Kakadu and who has already contributed the stylish ‘Rice Trail’ signage to Fogg Dam; Lillian Smith – who creates gorgeous silk pieces; The Rural Potters group and Traditional Owners represented by Graham Kenyon: painter, designer and Didgeridoo player and other members of his family, without whom the show could not possibly be complete. It is only a small gallery, with limited wall-space – so I am not sure how many more artists we could fit in.

“I hope to help organise related art projects over the next 12 months, including beginners plein air painting workshops. Do contact me if you are interested in taking part.”

Contact: [email protected] Website: www.alisonworsnop.com Telephone 8988 1770

VALE STRIDER We are saddened to learn of the death of one of our first members, Strider, on 15 December. Strider was a well known environmental activist with a phenomenal knowledge of the Top End environment.

He had hoped the Monsoon track would become a “heritage walk” with name plates for the trees, something Parks would not accept.

The plant walks he led at Fogg Dam Field Days were hugely popular and those who accompanied him were very fortunate. Strider will be sadly missed.

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WOODLAND TO WATERLILY BOARDWALK Good news. The Woodland to Waterlily walk is again open to the public. The section of recycled plastic boardwalk destroyed by fire in 2014 has been replaced with mesh decking, the walking track has been improved and interpretive signs have been replaced.

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Start of the “mesh” boardwalk Re-graveled track

The mesh decking

EXTREMELY DRY CONDITIONS

The combination of an early start to the dry season and El Nino resulted in the water level at Fogg Dam being lower than members can recall. In some areas small mud islands appeared. It’s a harsh environment for most wildlife. There has been insufficient water for the weed harvester to operate for a couple of months.

These conditions were ideal for re-installing a sluice gate to remove silt from the dam, which is important for sustainability of the dam, viz:-“Reinstatement of a sluice gate underneath the causeway at Fogg Dam has been identified as a priority (Adelaide River Conservation Reserves Joint Management Plan,” August 2014, p27). However, this is a project for the future as it wasn’t in this year’s Government capital works program.

As the first monsoon has arrived, conditions should soon improve.

Two of the new signs


Friends of Fogg Dam. PO Box 1505, Humpty Doo. NT 0836 www.foggdamfriends.org [email protected] 5

APPLICATION TO BECOME A REGISTERED ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATION Thank you to our members for responding to our last newsletter seeking additional membership in order to be eligible to apply to become a Registered Environmental Organisation, a Commonwealth tax deductibility scheme. To qualify we needed at least 50 financial members and now have more than 60. At the AGM on 25 October 2015, which was well attended, a special agenda item endorsed the required modification of our constitution. The application process can take 12 months. If successful, donations over $2 to FOFD will be tax deductible and FOFD will have access to a wider field of grants.

WEED MANAGEMENT

Weeds have long been a problem at Fogg Dam, covering much of dam’s surface, its floodplain and bush along the walking tracks. By hand weeding, FOFD with assistance from Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Green Army has cleared most of the snakeweed alongside the walking tracks. The weed harvester we purchased with Parks in 2014 has cleared over 10 hectares of vegetation from the dam providing habitat for water birds. The invasive Weed of National Significance, Olive hymenachne (OH), is proving extremely difficult to control as it can grow from seed, stem fragments and be spread by water birds and wildlife. Working with Parks & Wildlife since 2010, the methods used include spraying and burning as recommended by the Weeds CRC. In January FOFD was awarded a $10,000 grant for OH control around the edges of the dam and on the floodplain. This project, completed in July, was followed by the award of a $25,000 grant to continue more general weed control at Fogg Dam until June 2016. This project is supported by Territory Natural Resource Management through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.

Work is progressing using a variety of equipment including the weed harvester, airboat, helicopter, Toyotas and quads.

Newsletter

Issue 12 Christmas 2015


TERRITORY NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE & AWARDS — FOFD receives a high commendation The Territory NRM conference held in November at Darwin Convention Centre provided excellent information and networking with quality presentations, informative, practical workshops and inspirational people. The Gala Dinner Awards evening was most enjoyable and it was great to have six FOFD members there. Territory Natural Resource Management Chief Executive Officer Karen May said the awards were an important way to recognise the efforts of people in the community who were often the quietest achievers. FOFD nominated for two awards -Best Urban NRM Group and Landcare Community Group - and was shortlisted for both. Great recognition for the value of our work. We weren’t winners but received a High Commendation for Best Urban NRM group. Our congratulations to Land for Wildlife – Garden for Wildlife Alice Springs which won the Best Urban NRM Group. A highlight of their work is tracking domestic cats to demonstrate to owners how their cat travels away from the property and is a threat to native wildlife. Congratulations to Finniss Reynolds Catchment Group who took out the Landcare Community Group Award for their impressive work eliminating feral pigs and Mimosa pigra. Best Urban NRM winning project

FIRES Very sadly, a fire bug has been active at Fogg Dam. This year four fires have been lit. The first at the Rotunda, another at Pandanus Knoll where the two story lookout overlooks a pond and the tail of the overflow channel. Next, two were lit in October on the loop of the Monsoon Forest Walk, causing extensive damage to and partial closure of the boardwalk. This extended into the Monsoon Forest and across the floodplain towards Lambells Lagoon. This is extremely disturbing. We have chosen not to feature fires on Facebook or our website because we don’t want to give the fire bug the satisfaction of publicity. Cameras have been set up and we ask anyone who sees a suspicious person or vehicle to try to take a photo and email it to Alan Marshall: [email protected] and/or the Rangers.

Damage at Monsoon boardwalk

Floodplain burning 23 October

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Newsletter

Issue 12 Christmas 2015


POSTCARDS In 2014 Victorian artist Rosemary Kidd visited Fogg Dam produced a series of bird paintings and generously gifted ownership of two images of classic Fogg Dam birds to FOFD: a Rainbow Pitta; and a Royal Spoonbill with Intermediate Egret to FOFD. These are now available for purchase from FOFD as postcards.

A wide range of Rosemary Kidd’s art work can be seen online at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AwesomeAussieGifts http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodesigns

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FOFD’s wetland proposal featured in Newsletter 10, was first submitted to Parks & Wildlife in 2010. The proposal is to create ponds of varying depth on the floodplain close to the causeway. They would be filled naturally in the wet season and bring birdlife close for easy viewing from within vehicles, which is important given the dam wall is closed to walking and most of the dam is clogged by vegetation. It seems a simple procedure, just scraping low bund walls in much the same way Mamukala Wetlands was created in Kakadu. Funding was made available for the Wetlands Proposal in 2014/15. However, nothing was done before the wet season began which made the work impossible that financial year. FOFD wrote to the Hon. Bess Price, Minister for Parks & Wildlife, seeking her assurance the work would happen this year. She replied in September to say the cost of the project has blown out with the first stage now estimated to cost in excess of $500,000 as government considers acid sulphate soils in the area will need to be neutralized with lime. Strange that the pond below Pandanus Lookout and the Rice project’s irrigation channel were both built using earth moving equipment without apparent harm to the floodplain environment. Advice FOFD has received is that if acid sulphate soils are present, they would not be a problem if covered by water, as they would be. Perhaps its a simple concept that bureaucracy has over-engineered.

FEEDBACK ON THE FLOODPLAIN WETLANDS PROPOSAL

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AwesomeAussieGifts


Friends of Fogg Dam. PO Box 1505, Humpty Doo. NT 0836 www.foggdamfriends.org [email protected] 8

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE

Alan Marshall has created a new community Facebook page for Friends of Fogg Dam to replace our former “Fogg Dam Friends”. Its now much easier for members and interested people to add content. Its already proving popular viewing with lots of great photos, “likes”, comments and general news.

Web address is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1686892574862109/

Check it out!

Debbie Ross posting of 21 December

FOFD’s DIGITAL MEDIA SITES

Have you visited our websites prepared and hosted by Peter Walker of Imagineer? They include information about the historic Humpty Doo Rice Project which created Fogg Dam plus a lot more: www.foggdamfriends.org and ricetrail.com.au

Our new community Friends of Fogg Dam Facebook page is found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1686892574862109/

Our Google+ page is found at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103253209179664999529

NT GOVERNMENT GRANT APPLICATIONS

Like a lot of Landcare groups, FOFD finds it difficult to purchase capital equipment. The NT Government’s Community Grants offering up to $200,000 are a potential source. In August FOFD applied for money to purchase a Mudd-Ox all terrain vehicle to access olive hymenachne within swampy tree line habitat. The application had wide community support but was not successful.

New applications have been submitted for the Mudd-Ox and for a drone to survey the location of weeds and monitor the effect of treatment. We should be advised of the outcome around 28 February 2016.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103253209179664999529

Documents

Newsletter - Territory Stories: Home...Newsletter Issue 12 Christmas 2015 Friends of Fogg Dam. PO Box 1505, Humpty Doo. NT 0836 [email protected] ARTIST AT FOGG DAM Fogg Dam