FRIENDS OF THE PORONGURUP RANGE INC.
A COMMUNITY CONSERVATION GROUP
PORONGURUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

ENJOY YOUR VISIT!

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

9-Apr-2007

Newsletter  page updated (March Newsletter added).

31-Dec-2006

Art in the Park 2007 to be held April 7th to 15th 2007 at Castle Rock Road..

KEY LINKS

WALK TRAIL INFORMATION

NEWS UPDATES

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 2007

GENERAL MEETING
The next general meeting of the Friends of the Porongurup Range will be held  at Twin Creeks during May 2007.

For details contact David Smith on (08) 9853 1093 or email davidsmith10@bigpond.com

APRIL 2007

ART IN THE PARK - 2007
Art In The Park 2007 will be held on the Easter holiday, starting Saturday 7th April through to Sunday 15th April 2007.  Entry forms available soon from Albany and Mount Barker Public Libraries and via the Website.

This year there will be an additional category for young and emerging artists aged 16-20.

For further information contact Linda Morrison on (08) 9853 1182.

See the Art in the Park  for last year's details.
 

APRIL 2006

ART IN THE PARK - 2006
Art In The Park 2006 was held on the Easter holiday, starting Saturday 15th April 2006 through to Sunday 23rd April 2006.  See the Art in the Park  page for more details and the winning entries.
 

NOVEMBER 2004

ANOTHER ASIAN BANQUET
Due to the great success of our Asian Banquet (see below) a similar event was held on Saturday, November 27th 2004 at the Frost Oval Pavilion, Mount Barker.
[MORE] [MENU]
 

OCTOBER 2004

WALKS
For more information on walks please refer to the walks program. [MORE]
 

MARCH 2004

OUR ASIAN BANQUET
On Saturday, March 13th we held an Asian Banquet in the Frost Oval Pavilion, Mount Barker. Our chef of the night was Mr Maurice Fong assisted by David Smith and others; and the evening entailed music and entertainment, a licensed bar and much more.

The night was a success and we managed to raised some $3000 going towards the Twin Creek Conservation Reserve.

For more information, photographs and the menu of the night please read David Smith's report of the event. [MORE]
 

FEBRUARY 2004

PORONGURUP WINE FESTIVAL
on Sunday, February 29th we ran the Twin Creek Café at the Porongurup Wine Festival held in the grounds of Jingalla Wines, Bolganup Road, Porongurup WA. The festival featured fine wine from ten local wineries and live music by the WA Academy of Performing Arts amongst a variety of other events and activities.

All funds raised by the cafe went towards the Twin Creek Conservation Reserve and once again we wish to thank the wineries for being such big supporters of this project.
 

JANUARY 2004

WESTNET
The members of Friends of the Porongurups Inc. would like to extend many thanks to WestNet for it's generosity and support in agreeing to host this website free of charge. Thank You, WestNet.
 

NOVEMBER 2003

TWIN CREEKS CONSERVATION RESERVE
Well Friends, we have achieved the almost impossible and made history!

The Twin Creeks Conservation Reserve was officially launched on October 4th by the Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP - Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. Dr Stone flew to Albany and was then escorted the 50 kilometers to the Reserve, during which time she was able to observe some of the Porongurup Range and the surrounding habitat that we are trying to save. The launch and unveiling of a commenorative plaque was conducted on the Reserve in front of over 100 invited guests of donors, members, local and State government representatives, various conservation groups, and community members. The weather was extremely kind to us, (the forecast being gale force winds and torrential rain), and the sun came out for the Friends to greet Dr Stone.

After the official part of the proceedings, participants were encouraged to walk through part of the woodlands and heath to see the colourful and complex variety of flora in flower this season. It is not an exageration to say that everyone was impressed, and most had no idea of the number of different species to be seen in just a short walk. The planned drive around the property was cancelled because of the ten inches of rain we had had the week before, rendering half the property under water! A delicious lunch was served, catered for by volunteers from the group, to be washed down with some local wine donated by the wine producers from the Porongurup area.
 

PORONGURUP WILDFLOWER WEEKEND
The event this year, although successful, was a little quieter. The exhibition was not attended by large numbers, probably because of the inclement weather and the Mount Barker Wildflower Festival being on for the week before. However, we did have a bus load for each of the wildflower walks, which we had to hastily re-route because of all the flooding in the area. Anyway, we managed to keep peoples feet dry and amaze them with the different habitats we took them to. The flora was amazing this year with all the drought breaking rain. We will re-think the exhibition side of the weekend next year and maybe concentrate on guided walks instead. What do you think?
 

THIS AND THAT
A new page set up for bush poems and other random stuff. [Explore]
 

DONATIONS
Don't stop sending those donations!

We still need to repay the loan that we took out on settlement. If anyone has any fund-raising ideas, please let us know as we have until the end of March to meet our obligations. We only need 1,000 people with $100…or 10,000 with $10. Any amount will be appreciated, and don't forget….it is tax deductable! We have an online form for your convenience.

ALBANY TAFE
Classes from the Environmental Studies will now be using part of the Twin Creeks Conservation Reserve as their classroom. They will be completing a project of rehabilitation trials in one of the mallee heath areas on the edge of the ironstone.

Using our Reserve will give them the opportunity to:

• Identify plant species
• Pick seeds for propogation/planting
• Trial ground preparation methods including weed eradication
• Trial seeding methods
• Propogation of the seeds
• Planting of seedlings
• Etc.

This is an exciting program for the Friends of the Porongurup Range, as we hope this will be the first of many educational projects to happen. [Great Southern Tafe Website]
 

HERBARIUM & RARE FLORA MANAGEMENT
Ann has been busy collecting samples of the many verticordia that grow on the reserve. Some of the V. plumosa species have many variations within a small population, possibly the hybridisation between two species. These samples will go to WAHERB for positive identification, and then to a verticordia expert to define the variations. There is already have one verticordia in the reserve that is listed as 'Priority' - perhaps we will find some more. If anyone would like to volunteer some help to collect and process Herbarium samples please let us know.
 

MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Apart from the on-going perimeter fence replacement, we have done the next urgent task - fire breaks. This was on the urgent list because of the lack of breaks around the cleared pasture and property perimeters. A contractor was engaged and we elected to remove the topsoil and place in heaps alongside to negate any weed dispersal and resowing. This method also has upgraded the entrance laneway and management access to other areas of the block without disturbing any regrowth. Thanks to Peter Luscombe and David Smith for volunteering a day of their time to oversee and direct the pathways for the grader. A job well done!
 

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